Your Medical Records and GDPR

Privacy Notice for patients 2021.6.

Medical Records

Lancashire and South Cumbria has been chosen by NHS England to be a national pilot for the digitisation of Medical Records.  Scanning these paper based records and making them digital will enable better utilisation of space, creating more clinical space, staff areas, multi team space and video hubs, removing the need for some practices to build extensions. In addition it will also make your record more easily and speedily accessible to clinical staff within your practice.

Your complete GP medical record will be digital and stored in a secure cloud based clinical system (only accessible by your GP practice) with the paper based records being securely destroyed following BS EN 15713:2009 Secure destruction of confidential material.  Your GP will still be able to access your records easily within this system. The scanning and destruction of the paper records will follow strict data protection guidelines adhered to by the NHS.  As with paper based records, digital records are stored for the durations specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care. For GP patient records, this states that they may be destroyed 10 years after the patient’s death if they are no longer needed.

If you wish to discuss the scheme, please inform the Practice direct either by letter or via e-mail.

 Burnley Group Practice

3^rd Floor, St Peters Centre

BURNLEY

BB11 2DL

Tel. 01282 911630

Email: burnley.gp@nhs.net

 

National data opt out 

Your health records contain a type of data called confidential patient information. This data can be used to help with research and planning.

You can choose to stop your confidential patient information being used for research and planning. You can also make a choice for someone else like your children under the age of 13.

Your choice will only apply to the health and care system in England. This does not apply to health or care services accessed in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

There is more information available at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters

Your Data Matters

 

EMIS is the provider of our electronic clinical records system, please see below information from them regarding how your medical records may be used:

EMIS Health Covid-19 Research Collaboration

Publish Date: 31/07/2020 16:15:58 BST

Dear Colleague, 

We are contacting you again in relation to the notice issued by the Secretary of State for Health to GP practices (and others) under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI).

Pursuant to the COPI notice EMIS has agreed to work with NHS England (who has engaged the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to undertake the relevant research) to provide a unique environment for Covid-19 research.

Notice under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI), which were made under sections 60 (now section 251 of the NHS Act 2006) and 64 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001. 

As you will be aware, the health and social care system is taking extensive action to manage and mitigate the spread and impact of the current outbreak of Covid-19. 

All GP practices whose systems are supplied by EMIS are required under Regulation 3(4) of COPI to release primary care patient data, for the purposes set out in Regulation 3(1) of COPI for purposes related to the outbreak of Covid-19. Under these arrangements, NHS England has directed EMIS to create a linked dataset using personal data from all GP practice records processed by EMIS with data about patients who have been diagnosed and hospitalised with Covid-19 infection. 

This linked dataset will be pseudonymised and made available within a secure data processing environment to a small group of researchers, under contract to NHS England, from Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to support data analysis that might identify medical conditions and medications that affect the risk or impact of Covid-19 infection. 

The researchers will not be able to access identifiable patient information and any data they extract from the linked dataset will be fully anonymised / aggregated.

NHS England and EMIS have entered a data processing agreement to ensure that appropriate controls are in place to protect personal data. If you need any additional information or questions you are advised to contact: england.igpolicyteam@nhs.net.

Annex

Regulation 3(1) of COPI Purposes related to the outbreak of Covid-19 include, but are not limited to, the following:

• understanding Covid-19 and risks to public health, trends in Covid-19 and such risks, and controlling and preventing the spread of Covid-19 and such risks;
• identifying and understanding information about patients or potential patients with or at risk of Covid-19, information about incidents of patient exposure to Covid-19 and the management of patients with or at risk of Covid-19 including: locating, contacting, screening, flagging and monitoring such patients and collecting information about and providing services in relation to testing, diagnosis, self-isolation, fitness to work, treatment, medical and social interventions and recovery from Covid-19;
• understanding information about patient access to health services and adult social care services and the need for wider care of patients and vulnerable groups as a direct or indirect result of Covid-19 and the availability and capacity of those services or that care;
• monitoring and managing the response to Covid-19 by health and social care bodies and the Government including providing information to the public about Covid-19 and its effectiveness and information about capacity, medicines, equipment, supplies, services and the workforce within the health services and adult social care services;
• delivering services and information to patients, clinicians, the health services and adult social care services workforce and the public about and in connection with Covid-19, including the provision of information, fit notes and the provision of health care and adult social care services; and
• research and planning in relation to Covid-19.

Kind regards, 

Dr Shaun O’Hanlon

Chief Medical Officer, EMIS Health