We aim to provide you with the highest quality care and to do this, we must keep records about you and the care we provide for you.
Health records are held both electronically and on paper, and we have a legal duty to keep these confidential, accurate and secure at all times in line with the current data protection legislation. Our staff are trained to handle your information correctly and protect your privacy. We aim to maintain high standards, adopt best practice for our record keeping and regularly check and report on how we are doing. Your information is never collected for direct marketing purposes and is not sold on to any other third parties. You information will not be processed overseas. Sometimes your care may be provided by members of a care team, which might include people from other organisations such as health, social care, education or other care organisations. Information is held for specified periods of time as set out in the Records Management Policy.
Information collected about you to deliver your health care is also used to assist with:
– Making sure you receive a high standard of care
– Using statistical information to look after the health and wellbeing of the general public and planning services to meet the needs of the population.
– Assessing your condition against a set of risk criteria to ensure you are receiving the best possible care.
– Helping train staff.
– Reporting and investigation of complaints, claims and incidents.
– Reporting events to the appropriate authorities when we are required to do so by law.
– The auditing of HMAS accounts and clinical audit of the quality of services provided.
The legal basis for the processing of data for these purposes is that HMAS has a public duty to care for its patients. The current data protection legislation states it is appropriate to do so for health and social care treatment of patients and the management of health and social care systems and services. We will alway ask you for your explicit consent to record your information. If we need to use your personal information for any reason beyond those stated above, we will discuss this with you. You have the right to ask us not to use your information in this way.
However there are exceptions to this which are listed below:
The public interest is thought to be of greater importance for example:
– If a serious crime has been committed
– If there are risk to the public and or our staff
– To protect vulnerable children or adults
– We have a legal duty
The current data protection legislation gives individuals rights in respect of the personal information that we hold about you
These are:
1. To be informed why, where and how we use your information
2. To ask for access to your information
3. To ask for your information to be corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete
4. To ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it
5. To ask us to restrict the use of your information
6. To ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure manner, without impacting the quality of the information
7. To object to how your information is used
8. To challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making)
It should be noted that in some cases there is a further legal basis where those processes listed above are restricted. Please remember our staff have rights too and we do not expect their personal data to be used without their permission or abused in anyway by patients or members of the public. This includes taking photographs or filming them for malicious reasons. Please visit our website for further details. Should you have any further queries on the use of your information, or should you wish to lodge a complaint about the use of your information, please contact admin@hardcoremedical.co.uk
If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome of your enquiry you can write to:
Information Commissioner Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF 2