Your information and how it is used

We are obligated to advise you about the ways your data and medical information is being stored and used, both by Air Balloon Surgery, and by other health and social care schemes and organisations.

Please read our Privacy Statement. We ask for information about you only so you can receive the best possible care and treatment - please read the NHS information about your NHS Health record if you have any questions about this.

Patient records are kept electronically on our practice systems. As the data controller of patients' personal confidential data, GP practices have a duty to protect the data they hold.  

Everyone working in the NHS has a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality about patient information. We only pass information concerning you to people who have a genuine need for it.  Whenever we can we shall remove details that identify you as an individual.

Data-sharing initiatives

There are a number of data-sharing initiatives which potentially mean your GP medical records are available to other organisations. These are described in the Privacy Statement together with methods for opting-out if you do not want to share your personal data in these ways. 

National Data sharing

All patients registered with a GP will have data shared with  the national Personal Demographics Service database (PDS). This is the national electronic database of NHS patient demographic details such as name, address, date of birth and NHS Number. The PDS enables a patient to be readily identified by the NHS quickly and accurately; it does not hold any clinical or sensitive data.

You cannot opt-out of your information being held on the PDS database however in special circumstances there is a process for flagging a record as ‘sensitive’ which means that healthcare professionals will only be able to see NHS Number, name, date of birth and gender - no other demographic details will be displayed.  If you require your record flagging, or for this flag to be removed, contact us and we will liaise with the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) to action this as appropriate. This can be useful, e.g. for victims of domestic violence or people in a witness protection program, however flagging your record is not an action to be undertaken lightly - your demographic information will still be held nationally and having your details unavailable locally will have an impact on your GP being able to make referrals for you to hospital consultants or to other NHS services. 

Summary Care Record (SCR)

A national system that takes information from patient's GP record and makes it available to clinicians anywhere in the country.

The core SCR record is limited to Medication and Allergies however patients who are frail or have complex health needs may wish to provide consent for additional SCR data release, which adds additional information and supporting free text onto their core Summary Care Record, including significant medical history, reason for medication and end of life care information - please discuss with your GP if you would like this consent recorded on your record.

If you have registered for Online Services with a minimum of Core record access, you will be able to check what is accessible on your core SCR record.

An information letter and opt-out form for SCR was posted to patients in August 2013. If you have not previously received the opt-out form, this can be obtained from the NHS Health Records webpage. If you do not want your data available within the SCR, you will need to complete the opt-out form and return it to the Practice to action. You can complete this form on behalf of another patient. Forms completed on behalf of children under the age of 16 will be reviewed by the GP who may wish to discuss the decision further with you and who ultimately may over-ride a parent/carer’s wishes if the decision is deemed to be not in the child's best interests.

Questions or concerns

Should you have any questions or concerns about how your information is handled, please contact the surgery.