Your Information And How We Use It

When you visit an NHS or social care service, information about you and the care you receive is recorded and stored in a health and care record.

This is so people caring for you can make the best decisions about your care.

The information in your records can include your:

name, age and address
health conditions
treatments and medicines
allergies and past reactions to medicines
tests, scans and X-ray results
lifestyle information, such as whether you smoke or drink
hospital admission and discharge information

Summary Care Record

If you are registered with a GP practice in England you will automatically have a Summary Care Record (SCR), unless you have previously chosen not to have one. It includes important information about your health:

Medicines you are taking
Allergies you suffer from
Any bad reactions to medicines

You may need to be treated by health and care professionals that do not know your medical history. Essential details about your healthcare can be difficult to remember, particularly when you are unwell or have complex care needs. Having an SCR means that when you need healthcare you can be helped to recall vital information.

SCRs can help the staff involved in your care make better and safer decisions about how best to treat you. You can choose to have additional information included in your SCR, which can enhance the care you receive. This information includes:

Your illnesses and health problems
Operations and vaccinations you have had in the past
How you would like to be treated - such as where you would prefer to receive care
What support you might need
Who should be contacted for more information about you

You have the choice of what information you would like to share and with whom. Authorised healthcare staff can only view your SCR with your permission. The information shared will solely be used for the benefit of your care and medical treatment.

We recommend that you do not exercise the right to opt out, given the safeguards in place with the SCR and the benefits to you in the event of an emergency. If you would like additional information included on your summary care record or you do wish to opt out please call our reception team to arrange this.

How we use your confidential patient information

Your individual care

Health and care staff may use your confidential patient information to help with your treatment and care. For example, when you visit the surgery we may look at your records for important information about your health.

Increasingly, patient medical data is shared between healthcare providers e.g. between GP surgeries and District Nursing, in order to give clinicians access to the most up to date information when attending patients.

The systems we operate require that any sharing of medical information is consented to by patients beforehand. Patients must consent to sharing of the data held by a health provider out to other health providers and must also consent to which of the other providers can access their data. Access to patient data is under patients' control and can be shared on a 'need to know' basis.

Research and planning

Confidential patient information might also be used to:

plan and improve health and care services
research and develop cures for serious illnesses

NHS Digital (the national provider of data analysis for the NHS) has a legal responsibility to collect data about NHS and social care services.

The NHS cannot analyse all information on its own, so we safely and securely share some with researchers, analysts and organisations who are experts in making sense of complex information. We only share what’s needed for each piece of research, and wherever possible, information is removed so that you cannot be identified.

Your choice

You can stop your confidential patient information being used for research and planning. Find out how to make your choice.

If you're happy with your confidential patient information being used for research and planning you do not need to do anything.

Any choice you make will not impact your individual care.

View Your GP Record

The NHS wants to give people better ways to see their personal health information online. We know that people want to be able to access their health records. It can help you see test results faster. It also lets you read and review notes from your appointments in your own time.

We’re now letting you see all the information within your health record automatically. If you are over 16 and have an online account, such as through the NHS App, NHS website, or another online primary care service, you will now be able to see all future notes and health records from your doctor (GP). Some people can already access this feature, this won’t change for you.

This means that you will be able to see notes from your appointments, as well as test results and any letters that are saved on your records. This only applies to records from your doctor (GP), not from hospitals or other specialists. You will only be able to see information from 3rd May 2023 onwards. For most people, access will be automatic, and you won’t need to do anything.

Your doctor (GP) may talk to you to discuss test results before you are able to see some of your information on the app. Your doctor (GP) may also talk to you before your full records access is given to make sure that having access is of benefit to you. There might be some sensitive information on your record, so you should talk to your doctor if you have any concerns.

These changes only apply to people with online accounts. If you do not want an online account, you can still access your health records by requesting this information through reception. The changes also only apply to personal information about you. If you are a carer and would like to see information about someone you care for, speak to reception staff.

The NHS App, website and other online services are all very secure, so no one is able to access your information except you. You’ll need to make sure you protect your login details. Don’t share your password with anyone as they will then have access to your personal information.

If you do not want to see your health record, or if you would like more information about these changes, please speak to your GP or reception staff.

Subject Access Request

You have the legal right to request a copy of the information we hold about you, in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is known as a subject access request. If you would like to make a subject access request please complete this form and return it to the practice. Please note it will take up to 1 month for this to be processed. We will not make a charge for the first request for access to your medical records. We may, however, charge for subsequent requests and if we deem that the volume of information requested is excessive.