Supplementary privacy note on COVID-19 for patients

This notice describes how we may use your information to protect you and others during the COVID-19 outbreak. It supplements our main privacy notice.

The health and social care system is facing significant pressures due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Health and care information is essential to deliver care to individuals, to support health and social care services and to protect public health. Information will also be vital in researching, monitoring, tracking and managing the outbreak. In the current emergency it has become even more important to share health and care information across relevant organisations.

Existing law which allows confidential patient information to be used and shared appropriately and lawfully in a public health emergency is being used during this outbreak. Using this law, the Secretary of State has required NHS Digital; NHS England and Improvement; Arm’s Length Bodies (such as Public Health England); local authorities; health organisations and GPs to share confidential patient information to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. Any information used or shared during the COVID-19 outbreak will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis to use the data. Further information is available on gov.uk and some FAQs on this law are also available on the NHSX website.

During this period of emergency, opt-outs will not generally apply to the data used to support the COVID-19 outbreak, due to the public interest in sharing information. This includes National Data Opt-outs. However, in relation to the Summary Care Record, existing choices will be respected. Where data is used and shared under these laws your right to have personal data erased will also not apply. It may also take us longer to respond to Subject Access Requests, Freedom of Information requests and new opt-out requests whilst we focus our efforts on responding to the outbreak.

In order to look after your health and care needs, we may share your confidential patient information including health and care records with clinical and non-clinical staff in other health and care providers, for example neighbouring GP practices, hospitals and NHS 111. We may also use the details we have to send public health messages to you, either by phone, text or email.

During this period of emergency, we may offer you a consultation via telephone or video conferencing. By accepting the invitation and entering the consultation you are consenting to this. Your personal/confidential patient information will be safeguarded in the same way it would with any other consultation.

We will also be required to share personal/confidential patient information with health and care organisations and other bodies engaged in disease surveillance for the purposes of protecting public health, providing healthcare services to the public and monitoring and managing the outbreak. Further information is available about how health and care data is being used and shared by other NHS and social care organisations in a variety of ways to support the COVID-19 response.

NHS England and Improvement and NHSX have developed a single, secure store to gather data from across the health and care system to inform the COVID-19 response. This includes data already collected by NHS England, NHS Improvement, Public Health England and NHS Digital. New data will include 999 call data, data about hospital occupancy and A&E capacity data as well as data provided by patients themselves. All the data held in the platform is subject to strict controls that meet the requirements of data protection legislation.

In such circumstances where you tell us you’re experiencing COVID-19 symptoms we may need to collect specific health data about you. Where we need to do so, we will not collect more information than we require, and we will ensure that any information collected is treated with the appropriate safeguards.

We may amend this privacy notice at any time so please review it frequently. The date at the top of this page will be amended each time this notice is updated.

Patients occasionally request NHS prescriptions for treatment that has been recommended following a private consultation.

In certain cases it may be appropriate to prescribe your medication as a NHS prescription, but the South East London prescribing policy that is applied to all our NHS prescriptions will be followed.

This policy is to ensure that the patient receives the best care by the most appropriate and safe means.

If your consultant prescribes a medication that falls outside a licensed indication or is outside the local recommendations on prescribing, your consultant will need to provide you with a private prescription, which you will be able to take to any community pharmacy for dispensing.

You will have to pay a charge for the medicines on this prescription even if you are normally exempt. This only happens on a few occasions, but it is in your interest that you are aware of this possibility before a private consultation.

NHS doctors are under no obligation to continue any medicine initiated privately. When a GP prescribes a medicine, they take responsibility for that treatment and as such need to ensure a process for follow up and monitoring.

This is not always possible if the patient is seen by a consultant privately. Especially if there is limited follow up or the condition is not one that the GP has extensive experience in treating.

If you have an issue/complaint that you would like to address with the practice you can either complete complaints form using below link or call the practice on 0208 856 5678 and ask to speak to the office manager.

The doctors and staff at this practice are committed to providing high quality healthcare and services to patients.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. The complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

It is best to tell a member of staff about any concerns or problems as soon as they arise and we will try and sort them out. If you’re not satisfied with our response or wish to escalate your concern, please ask for complaints form and a copy of our complaints procedure.

If you wish to make a complaint, please let us have details of your complaint as soon as possible so that we can find out what happened. It helps us if you can give us as full details as possible.

You can either complain to us directly about the service provided or to the commissioner of the services (South East London Integrated Care Board – contactus@selondonics.nhs.uk), which is the body that pays for the NHS services you use. The responsibility for investigating any issue arising from a complaint remains with the practice that provided the service to you.

You need to make your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem OR within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem relating to a specific incident.

Link to Complaints form

What we will do

We will contact you about your complaint within 3 working days and discuss with you the best way to investigate it, including the time scales for a reply. We will aim to offer you an explanation within that time frame, or a meeting with the people involved.

We will look into your complaint to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong
• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
• Apologise where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Medical records are protected by the Data Protection Act 1998. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else we need to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (i.e. due of illness) of providing this.

Getting help

Many issues can be resolved quickly by speaking directly to the staff. Some people find it helpful to talk to someone who understands the complaints process first and get some guidance and support.

POhWER can provide free impartial support when you are making a complaint. They can help to draft or write a letter, can arrange interpreting or can accompany you to a meeting. Their telephone number is 0203 553 5960 and website is www.pohwer.net

If you are not satisfied with our response

If your problem persists or you’re not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with locally, you can complain to the relevant ombudsman.

Remember:

• We want you to let us know if you are unhappy or have a suggestion about how we can do things better.
• All complaints are treated in the strictest confidence.
• Making a complaint will not affect your treatment or care.

All complaints will be acknowledged and responded to in writing, in line with our practice complaints procedure.

 

The practice is required by the Government under the term of the Latest GP contract to allocate a named accountable GP who will be responsible for your overall care.

If you have a preference as to which GP you are allocated, the practice will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your request.

If you wish to know which GP has been allocated to you, please ask reception on your next visit. Please do not telephone the practice for this information, our phone lines are very busy and primarily are for patients with urgent needs.

Your named accountable GP will oversee the co­ordination of your care amongst the other health professionals.

The named accountable GP will not take on 24 hour responsibility for your care, your named GP will purely oversee the care that you receive.

Patients are still able to book appointment with any GP at the practice. Patient can express who they would like to see, however, this may not always be possible due to appointment availability with that GP.

If you are 75 year of age, you are entitled to an Over 75 health check.