How we use your Personal Information

Why we collect information about you

Your doctor, nurse and the team of healthcare professionals caring for you keep records about your health and any treatment and care you receive from the NHS. These records help to ensure that you receive the best possible care. They may be written down (manual records) or held on computer.

These records may include:

• Basic details about you, such as address, date of birth, next of kin
• NHS Number (see this page)
• Contact we have had with you such as clinic appointments and hospital admissions
• Notes and reports about your health
• Detail and records about your treatment and care
• Results of x-rays, laboratory tests etc
• Relevant information from people who care for you and know you well such as health professionals and relatives

Some of this information will be held centrally to be used for statistical purposes. In these instances we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

How your personal information is used

Your records are used to guide and administer the care you receive to ensure that your doctor, nurse or other healthcare professional involved in your care has accurate and up-to-date information to assess your health and decide the most appropriate care for you, and so your concerns can be properly investigated if a complaint is raised.

You can find out more about how we use your information by reading this leaflet.

How you can access your health records

We will ensure that appropriate information is available if you see another doctor, or are referred to a specialist or another part of the NHS.

The Data Protection Act 1998 grants every living person the right to access his or her health records. You do not have to give a reason. If you would like to access your health records please apply in writing to the following address:

Medico Legal Team
3rd Floor – Tower Block
Wythenshawe Hospital
Southmoor Road
Wythenshawe
Manchester
M23 9LT
0161 291 2445/2451

You will then be sent an application form; we aim to provide access to your health records within 40 days.

Copying letters to patients

Patients now have a right to a copy of any letter written about them from one healthcare professional to another. If you would like to receive a copy of your letter, inform the doctor during your appointment.

National Patient Safety Agency

UHSM works in partnership with the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA). The hospital reports patient safety incidents to the NPSA through the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS). Information is passed to the NPSA to enable learning from patient safety incidents. This informs management of health care services in England and Wales.

The NPSA is not able to comply with the fair processing requirements of the Data Protection Act. It rarely holds enough information to be able to contact the data subject. UHSM Foundation Trust has therefore introduced an additional system for checking patient safety incidents which removes personal data before submission to the NRLS.

If you would like to know more about the work of the NPSA, please visit the website at www.npsa.nhs.uk. If you would like to know more about patient safety locally, then please contact the Head of Clinical Risk for UHSM on 0161 291 5808/5809 who would be happy to discuss this with you.

The NHS Care Record Guarantee

The Care Record Guarantee is our commitment that we will use records about you in ways that respect your rights and promote your health and wellbeing. Copies of the full document can be obtained from:

National Information Governance Board
7th Floor, New King’s Beam House
22 Upper Ground
London SE1 9BW
Or via www.nigb.nhs.uk/guarantee/crs_guarantee.pdf

Notification

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisations to lodge a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal information. The details are publicly available from the Information Commissioners office at:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545745
Website: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk