Confidentiality

Patients' records and information is handled in the strictest confidence in accordance with NHS Regulations and Code of Practice. Patients' access to medical records, where appropriate, will be arranged in line with both the Patients Access to Medical Records Act 1991, including subsequent amendments and The Data Protection Act 1998. Results of tests and investigations will be given to the patient only (except in appropriate circumstances) with proof of identity being required as necessary. A patient's consent will always be sought when students are present. In addition, each patient's address and contact information is also held by our Primary Care Centre.

This is to ensure confirmation and a quick response to out of hours cover for the patients of this and other practices in the Malvern area. The Primary Care Centre holds no clinical data. Primary Care Centre staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the practice staff.

Confidential information and data requested about you enables us to give you the best possible care and treatment. This information, together with details of your medical care, may be shared within the practice health care team, or with other health care professionals to whom you may be referred to. This is necessary to ensure that those doctors and nurses have accurate and up to date information about you. All individuals having access to your data have a professional and/or contractual duty of confidentiality.

Confidential patient data may also be required for the broader purposes of - public health and audit, research, the provision of health care services, teaching and training.

We only use or pass information about you to people who have a genuine need for it and as applicable we remove details that identify you individually. In addition, confidential and identifiable patient information will not be disclosed without explicit written consent, unless

• It is a matter of life and death or serious harm to you or to another individual

• It is overwhelmingly in the public interest and safety to do so

• There is a legal obligation to do so to some person who has a legal entitlement to access it.

Should you become concerned about any of the ways in which your confidential data is being used please ask to speak to the Practice Manager.