Practice Policies & Patient Information
Welcome to Ifield Medical Practice.
We are a general practice caring for around 11,200 patients in and around Ifield in Crawley, West Sussex.
We have four GP partners, three male and one female, who are supported by a large team of healthcare professionals including a female salaried GP, two Practice Nurses, Healthcare Assistants and a First Contact Physiotherapist.
We are also a training practice, supporting fully qualified doctors who wish to specialise in general practice.
Ifield Medical Practice is part of Healthy Crawley PCN.
Practice Policies
Chaperone Policy
Clinicians (male and female) should consider whether an intimate or personal examination of the patient (either male or female) is justified, or whether the nature of the consultation poses a risk of misunderstanding.
- The clinician should give the patient a clear explanation of what the examination will involve.
- Always adopt a professional and considerate manner – be careful with humour as a way of relaxing a nervous situation as it can easily be misinterpreted.
- Always ensure that the patient is provided with adequate privacy to undress and dress.
- Ensure that a suitable sign is clearly on display in each waiting area, and consulting or treatment room offering the chaperone service if required.
This should remove the potential for misunderstanding. However, there will still be times when either the clinician, or the patient, feels uncomfortable, and it would be appropriate to consider using a chaperone. Patients who request a chaperone should never be examined without a chaperone being present. If necessary, where a chaperone is not available, the consultation / examination should be rearranged for a mutually convenient time when a chaperone can be present.
A variety of people can act as a chaperone in the practice. Where possible, it is strongly recommended that chaperones should be clinical staff familiar with procedural aspects of personal examination. Where suitable clinical staff members are not available the examination should be deferred.
Where the practice determine that non-clinical staff will act in this capacity the patient must agree to the presence of a non-clinician in the examination, and be at ease with this. The staff member should be trained in the procedural aspects of personal examinations, comfortable in acting in the role of chaperone, and be confident in the scope and extent of their role. They will have received instruction on where to stand and what to watch and instructions to that effect will be laid down in writing by the practice.
Ifield Medical practice ensure that all staff who may be requested to act as chaperones have received appropriate Chaperone training.
Complaints
Making a Complaint
We welcome compliments, suggestions, or concerns about the service you have received from the doctors or any of the staff working in this practice.
We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of a NHS system for dealing with complaints.
As a patient of the NHS, you have a right to:
- Have your complaint dealt with efficiently
- Have your complaint properly investigated
- Be informed of the outcome of your complaint
- Take your complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the outcome
How to complain (Local Resolution)
You can submit your complaint to the practice by emailing the Practice Manager directly at s.nunweek@nhs.net or to ifieldmedicalpractice@nhs.net.
Alternatively if you are not able to email us you can telephone and ask to speak to the Practice Manager.
We hope that most problems can be resolved easily and quickly, often at the time they arise and with the person concerned.
If your problem cannot be resolved in this way and you wish to make a complaint, we would like you to let us know as soon as possible in writing.
We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days. We will also give you an idea of how long our investigation may take.
We will then investigate your complaint within the practice and keep you informed of the progress of our investigation. We will send you a response explaining the outcome of our investigation and any actions to taken because of the complaint.
When we look into your complaint, we shall aim 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;
- Make sure you receive an apology, where this is appropriate;
- Identify what we can learning can be taken, and put processes in place to prevent it from happening again.
Can I get support to make a complaint?
Healthwatch West Sussex provide an Independent Health Complaints Advocacy Service. This is a free advocacy service for residents of West Sussex who want practical support and assistance in making a complaint about an NHS provided service.
The contact details for Healthwatch West Sussex are:
Healthwatch West Sussex,
PO Box 1360,
Crawley,
West Sussex,
RH10 0QS
Tel – 0300 012 0122
Website – www.healthwatchwestsussex.co.uk
Complaining on behalf of someone else
Please note that we keep strictly to the rules of medical confidentiality. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else, we have to know that you have his or her permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (because of illness) of providing this.
What to do if you are not happy with our response
If you are not happy with our response (local resolution), you can ask the Health Service Ombudsman for an ‘independent review’. Their details are as follows:
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman,
Millbank Tower,
Millbank,
London,
SW1P 4QP
Tel. Complaints Helpline 0345 015 4033
Confidentiality
Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.
Your medical records, both written and computerised, are kept secure and access is restricted to Ifield Medical Practice staff.
Doctors and staff at Ifield Medical Practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs. From time to time information may be shared with others involved in your care if it is necessary. Anyone with access to your record is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed by both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.
All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.
In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other official bodies, for example if a court order is presented, or in the case of public health issues. In other circumstance you may be required to give written consent before information is released – such as for medical reports for insurance, solicitors etc.
To ensure your privacy, we will not disclose information over the telephone or fax unless we are sure that we are talking to you. Information will not be disclosed to family, friends or spouses unless we have prior written consent, and we do not, leave messages with others.
You have a right to see your records if you wish. Please ask at reception if you would like further details about our patient information leaflet. An appointment may be required. In some circumstances a fee may be payable. You may email your request to ifieldmedicalpractice@nhs.net.
All records are protected by the Data Protection Act 1998.
Data Protection
In order to provide the right level of care, we are required to hold personal information about you on our computer systems and in paper records to help us to look after your health needs, and your doctor is responsible for their accuracy and safe-keeping. Please help to keep your record up to date by informing us of any changes to your circumstances.
Confidentiality and Personal Information
Doctors and staff in the practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs. From time to time information may be shared with others involved in your care if it is necessary. Anyone with access to your record is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed by both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.
All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.
In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other official bodies, for example if a court order is presented, or in the case of public health issues. In other circumstance you may be required to give written consent before information is released – such as for medical reports for insurance, solicitors etc.
To ensure your privacy, we will not disclose information over the telephone or fax unless we are sure that we are talking to you. Information will not be disclosed to family, friends or spouses unless we have prior written consent, and we do not, leave messages with others.
You have a right to see your records if you wish. Please ask at reception if you would like further details about our patient information leaflet. An appointment may be required. In some circumstances a fee may be payable.
GP Earnings
Publication of GP net earnings based on the accounts for the year 2024/25
All GP practices are required to declare the mean earnings (e.g. average pay) for GPs working to deliver NHS services to patients at each practice.
The average pay for GPs working in Ifield Medical Practice in the last financial year was £157,449 before tax and National Insurance. This is for 2 full time GPs and 3 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.
IT Policy
This practice is committed to preserving, as far as is practical, the security of data used by our information systems. This means that we will take all reasonable actions to;
Maintain the Confidentiality of all data within Ifield Medical Practice by:
- Ensuring that only authorised persons can gain access to our systems
- Not disclosing information to anyone who has no right to see it
Maintain the integrity of all data within Ifield Medical Practice by:
- Taking care over input
- Ensuring that all changes are reported and monitored
- Checking that the correct record is on the screen before updating
- Reporting all apparent errors and ensuring that they are resolved
Maintain the availability of all data by:
- Ensuring that all equipment is protected from intruders
- Ensuring that backups are taken at regular, predetermined intervals
- Ensuring that contingency is provided for possible failure or equipment theft and that any such contingency plans are tested and kept up to date
Additionally we will take all reasonable measures to comply with our legal responsibilities under:
Mission Statement
Our Mission
Ifield Medical Practice aims to improve the health and wellbeing of our patients through the provision of professional healthcare services that inspires confidence in our patients and our community.
We will:
- Ensure that patients have a positive experience of the care we provide.
- Improve the health and wellbeing of our patients.
- Treat you with respect and courtesy at all times.
- Provide you with advice and treatment in a timely manner.
- Discuss what treatment is available and refer you on to other experts where necessary.
- Maintain confidentiality in what we discuss and the records we keep on your behalf.
- Keep up to date with developments in health care by continuing to learn.
In return we ask you to:
- Respect our staff.
- Keep your appointment, or let us know as soon as possible if you are unable to attend.
- Only use the out-of-hours services for urgent conditions which can’t wait until the next day or until after the weekend.
- Let us know if you have any suggestions or cause for complaint as soon as possible.
- Please also let us know when we have done well.
Personal Data
The following IT systems are in use at Ifield Medical Practice:
- Referral Management (using NHS numbers in referrals)
- Occasional electronic Appointment Booking (the facility to book routine appointments online and, similarly, to cancel appointments
- Online booking of repeat prescriptions
- Summary Care Record (uploading details of your current medication and allergies to the national “spine” so that these are available for doctors involved in your care elsewhere)
- GP to GP transfers (the electronic transfer of records from practice to practice when you re-register
- Patient Access to records (the facility to view your medical records online)
If you are not already registered for online access and would like to be please complete our online form or email ifieldmedicalpractice@nhs.net.
If you would like access to your medical records enabled or would like to opt out of the local or national summary care record, please contact reception.
Privacy Policy
Your information, what you need to know
This privacy notice explains why we collect information about you, how that information will be used, how we keep it safe and confidential and what your rights are in relation to this.
Why we collect information about you
Health care professionals who provide you with care are required by law to maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare and help us to protect your safety.
We collect and hold data for the purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients and running our organisation which includes monitoring the quality of care that we provide. In carrying out this role we will collect information about you which helps us respond to your queries or secure specialist services. We will keep your information in written form and/or in digital form.
Our Commitment to Data Privacy and Confidentiality Issues
As a GP practice, all of our GPs, staff and associated practitioners are committed to protecting your privacy and will only process data in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation. This includes the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) now known as the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018, the Law Enforcement Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/680) (LED) and any applicable national Laws implementing them as amended from time to time. The legislation requires us to process personal data only if there is a legitimate basis for doing so and that any processing must be fair and lawful.
In addition, consideration will also be given to all applicable Law concerning privacy, confidentiality, the processing and sharing of personal data including the Human Rights Act 1998, the Health and Social Care Act 2012 as amended by the Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015, the common law duty of confidentiality and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations.
Data we collect about you
Records which this GP Practice will hold or share about you will include the following:
- Personal Data – means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
- Special Categories of Personal Data – this term describes personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
- Confidential Patient Information – this term describes information or data relating to their health and other matters disclosed to another (e.g. patient to clinician) in circumstances where it is reasonable to expect that the information will be held in confidence. Including both information ‘given in confidence’ and ‘that which is owed a duty of confidence’. As described in the Confidentiality: NHS code of Practice: Department of Health guidance on confidentiality 2003.
- Pseudonymised – The process of distinguishing individuals in a dataset by using a unique identifier which does not reveal their ‘real world’ identity.
- Anonymised – Data in a form that does not identify individuals and where identification through its combination with other data is not likely to take place
- Aggregated – Statistical data about several individuals that has been combined to show general trends or values without identifying individuals within the data.
How we use your information
Improvements in information technology are also making it possible for us to share data with other healthcare organisations for the purpose of providing you, your family and your community with better care. For example, it is possible for healthcare professionals in other services to access your record with or without your permission when the practice is closed. Where your record is accessed without your permission it is necessary for them to have a legitimate basis in law. This is explained further in the Local Information Sharing in the Appendix.
Whenever you use a health or care service, such as attending Accident & Emergency or using Community Care services, important information about you is collected in a patient record for that service. Collecting this information helps to ensure you get the best possible care and treatment.
The information collected about you when you use these services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance to help with:
- improving the quality and standards of care provided by the service
- research into the development of new treatments and care pathways
- preventing illness and diseases
- monitoring safety
- planning services
- risk stratification
- Population Health Management
Safeguarding of children or vulnerable adults
If we have significant concerns or hear about an individual child or vulnerable adult being at risk of harm, we may share relevant information with other organisations, such as local authorities and the Police, involved in ensuring their safety.
Statutory disclosures
Sometimes we are duty bound by laws to disclose information to organisations such as the Care Quality Commission, the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency, the General Medical Council, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and Counter Fraud services. In these circumstances we will always try to inform you before we are required to disclose and we only disclose the minimum information that the law requires us to do so.
This may only take place when there is a clear legal basis to use this information. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations. Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this where allowed by law or with consent.
Pseudonymised or anonymised data is generally used for research and planning so that you cannot be identified.
A full list of details including the legal basis, any Data Processor involvement, and the purposes for processing information can be found in the Appendix.
How long do we hold information for?
All records held by the Practice will be kept for the duration specified by national guidance from Records Management Code of Practice. Once information that we hold has been identified for destruction it will be disposed of in the most appropriate way for the type of information it is. Personal confidential and commercially confidential information will be disposed of by approved and secure confidential waste procedures. We keep a record of retention schedules within our information asset registers, in line with the Records Management Code of Practice for 2021.
Individuals Rights under UK GDPR
Under UK GDPR 2016 the Law provides the following rights for individuals. The NHS upholds these rights in a number of ways:
- The right to be informed
- The right of access
- The right to rectification
- The right to erasure (not an absolute right) only applies in certain circumstances
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to object
- Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
Your right to opt out of data sharing and processing
The NHS Constitution states, ‘You have a right to request that your personal and confidential information is not used beyond your own care and treatment and to have your objections considered’.
Type 1 Opt Out
This is an objection that prevents an individual’s personal confidential information from being shared outside of their general practice except when it is being used for the purposes of their individual direct care, or in particular circumstances required by law, such as a public health screening, or an emergency like an outbreak of a pandemic disease. If patients wish to apply a Type 1 Opt Out to their record, they should make their wishes known to the Practice Manager.
National data opt-out (NDOO)
The national data opt-out was introduced on 25 May 2018, enabling patients to opt-out from the use of their data for research or planning purposes, in line with the recommendations of the National Data Guardian in her Review of Data Security, Consent and Opt-Outs.
The national data opt-out replaces the previous ‘Type 2’ opt-out, which required NHS Digital not to use a patient’s confidential patient information for purposes beyond their individual care, for Planning or Research. Any patient that had a type 2 opt-out recorded on or before 11 October 2018 has had it automatically converted to a national data opt-out. Those aged 13 or over were sent a letter giving them more information and a leaflet explaining the national data opt-out. For more information go to National data opt out programme.
To find out more or to register your choice to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.
On this web page you will:
- See what is meant by confidential patient information
- Find examples of when confidential patient information is used for individual care and examples of when it is used for purposes beyond individual care
- Find out more about the benefits of sharing data
- Understand more about who uses the data
- Find out how your data is protected
- Be able to access the system to view, set or change your opt-out setting
- Find the contact telephone number if you want to know any more or to set/change your opt-out by phone
- See the situations where the opt-out will not apply
Right of Access to your information (Subject Access Request)
Under Data Protection Legislation everybody has the right of access to, or request a copy of, information we hold that can identify them, this includes medical records. There are some safeguards regarding what patients will have access to and they may find information has been redacted or removed for the following reasons;
- It may be deemed to risk causing harm to the patient or others
- The information within the record may relate to third parties who are entitled to their confidentiality, or who have not given their permission for the information to be shared.
Patients do not need to give a reason to see their data. And requests can be made verbally or in writing. Although we may ask them to complete a form in order that we can ensure that they have the correct information required.
Where multiple copies of the same information is requested the surgery may charge a reasonable fee for the additional copies.
Patients will need to provide proof of identity to receive this information. We will not share information relating to you with other individuals without your explicit instruction or without sight of a legal document.
Patients may also request to have online access to their data via the NHS App or Patient Access.
Change of Details
It is important that you tell the surgery if any of your contact details such as your name or address have changed, or if any of your other contacts details are incorrect including third party emergency contact details. It is important that we are made aware of any changes immediately in order that no information is shared in error.
Mobile telephone number
If you provide us with your mobile phone number, we will use this to send you text reminders about your appointments or other health related information. It is within our legal duty as a public authority to keep our patients updated with important information.
We also use the NHS Account Messaging Service provided by NHS England to send you messages relating to your health and care. You need to be an NHS App user to receive these messages. Further information about the service can be found at the privacy notice for the NHS App managed by NHS England.
Email address
Where you have provided us with your email address, we will use this to send you information relating to your health and the services we provide. If you do not wish to receive communications by email, please let us know.
ICO Notification
Data Protection Legislation requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information.
We are registered as a Data Controller and our registration can be viewed online in the public register.
Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and in a prominent area at the Practice.
Data Protection Officer
Should you have any data protection questions or concerns, please contact our Data Protection Officer via the surgery.
What is the right to know?
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) gives people a general right of access to information held by or on behalf of public authorities, promoting a culture of openness and accountability across the public sector. You can request any non-personal information that the GP Practice holds, that does not fall under an exemption. You may not ask for information that is covered by the Data Protection Legislation under FOIA. However, you can request this under a right of access request – see section above ‘Access to your information’.
Right to Complain
If you have concerns or are unhappy about any of our services, please contact the Practice Manager.
For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact:
The Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us
The NHS Constitution
The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out the rights patients, the public and staff are entitled to. These rights cover how patients access health services, the quality of care you’ll receive, the treatments and programs available to you, confidentiality, information and your right to complain if things go wrong.
We will keep our Privacy Notice under regular review. This notice was last reviewed in October 2023.
Privacy Policy Appendix
We keep our Privacy Notice under regular review. This notice was last reviewed in March 2024.
| Activity | Rationale |
| Commissioning and contractual purposes Invoice Validation
Planning Quality and Performance
|
Purpose – Anonymous data is used by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) for planning, performance and commissioning purposes, as directed in the practices contract, to provide services as a public authority.
Legal Basis –
Patients may opt out of having their personal confidential data used for planning or research. Please contact your surgery to apply a Type 1 Opt out or logon to https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/manage-your-choice/ to apply a National Data Opt Out Processor – Sussex ICB |
| Summary Care Record (including additional information) | Purpose – The NHS in England uses a national electronic record called the Summary Care Record (SCR) to support patient care. It contains key information from your GP record. Your SCR provides authorised healthcare staff with faster, secure access to essential information about you in an emergency or when you need unplanned care, where such information would otherwise be unavailable.
Legal Basis –
Patients have the right to opt out of having their information shared with the SCR by completion of the form which can be downloaded here and returned to the practice. Please note that by opting out of having your information shared with the Summary Care Record could result in a delay to care that may be required in an emergency. Processor – NHS England |
| Research | Purpose – We may share anonymous patient information with research companies for the purpose of exploring new ways of providing healthcare and treatment for patients with certain conditions. This data will not be used for any other purpose.
Where personal confidential data is shared your consent will need to be required. Where you have opted out of having your identifiable information shared for this Planning or Research your information will not be shared. Legal Basis –
Where identifiable data is required for research, patient consent will be needed, unless there is a legitimate reason under law to do so or there is support under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information Regulations) 2002 (‘section 251 support’) applying via the Confidentiality Advisory Group in England and Wales Sharing of aggregated non identifiable data is permitted. Processor – Apollo and others |
| Individual Funding Requests | Purpose – We may need to process your personal information where we are required to fund specific treatment for you for a particular condition that is not already covered in our standard NHS contract.
The clinical professional who first identifies that you may need the treatment will explain to you the information that is needed to be collected and processed in order to assess your needs and commission your care; they will gain your explicit consent to share this. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time but this may affect the decision to provide individual funding. Legal Basis –
Data processor –Sussex ICB |
| Safeguarding Adults | Purpose – We will share personal confidential information with the safeguarding team where there is a need to assess and evaluate any safeguarding concerns and to protect the safety of individuals.
Consent is not required to share information for this purpose. Legal Basis –
Data Processor – West Sussex County Council |
| Safeguarding Children | Purpose – We will share children’s personal information where there is a need to assess and evaluate any safeguarding concerns and to protect the safety of children.
Legal Basis –
Consent may not be required to share this information. Data Processor – West Sussex County Council |
| Risk Stratification – Preventative Care | Purpose – ‘Risk stratification for case finding’ is a process for identifying and managing patients who have or may be at-risk of health conditions (such as diabetes) or who are most likely to need healthcare services (such as people with frailty). Risk stratification tools used in the NHS help determine a person’s risk of suffering a particular condition and enable us to focus on preventing ill health before it develops.
Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts, GP Federations and your GP Practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information. This can help us identify and offer you additional services to improve your health. If you do not wish information about you to be included in any risk stratification programmes, please let us know. We can add a code to your records that will stop your information from being used for this purpose. Please be aware that this may limit the ability of healthcare professionals to identify if you have or are at risk of developing certain serious health conditions. Type of Data – Identifiable/Pseudonymised/Anonymised/Aggregate Data Legal Basis –
The use of identifiable data by ICBs and GPs for risk stratification has been approved by the Secretary of State, through the Confidentiality Advisory Group of the Health Research Authority (approval reference (CAG 7-04)(a)/2013)) and this approval has been extended to the end of September 2022 NHS England Risk Stratification which gives us a statutory legal basis under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 to process data for risk stratification purposes which sets aside the duty of confidentiality. We are committed to conducting risk stratification effectively, in ways that are consistent with the laws that protect your confidentiality. Processors – Artemus |
| Public Health
Screening programmes (identifiable) Notifiable disease information (identifiable) Smoking cessation (anonymous) Sexual health (anonymous) Vaccination Programmes
|
Purpose – Personal identifiable and anonymous data is shared.
The NHS provides national screening programmes so that certain diseases can be detected at an early stage. These currently apply to bowel cancer, breast cancer, aortic aneurysms and diabetic retinal screening service to name a few. The law allows us to share your contact information, and certain aspects of information relating to the screening with Public Health England so that you can be appropriately invited to the relevant screening programme. Patients may not opt out of having their personal information shared for Public Health reasons. Patients may opt out of being screened at the time of receiving an invitation. Legal Basis –
Data Processors – West Sussex County Council, UK Health Security Agency |
| Direct Care
NHS Trusts Community Providers Pharmacies Enhanced care providers Nursing Homes Other Care Providers |
Purpose – Personal information is shared with other secondary care trusts and providers in order to provide you with individual direct care services. This could be hospitals or community providers for a range of services, including treatment, operations, physio, and community nursing, ambulance service.
Legal Basis –
In some cases patients may be required to consent to having their record opened by the third party provider before patients information is accessed. Where there is an overriding need to access the GP record in order to provide patients with life saving care, their consent will not be required. Processors – Surrey & Sussex Healthcare Trust, plus other hospital trusts and healthcare providers |
| Care Quality Commission | Purpose – The CQC is the regulator for the English Health and Social Care services to ensure that safe care is provided. They will inspect and produce reports back to the GP practice on a regular basis. The Law allows the CQC to access identifiable data.
More detail on how they ensure compliance with data protection law (including UK GDPR) and their privacy statement is available on their website: https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/our-policies/privacy-statement Legal Basis –
Processors – Care Quality Commission |
| Population Health Management | Purpose – Health and care services work together as ‘Integrated Care Systems’ (ICS) and are sharing data in order to:
(NB this links to the Risk Stratification activity identified above) Type of Data – Identifiable/Pseudonymised/Anonymised/Aggregate Data. NB only organisations that provide your care will see your identifiable data. Legal Basis –
Data Processors – Optum, Cerner |
| Payments, Invoice validation | Purpose – Contract holding GPs in the UK receive payments from their respective governments on a tiered basis. Most of the income is derived from baseline capitation payments made according to the number of patients registered with the practice on quarterly payment days. These amounts paid per patient per quarter varies according to the age, sex and other demographic details for each patient. There are also graduated payments made according to the practice’s achievement of certain agreed national quality targets known as the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), for instance the proportion of diabetic patients who have had an annual review. Practices can also receive payments for participating in agreed national or local enhanced services, for instance opening early in the morning or late at night or at the weekends. Practices can also receive payments for certain national initiatives such as immunisation programs and practices may also receive incomes relating to a variety of non-patient related elements such as premises. Finally there are short term initiatives and projects that practices can take part in. Practices or GPs may also receive income for participating in the education of medical students, junior doctors and GPs themselves as well as research. In order to make patient based payments basic and relevant necessary data about you needs to be sent to the various payment services. The release of this data is required by English laws.
Legal Basis –
Data Processors – NHS England, ICB, Public Health |
| Patient record data base | Purpose – Your medical record will be processed in order that a data base can be maintained, this is managed in a secure way and there are robust processes in place to ensure your medical record is kept accurate, and up to date. Your record will follow you as you change surgeries throughout your life.
Closed records will be archived by NHS England Legal Basis –
Processor – EMIS and PCSE, NHS England |
| Medical reports
Subject Access Requests
|
Purpose – Your medical record or information from it may be shared in order that:
Legal Basis –
Processor – iGPR, Solicitors, insurance companies, other organisations |
| Medicines Management Team
Medicines Optimisation |
Purpose – your medical record is shared with the medicines management team pharmacists, in order that your medication can be kept up to date and any necessary changes to medication can be implemented.
Legal Basis –
Processor – Sussex ICB Medicines Management Team |
| GP Federation
|
Purpose – Your medical record will be shared with the Alliance for Better Care federation in order that they can provide direct care services to the patient population. This could be in the form of video consultations, minor injuries clinics, GP extended access clinics. The Federation will be acting on behalf of the GP practice.
Legal Basis –
Processor – Alliance for Better Care (ABC) |
| Primary Care Network (PCN) | Purpose – Your medical record will be shared with the Healthy Crawley PCN in order that they can provide direct care services to the patient population.
Legal Basis –
Processor – Healthy Crawley PCN (Poundhill Medical Group, Furnace Green Surgery, Woodlands & Clerklands Partnership) |
| Smoking cessation | Purpose – personal information is shared in order for the smoking cessation service to be provided.
Only those patients who wish to be party to this service will have their data shared. Legal Basis –
Processor – Crawley Wellbeing |
| Social Prescribers | Purpose – Access to medical records is provided to social prescribers to undertake a full service to patients dependent on their health and social care needs.
Only those patients who wish to be party to this service will have their data shared. Legal Basis –
Processor – Crawley Community Action |
| Police | Purpose – Personal confidential information may be shared with the Police authority for certain purposes. The level of sharing and purpose for sharing may vary. Where there is a legal basis for this information to be shared consent will not always be required.
The Police will require the correct documentation in order to make a request. This could be but not limited to, DS 2, Court order, s137, the prevention and detection of a crime. Or where the information is necessary to protect a person or community. Legal Basis –
Processor – Police Constabulary |
| Coroner
Medical Examiner |
Purpose – Personal health records or information relating to a deceased patient may be shared with the coroner. Medical records associated with deceased patients are outside scope of the UK GDPR. However, next of kin details are within the scope of the UK GDPR. We will share specified deceased patient records and next of kin details with the Medical Examiners within Surrey & Sussex Healthcare Trust.
Legal Basis:
Processor – The Coroner, Medical Examiners service at Surrey & Sussex Healthcare Trust |
| Private healthcare providers | Purpose – Personal information shared with private health care providers in order to deliver direct care to patients at the patient’s request. Consent from the patient will be required to share data with Private Providers.
Legal Basis – Article 6 1 (a) and 9 2 (h) Consented and under contract between the patient and the provider Provider – As specified at time of referral |
| Messaging Service
|
Purpose – Personal identifiable information shared with the messaging service in order that messages including; appointment reminders; results; campaign messages related to specific patients’ health needs; and direct messages to patients, can be transferred to the patient in a safe way.
We use the NHS Account Messaging Service provided by NHS England to send you messages relating to your health and care. You need to be an NHS App user to receive these messages. Further information about the service can be found at the privacy notice for the NHS App managed by NHS England. Legal Basis –
Provider – AccuRX, Mjog, eConsult, NHS App |
| Remote consultation
Including – Video Consultation Clinical photography |
Purpose – Personal information including images may be processed, stored and with the patients consent shared, in order to provide the patient with urgent medical advice.
Legal Basis –
Patients may be videoed or asked to provide photographs with consent. There are restrictions on what the practice can accept photographs of. No photographs of the full face, no intimate areas, no pictures of patients who cannot consent to the process. No pictures of children. Processor – AccuRX, eConsult |
| MDT meetings | Purpose – For some long term conditions, the practice participates in meetings with staff from other agencies involved in providing care, to help plan the best way to provide care to patients with these conditions. Personal data will be shared with other agencies in order that mutual care packages can be decided.
Legal Basis –
Processor – MS Teams |
General Practice Extraction Service (GPES)
|
Purpose – GP practices are required to provide data extraction of their patients personal confidential information for various purposes to NHS Digital. The objective of this data collection is on an ongoing basis to identify patients registered at General Practices who fit within a certain criteria, in order to monitor and either provide direct care, or prevent serious harm to those patients. Below is a list of the purposes for the data extraction, by using the link you can find out the detail behind each data extraction and how your information will be used to inform this essential work:
Legal Basis – All GP Practices in England are legally required to share data with NHS Digital for this purpose under section 259(1)(a) and (5) of the 2012 Act Further detailed legal basis can be found in each link. Any objections to this data collection should be made directly to NHS Digital: enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk Processor – NHS England |
| Medication/Prescribing | Purpose: Prescriptions containing personal identifiable and health data will be shared with organisations who provide medicines management including chemists/pharmacies, in order to provide patients with essential medication regime management, medicines and or treatment as their health needs dictate. This process is achieved either by face to face contact with the patient or electronically. Pharmacists may be employed to review medication, Patients may be referred to pharmacists to assist with diagnosis and care for minor treatment, patients may have specified a nominated pharmacy they may wish their repeat or acute prescriptions to be ordered and sent directly to the pharmacy making a more efficient process. Arrangements can also be made with the pharmacy to deliver care and medication.
Legal Basis –
Processor – Pharmacy of choice |
| Professional Training | Purpose – We are a training surgery. Our clinical team are required to be exposed to on the job, clinical experience, as well as continual professional development. On occasion you may be asked if you are happy to be seen by one of our GP registrars, pharmacists or other clinical team to assist with their training as a clinical professional. You may also be asked if you would be happy to have a consultation recorded for training purposes. These recordings will be shared and discussed with training GPs at the surgery, and also with moderators at the RCGP and HEE.
Legal Basis –
Recordings remain the control of the GP practice and they will delete all recordings from the secure site once they are no longer required. Processor – RCGP, HEE, iConnect, Fourteen Fish |
| Telephony | Purpose – The practice use an internet based telephony system that records telephone calls, for their own purpose and to assist with patient consultations. The telephone system has been commissioned to assist with the high volume and management of calls into the surgery, which in turn will enable a better service to patients.
Legal Basis – While there is a robust contract in place with the processor, the surgery has undertaken this service to assist with the direct care of patients in a more efficient way.
Provider – Daisy |
| Learning Disability Mortality Programme
LeDer |
Purpose: The Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR) programme was commissioned by NHS England to investigate the death of patients with learning difficulties and Autism to assist with processes to improve the standard and quality of care for people living with a learning disability and Autism. Records of deceased patients who meet with this criteria will be shared with NHS England.
Legal Basis: It has approval from the Secretary of State under section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 to process patient identifiable information who fit within a certain criteria. Processor: Sussex ICB, NHS England |
| Shared Care Record | Purpose: In order for the practice to have access to a shared record, the Integrated Care Service has commissioned a number of systems including GP Connect, which is managed by NHS Digital, to enable a shared care record, which will assist in patient information to be used for a number of care related services. These may include Population Health Management, Direct Care, and analytics to assist with planning services for the use of the local health population.
Where data is used for secondary uses, no personal identifiable data will be used. Where personal confidential data is used for research, explicit consent will be required. Legal Basis –
Processor: NHS England |
| Local shared care record | Purpose: Health and Social care services are developing shared systems to share data efficiently and quickly. It is important for anyone treating you to be able to access your shared record so that they have all the information they need to care for you. This will be during your routine appointments and in urgent situations such as going to A&E, calling 111 or going to an Out of hours appointment. It is also quicker for staff to access a shared record than to try to contact other staff by phone or email.
Only authorised staff can access the systems and the information they see is carefully checked so that it relates to their job. Systems do not share all your data, just data which services have agreed is necessary to include. Legal Basis –
Processor: Sussex Our Care Connected, Plexus |
| Anticoagulation Monitoring | Purpose: Personal Confidential data is shared with inVita intelligence in order to provide an anticoagulation clinic to patients who are on anticoagulation medication. This will only affect patients who are within this criteria.
Legal Basis –
Processor: inVita intelligence INRStar |
| Docmail
|
Purpose: Personal Data is processed for the purpose of providing the Docmail Services.
Legal Basis –
Processor: Docmail |
| Targeted Lung Health Checks | Purpose: To identify and invite patients for lung checks, including telephone triage, a nurse consultation and CT scan if appropriate.
Legal Basis –
Processor: InHealth and its subsidiary Health Intelligence, Surrey & Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, iMail, Gov.UK Notify Service, local smoking cessation providers, HLH and Cimar PACS CT reporting services. |
| Medicines Optimisation in Care Homes | Purpose – To provide structured medication reviews by dedicated care home pharmacists working in Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, including the monitoring and review of medicines, tests and investigations as appropriate
Legal Basis –
Processor: Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. |
| Health risk analysis | Purpose – Special category data (Health data) will may be shared with the third party in order to provide risk analysis for specific conditions. The purpose is to provide the health care professionals with a timely response to multiple risk factors in order to improve health care for patients. Only those patients who have consented to this process will have their identifiable personal data shared. No personal confidential data will be shared with the third party directly.
Legal Basis –
Processor: Metadvice |
Summary Care Record
You will have an SCR, which will be available to people providing you with care anywhere in England. At first, your SCR will contain important information about your health, such as details of any allergies, your current prescriptions and whether you have had any bad reactions to medicines.
After that, each time you use any NHS health service, we may add details about any health problems, summaries of your care and the professionals treating you to your SCR. As we add new information to your record, you can discuss what is being added and how sensitive information is handled.
If you choose to have an SCR, NHS staff will ask you if they can look at it every time they need to. If you do not want us to make an SCR for you, you can choose not to have one.
Further information at the NHS Website – Your health and care records.
Training
GPs in Training
Our practice is approved to train fully qualified doctors who wish to specialise in general practice. Our GP registrar will have had 2-4 years of experience as a qualified hospital doctor working in various specialities. They consult patients on their own, under the mentorship of our GP Trainer.
Occasionally we ask permission to video a consultation. You will always be asked in advance and are given the option not to take part, and this will not affect your care in any way. No recording will be taken without your consent and the camera will be switched off on request. These videos are used only for educational purposes with the doctor doing the consultation and are destroyed after use.
Dr Curpanen, Dr Tanveer and Dr Brocklesby are currently the GP registrars at the practice.
Medical Students
Medical students are sometimes attached to the practice for 2 – 3 weeks as part of their training. If you do not wish a student to be present during your consultation, please inform the receptionist.
Zero Tolerance Policy
Ifield Medical Practice fully support the NHS Zero Tolerance Policy. The aim of this policy is to tackle the increasing problem of violence against staff working in the NHS.
We understand that patients when they are feeling ill may not always act in a reasonable manner and we do take this into consideration when trying to deal with any misunderstanding or complaint. We ask you to please treat all staff respectfully and courteously.
All significant incidents will be followed up and you will be sent a formal warning after a second incident or removed from the practice list after a third incident if your behaviour has been unreasonable. Aggressive behaviour, verbal abusive or violence, will not be tolerated and may result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police will be contacted if an incident is posing a threat to staff or other patients.
Removal from the Practice List
A good patient-doctor relationship, based on mutual respect and trust, is at the centre of good patient care here at Ifield Medical Practice. Any removal of patients from our list is a rare event and is a very last resort. If trust has broken down, it is in the patient’s interest, just as much as that of Ifield Medical Practice, that they should find a new practice. An exception to this is on immediate removal when the Police are involved.