Policy Regarding Protection & Patient Information

Information on patients is collected in a variety of ways. Manual or electronic data is recorded from GP and Nurse consultations, from letters from the Hospital and from other sources such as Social Services, etc.

Riverside Medical Practice asks you for information so that you can receive proper care and treatment.

We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed when we see you again.

We may use some of this information for other reasons, for example:

• To help us protect the health of the public generally
• To carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone
• Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information, for example, to notify a birth.

The NHS Central Register for England & Wales contains basic personal details of all patients registered with a General Practitioner. The Register does not contain clinical information.

You have the right of access to your health records. To do so, please contact the surgery and we will inform you of the procedure and costs.

Everyone working for the surgery has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. All our staff have signed confidentiality agreements, which ensures that this is the case.

You may be receiving care from other people as well as from the Practice. So that we can all work together for your benefit, we may need to share some information about you. We only ever use or pass on information about you if people have a genuine need for it in your and everyone's interest. Whenever we can, we shall remove details which identify you.

Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.