In all our dealings we apply Fraser Guidelines to consent concerning your confidentiality and treatment.
What we do with your personal information
The main reasons for which your information may be needed are:
- Giving you health care and treatment.
- Looking after the health of the general public.
- Helping staff to review the care they give you, to make sure it is of the highest standard.
- Training and educating staff.
- Research approved by the Local Research Ethics Committee. If any research will involve you personally, you will be contacted to see if you are willing to take part. You will not be identified in any of the published results without your agreement.
Managing and planning the NHS
- Planning and organising our services.
- Paying the doctor, nurse, dentist, hospital etc. for the treatment you get from them.
- Auditing accounts.
- Preparing statistics for the NHS.
- Investigating complaints and legal claims.
Our duty to your privacy
Everyone working for the NHS has a duty to keep information about you confidential. Law also protects the privacy of your personal information. Whenever we can, we shall remove details that identify you.
Seeing your medical records
Most people have a right to see, and get copies of, their health records.
If you agree, your friends, family and carers will also be kept up to date with the progress of your treatment. Be sure to tell the doctor, nurse or other health worker you want them kept informed.
Why we ask you for personal information
We ask you for information about yourself so we can give you proper care and treatment. We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed if we see you again.
NHS central register
The NHS Central Register contains personal details of all patients registered with a general practitioner. The register does not contain information about your health.
What is personal information?
By personal information we mean such things as your name and address and any details of your treatment or condition that identifies you.
Sharing information to help you
You may be receiving care from other people as well as the NHS. To give you the best care we need to work with other agencies. We may need to share some information about you.
We only pass on information about you if there is a genuine need to do so. That means it is in your (and everyone’s) interest to use or pass on the information.
The law strictly controls the sharing of some types of sensitive health information. Staff in our partner organisations also have a legal duty to keep your information private. Your privacy is our duty. Whenever we can, we shall remove details that identify you.
In addition to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018, the 2004 Gender Recognition Act (GRA) makes it a criminal offence to disclose an individual’s transgender history to a third party without their written consent if that individual holds a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).
Patients do not need to show a GRC or birth certificate in order for the GRA 2004 to be in effect, so it is best practice to act as though every trans patient has one. This means always obtaining a trans patient’s written consent before sharing details about their social or medical transition, sometimes also called gender reassignment, with other services or individuals.
This includes information such as whether a patient is currently taking hormones or whether they have had any genital surgery, as well as information about previous names or the gender they were given at birth. Consent should always be obtained before information relating to the patient being trans is shared in referrals and this information should only be shared where it is clinically relevant.