During your treatment, the doctor or nurse will ask you for information about yourself and your health care. This information is used by the doctor or nurse to help them to treat you.
Information which you provide in this way may be shared with other staff or organisations that may assist in your health care. You will always be told when this is likely to happen and where possible your consent sought in advance. This is so that the different parts of the NHS can work together to offer patients the best care possible.
Any information which is shared in this way is treated as highly confidential, and there are strict security measures in place:
- Only those NHS staff that need to, can access your information.
- NHS staff are bound by the NHS Confidentiality Code of Conduct, Professional Codes of Conduct and the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality.
- All staff have clauses in their contracts of employment that require them to maintain confidentiality.
- Every NHS organisation is required to register with the Information Commissioner.
You can request that we do not share your medical data with other staff or parts of the NHS (although this may affect the treatment you are given). Please speak to the Practice Manager for further details.