Privacy Note

INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU

The purpose of NHS Milton Keynes CCG is to purchase and manage services to provide patients in our area  with the highest quality of healthcare.  To do this, we must keep records about you, your health and the care we have provided or plan to provide to you.    

We hold information centrally which is used for statistical purposes to allow the NHS to plan the services it provides.  Examples of this include details of patient treatment from healthcare providers whose services we buy – for example hospitals and community services.

NHS records may be electronic, on paper or a mixture of both, and we may use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure.

NHS Milton Keynes CCG is committed to protecting your privacy. We will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and undertake not to use any information we may hold about you for any purpose other than that for which it was collected, unless we have obtained your consent.

We are not permitted to use your personal data for buying and managing clinical services so we remove your personal identifiers wherever possible. We may also use de-identified data for research, audit and public health purposes.

We do not routinely hold medical records, but may hold other personal information  relating to complaints, investigations, independent funding requests you may make, continuing healthcare funding,  or reviews that we are carrying out on your behalf. 

We will not share information about you for any reason unless:

• You ask us to do so
• Where a formal court order has been served on  us
• In order to assist the police in the prevention and detection of crime
• To protect children and vulnerable adults
• We have special permission for health and research purposes(granted by the Health Research Authority) or
• For the health and safety of others, for example to report an infectious disease such as meningitis or measles.

We work with a number of other NHS and partner agencies to provide healthcare services to you.  We may also share de-identified statistical information with them for the purpose of improving local services, for example understanding how conditions spread across our local area compared against other areas.

We also contract with other organisations to provide a range of services to us, for example holding and analysing the data we collect from other healthcare providers and for providing human resource services for our staff.  In these instances we ensure that our partner agencies handle our information under strict conditions and in line with the law.  

All staff have contractual obligations of confidentiality, enforceable through disciplinary procedures.  Staff with access to patient identifiable information have received appropriate on-going training to ensure they are aware of their responsibilities and staff are granted access to personal data on a need-to-know basis only.  

Data collected will not be sent to countries where the laws do not protect your privacy to the same extent as the law in the UK. Unless required to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us with any third party without your consent.

The Care Record Guarantee is our commitment that all NHS organisations and those providing care on behalf of the NHS will use records about you in ways that respect your rights and promote your health and wellbeing.  Everyone who works for the NHS or for organisations delivering services under contract to the NHS has to comply with this guarantee. 

In return, we ask you to:

• Give us accurate information; and tell us as soon as possible if there are any changes, such as a new address.  This helps us to keep your information reliable and up to date.

Each NHS organisation has a senior person responsible for protecting the confidentiality of patient information and enabling appropriate information sharing.  This person is called the Caldicott Guardian, who in NHS Milton Keynes CCG is Jill Wilkinson.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information we hold on you or the use of your information, please contact us at:

Information Governance
Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit
Francis Crick House
Summerhouse Road
Moulton Park Industrial Estate
Northampton NN3 6BF
igsouth@gemcsu.nhs.uk

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data-sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner at:

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Phone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45 Fax: 01625 524510
Website: www.ico.gov.uk   

 MK CCG Privacy Notice June 2013