INFORMATION FOR PATIENTS AND CARERS
Fair processing notice
Your medical and personal information
Cornwall Hospice Care is responsible for the security of all the information it holds and uses. It takes seriously the need for confidentiality, the safe-guarding of personal information and the vitally important aspect of trust in a professional caring relationship.
Sharing for care
We also recognise the importance of sharing medical information about people in our care with the other health and social care professionals involved in their care. The information you give us may be recorded on both computer and paper records; and with your permission we may share that information for the purposes of your direct care with, for example:
- General Practitioners
- Community Nursing and Integrated Care Teams
- Colleagues at NHS Hospitals
- Cornwall Council
- Mental Health Services
- Hospice Volunteers (information to volunteers is on a strict ‘needs to know basis’ in order to ensure your safety and theirs)
Confidentiality
All members of staff employed by these agencies are bound by legislation and by the common law duty of confidentiality which means that information that you provide to us must be held in confidence and not shared with anyone else unless:
- They are legally obliged to disclose the information to another organisation or person
- You provide consent to share the information to anyone else
- Protocols are in place permitting partners to share information about you to support any intervention or service provided for you
Consent
You may withdraw your consent to sharing your information at any time but this may affect the care or services available to you, please tell us if you would prefer us not to share your information.
Complaints
Should you wish to make a complaint regarding the use of your information please speak to a member of staff, or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Anonymous use of your information
Your medical information may also be used to support hospice clinical audit, education or other work aimed to monitor the quality of care provided. However, all personal identifiers are removed to ensure confidentially and anonymity.
National data opt-out
Should the hospice be required to provide the NHS with patient information for planning or research then the national data opt-out requirements would be implemented to ensure no data about patients who have opted out would be included. More information on the opt-out provisions can be found at Digital NHS services
Copies of your information
We are happy to give you copies of all written communications to GPs or others. Please tell us if you would like this. Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR, you have the right to request a copy of your information. Please speak to a member of staff if you would like to do this.
Information security
Your personal data will be held in secure conditions within the European Economic Area in line with the Hospice’s ‘Health Record Retention Schedule’.
Any concerns about this Fair Processing notice?
Cornwall Hospice Care is committed to data protection and we have safeguards in place to ensure your information is properly looked after in line with current legislation, NHS codes of practice and professional codes of conduct. If you have any concerns regarding this Fair Processing notice or the use of your medical or personal information or for any further information please speak to a member of the clinical team.
Should you require additional information regarding how your information is collected, used, shared, stored or processed please contact the Cornwall Hospice Care Information Governance Officer – by telephone at 01726 66868 and choose option 7 or by email to infogov@cornwallhospice.co.uk.
Click here to view our Conduct & Policies page for more information about how we conduct ourselves.
