We value your data
Please find our notices and policies below. If you have any questions, please contact us.
We would like to reassure our patients that the proposed extraction of GP data by NHS Digital does NOT include any patients registered with this practice or in NHS Scotland. NHS Digital provide services in England so are not able to access any data held in Scotland. You are not required to opt out as your data is already safe. We take patient confidentiality extremely seriously and safeguards are in place to protect this, including when data is used for research.
Further information on how the NHS handles your data is available from the NHS Inform website.
Data Protection Notice
The following notice applies from 4th July 2022.
1. About Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice
This practice is an independent contractor providing primary medical services by way of a contract with NHS Lothian, made under the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 (the 1978 Act). It is one of the organisations which form part of NHS Scotland (NHSS).
2. About the personal information we use
We use personal information on different groups of individuals including:
- Patients
- Staff
- Contractors
- Suppliers
- Complainants, enquirers
- Survey respondents
- Professional experts and consultants
- Individuals captured by CCTV
The personal information we use includes information that identifies you like your name, address, date of birth and postcode.
We also use more sensitive types of personal information, including information about racial or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or philosophical beliefs; trade union membership; genetic and biometric data, health; sex life or sexual orientation.
The information we use can relate to personal and family details; education, training and employment details; financial details; lifestyle and social circumstances; goods and services; visual images; details held in the patient record; responses to surveys.
3. Our purposes for using personal information
Under the 1978 Act [Name of Practice] has the statutory responsibility to provide or arrange for the provision of a range of healthcare, health improvement and health protection services. We are given these tasks so that we can help to promote the improvement of the physical and mental health of the people of NHS Lothian and assist in operating a comprehensive and integrated national health service in Scotland.
We use personal information to enable us to provide healthcare services for patients (including reminding you of appointments), data matching under the national fraud initiative; research; supporting and managing our employees; maintaining our accounts and records and the use of CCTV systems for crime prevention.
4. Our legal basis for using personal information
Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice, as data controller, is required to have a legal basis when using personal information. Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice considers that performance of our tasks and functions are in the public interest. So, when using personal information, our legal basis is usually that its use is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in us. In some situations, we may rely on a different legal basis; for example, when we are using personal information to pay a supplier, our legal basis is that its use is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests as a buyer of goods and services. Another example would be for compliance with a legal obligation to which Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice is subject to, for example, under the Public Health etc (Scotland) Act 2008 we are required to notify Health Protection Scotland when someone contracts a specific disease.
When we are using more sensitive types of personal information, including health information, our legal basis is usually that the use is necessary:
- for the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services; or
- for reasons of public interest in the area of public health; or
- for reasons of substantial public interest for aims that are proportionate and respect people’s rights; or
- for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, subject to appropriate safeguards; or
- in order to protect the vital interests of an individual; or
- for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims or in the case of a court order.
On rare occasions we may rely on your explicit consent as our legal basis for using your personal information. When we do this, we will explain what it means, and the rights that are available, to you. You should be aware that we will continue to ask for your consent for other things like taking part in a drug trial, or when you are having an operation.
5. Who provides the personal information
When you do not provide information directly to us, we receive it from other individuals and organisations involved in the delivery of health and care services in Scotland. These include other NHS Boards and primary care contractors such as GPs, dentists, pharmacists and opticians, other public bodies e.g. Local Authorities and suppliers of goods and services.
6. Sharing personal information with others
Depending on the situation, where necessary we will share appropriate, relevant and proportionate personal information in compliance with the law, with the following:
- Our patients and their chosen representatives or carers
- Staff
- Current, past and potential employers
- Healthcare social and welfare organisations
- Suppliers, service providers, legal representatives
- Auditors and audit bodies
- Educators and examining bodies
- Research organisations
- People making an enquiry or complaint
- Financial organisations
- Professional bodies
- Trade Unions
- Business associates
- Police forces.
- Security organisations.
- Central and local government.
- Voluntary and charitable organisations.
7. Transferring personal information abroad
It is sometimes necessary to transfer personal health information overseas for example if you require urgent medical treatment abroad. When this is needed information may be transferred to countries or territories around the world. Any transfers made will be in full compliance with NHSScotland Information Security Policy.
8. Retention periods of the information we hold
Within Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice we keep personal information as set out in the Scottish Government Records Management: HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE CODE OF PRACTICE (SCOTLAND) 2020. The Code of Practice sets out minimum retention periods for information, including personal information, held in different types of records including personal health records and administrative records. As directed by the Scottish Government in the Records Management Code of Practice, we maintain a retention schedule as part of our Records Management policy detailing the minimum retention period for the information and procedures for the safe disposal of personal information.
9. How we protect personal information
We take care to ensure your personal information is only accessible to authorised people. Our staff have a legal and contractual duty to keep personal health information secure, and confidential. The following security measures are in place to protect personal information:
- All staff undertake mandatory training in Data Protection and IT Security
- Compliance with NHS Scotland Information Security Policy
- Organisational policy and procedures on the safe handling of personal information
- Access controls and audits of electronic systems
10. Your rights
This section contains a description of your data protection rights within Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice.
The right to be informed
[Name of Practice] must explain how we use your personal information. We use a number of ways to communicate how personal information is used, including:
- This Data Protection Notice
- Information leaflets
- Discussions with staff providing your care
The right of access
You have the right to access your own personal information.
This right includes making you aware of what information we hold along with the opportunity to satisfy you that we are using your information fairly and legally.
You have the right to obtain:
- Confirmation that your personal information is being held or used by us
- Access to your personal information
- Additional information about how we use your personal information
Although we must provide this information free of charge, if your request is considered unfounded or excessive, or if you request the same information more than once, we may charge a reasonable fee.
If you would like to access your personal information, you can do this by submitting a written request to the Practice Manager at the following address:
3 Queen’s Rd, Dunbar EH42 1LA
Telephone: 01368 861401
Email lynne.bolton@nhs.scot
Please note, emails from your private email address may not be secure.
Once we have received your request and you have provided us with enough information for us to locate your personal information, we will respond to your request without delay, within one month (30 days). However, if your request is complex we may take longer, by up to two months, to respond. If this is the case, we will tell you and explain the reason for the delay.
The right to rectification
If the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete you have the right to have this corrected.
If it is agreed that your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete, we will aim to amend your records accordingly, normally within one month, or within two months where the request is complex. However, we will contact you as quickly as possible to explain this further if the need to extend our timescales applies to your request. Unless there is a risk to patient safety, we can restrict access to your records to ensure that the inaccurate or incomplete information is not used until amended.
If for any reason we have shared your information with anyone else, perhaps during a referral to another service for example, we will notify them of the changes required so that we can ensure their records are accurate.
If on consideration of your request Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice does not consider the personal information to be inaccurate then we may add a comment to your record stating your concerns about the information. If this is case we will contact you within one month to explain our reasons for this.
If you are unhappy about how Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice has responded to your request for rectification we will provide you with information on how you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, or how to take legal action.
The right to object
When Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice is processing your personal information for the purpose of the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority you have the right to object to the processing and also seek that further processing of your personal information is restricted. Provided Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for processing your personal information, for instance; patient safety or for evidence to support legal claims, your right will not be upheld.
Other rights
There are other rights under current Data Protection Law however these rights only apply in certain circumstances. For further information on these rights please visit ico.org.uk/for-the-public.
The right to complain
Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice employ a Data Protection Officer to check that we handle personal information in a way that meets data protection law. If you are unhappy with the way in which we use your personal information, please tell our Data Protection Officer using the contact details below.
Data Protection Officer
IT Governance
Woodlands House
74 Canaan Lane
Edinburgh
EH9 2TB
Phone – 0131 465 5444
Email: Lothian.DPO@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Please note emails from your private email address may not be secure.
You also have the right to complain about how we use your personal information to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Details about this are on their website at www.ico.org.uk
11. DataLoch
This GP practice has agreed to take part in the DataLoch research programme. Both your GP practice and NHS Lothian are the data controller for the DataLoch programme (Data is only hosted within NHS Lothian), and are working in partnership with the University of Edinburgh. The aims of the DataLoch programme are to support research for the benefit of local residents in the South-East Scotland region. A Data Sharing Agreement is in place that covers the sharing of patient data with DataLoch, and all approved research is anonymous.
In line with data protection legislation, the legal basis that permits processing of patient data is:
• 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.
• 9(2)(j) – Processing is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, or scientific and historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1)
The DataLoch website covers the researcher data, public enquiries, and newsletter subscriptions for which the University of Edinburgh is the Data Controller: https://dataloch.org/privacy-notice
Confidentiality and Processing Children’s Data in Scotland
Parent / Guardian info sheet
What the Law says
When it comes to processing data relating to a child in the whole of the UK, the same law that applies to adult data also applies to children’s data – the Data Protection Act 2018. What this means is that a child in the UK has the same rights as an adult under this legislation, and that extends to the privacy of their data. Generally, someone is considered legally a child until they reach the age of 18, or 16 in some circumstances, and until that point they are unable to exercise certain rights. That is not the case with the rights inferred by data protection legislation, which can be exercised by children as young as 13 in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and in Scotland from the age of 12.
The Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 is additional legislation that only applies in Scotland. It provides that:
• Section 2(4) A person under the age of 16 years shall have legal capacity to consent on his own behalf to any surgical, medical or dental procedure or treatment where, in the opinion of a qualified medical practitioner attending him, he is capable of understanding the nature and possible consequences of the procedure or treatment.
The legislation sets a lower age limit of 12 on the rights inferred. What this means for healthcare providers in Scotland is that a competent 12-year-old (competency is presumed) must be afforded the same confidentiality rights as an adult and given the choice if they want to use them or not.
Raising awareness
Awareness of legal rights is very important, so this practice must take action to ensure adults know their rights and can exercise them – the same is true for children over 12 registered at the practice. We can’t expect children to exercise their rights if we haven’t told them what these rights are in the first place. We fully accept that just because your child has the right to be consulted about who gets to have information about them doesn’t mean they will want to be consulted – they might be entirely happy for you to deal with everything and have no interest in being involved – but we don’t know unless we ask them first. If they are happy for us to deal with you then all they need to do is let us know in writing.
Best interests / emergency situations
If our clinicians feels that it is in the best interests of your child to provide information to you without your child’s consent, then they have the discretion to do so – Data Protection legislation is never a barrier to a clinician making decisions that are in the best interests of your child or sharing information with you in an emergency.
Contacts
If you would like to discuss this matter further or raise a concern, you can contact the Practice directly, or our Data Protection Officer, using the following details:
Phone: 0131 465 5444
Email: Loth.DPO@nhs.scot
Post: Data Protection Officer, IT Governance, Woodlands House, 74 Canaan Lane, Edinburgh, EH9 2TB
Useful links for parents / guardians
The ICO
The Information Commissioners Office have published guidance on how data related to children should be handled, which includes the child’s right to privacy.
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland
The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland website is a helpful resource for understanding how things like GIRFEC and The Children and Young People’s (Scotland) Act 2014 influences how we treat children and what rights they have. It also has information on the United Nations Convention on The Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Data Protection Act 2018
The Data Protection Act 2018 details the rights of all data subjects – these rights apply equally to both adults and children.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2018/12/contents
Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991
The Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 formalises the right of a child to be involved in taking decisions that affect them into a piece of legislation that applies in Scotland. It is this piece of legislation which means that a child of 12 or over, who has competency, must be involved in decisions regarding their healthcare, and confirms the requirement to secure the consent of the child in certain circumstance.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/50/contents