The Care Quality Commission (CQC) makes sure hospitals, care homes, dental and GP surgeries, and all other care services in England provide people with safe, effective, compassionate and high-quality care, and encourages them to make improvements where possible.

They do this by inspecting services and publishing the results on their website: www.cqc.org.uk

You can use the results to help you make better decisions about the care you, or someone you care for, receives.

Our CQC Inspection

Our practice is inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to ensure we are meeting essential standards of quality and safety.

This link provides a summary of the results of the latest checks carried out by the CQC.

All patients registered at the practice have a named GP; this is normally your registered GP. You may see anyone in the practice.

These are the local standards set within this practice for the benefit of our patients. It is our job to give you treatment and advice. Following discussion with you, you will receive the most appropriate care, given by suitably qualified people. No care or treatment will be given without your informed consent. In the interest of your health it is important for you to understand all the information given to you. Please ask us questions if you are unsure of anything.

Our Responsibility To You

We are committed to giving you the best possible service.

Names: People involved in your care will give you their names and ensure that you know how to contact them. The surgery should be well signposted and the doctors’ or nurses’ names indicated on their surgery room doors.

Chaperone Requirements: Please inform the Clinician you are seeing if you require a chaperone during your consultation.

Waiting Time: We run an appointment system in this practice. You will be given a time at which the doctor or nurse hopes to be able to see you. You should not wait more than 30 minutes in the waiting room without receiving an explanation for the delay.

Access: You will have access to a doctor rapidly in case of an emergency; we will arrange a home visit as appropriate for those who are too ill or infirm to be brought to the surgery.

Telephone: We will try and answer the phone promptly and ensure that there are sufficient staff available to do this. You should be able to speak to a doctor by telephone.

Respect: Patients will be treated as individuals and partners in their healthcare, irrespective of their ethnic origin or religious and cultural beliefs, sexual orientation or disability.

Information: We will give you full information about the services we offer. Every effort will be made to ensure that you receive that information which directly affects your health and the care being offered.

Health Promotion: The practice will offer patients advice and information on: steps they can take to promote good health and avoid illness; self-help which can be undertaken without reference to a doctor in the case of minor ailments.

Health Records: You have the right to see your health records, subject to limitations in the law. These will be kept confidential at all times.

Your Responsibility To Us

Help Us To Help You: Let us know if you change your name, address or telephone number. If you cannot keep an appointment, please inform us as soon as possible. Try to be patient if you are kept waiting for your appointment as the person before you may be seriously ill and require extra time with the doctor. Please ask for a home visit by the doctor only when the person is too ill to visit the surgery.

Please keep your telephone call brief and avoid calling during the peak morning time for non-urgent matters.

Test results take time to reach us, so please do not ring before you have been asked to do so. Enquiries about tests ordered by the hospital should be directed to the hospital, not the practice.

We ask that you treat the doctors and staff with courtesy and respect. We hope that our website and practice booklet will help you to get the best out of the services we offer. It is important that you understand the information given to you, so ask us questions if you are unsure of anything. Remember, you are responsible for your own health and the health of your children. We will give you our professional help and advice. Please act upon it.

We will make every effort to ensure that your appointment is with the doctor of your choice. However, where this is not possible on a given day, alternatives will be offered. There will always be a doctor available who will have full access to your records.

Freedom of Information – Publication Scheme

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme. A Publication Scheme is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available.

This scheme is available from the Practice Manager.

How we use your information

Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice (or ‘Fair Processing Notice’) explains why we as a Practice collect information about our patients, what information we collect and how we use that information.

Recently the Data Protection Act 1998 was updated to the Data Protection Act 2018 and joined by new regulations on data protection and fair processing called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which came into effect on 25th May 2018. Being transparent and providing clear information to patients about how a practice uses their personal data is an essential requirement.

The privacy notice for Enderley Road Medical Centre and our updated Patient Data Sharing information can be found below.

Enderley Road Medical Centre, a GP surgery in Harrow, Middlesex manages patient information in accordance with existing laws and with guidance from organisations that govern the provision of healthcare in England such as the Department of Health and the General Medical Council.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:

• Data Protection Act 1998
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
• Health and Social Care Act 2012
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Information Security

All GP surgeries in England are data controllers and data processors. Therefore, Enderley Road Medical Centre has fair processing responsibilities under the Data Protection Act 1998/2018. In practice, this means ensuring that your personal confidential data (PCD) is handled clearly and transparently, and in a reasonably expected way. It means a practice must:

• Have legitimate reasons for the use or collection of personal data.
• Not use the data in a way that may cause adverse effects on the individuals (e.g. improper sharing of their information with 3rd parties)
• Be transparent about how you the data will be used, and give appropriate privacy notices when collecting their personal data.
• Handle personal data only as reasonably expected to do so.
• Make no unlawful use of the collected data.

How your personal information is used

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 changed the way that personal confidential data is processed, therefore it is important that our patients are aware of and understand these changes, and that you have an opportunity to object and know how to do so.

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any NHS treatment or care you have received (e.g. NHS Hospital Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare. For example, a hospital consultant may write to us as your GP.

NHS health records may be processed electronically, on paper or a mixture of both; a combination of working practices and technology are used to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Records held by this GP practice may include the following information:

• Details about you, such as address, carers, legal representatives, emergency contact details and next of kin etc.
• Any contact the practice has had with you, including appointments (emergency or scheduled), clinic visits, telephone calls etc.
• Notes and reports about your health
• Details about treatment and care received
• Results of investigations, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you

Your records are used to ensure that you receive the best possible care. The practice collects and holds data for the sole purpose of providing healthcare services to our patients and we will ensure that the information is kept confidential. However, we can disclose personal information if:

• It is required by law
• You provide consent – either implicitly or for the sake of their own care, or explicitly for other purposes
• It is justified to be in the public interest

Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we hold data centrally, we take strict and secure measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

Information may be used for clinical audit purposes to monitor the quality of service provided, and may be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this we ensure that patient records cannot be identified. Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for clinical research purposes – the practice will always endeavour to gain your consent before releasing the information.

Improvements in information technology are also making it possible for us to share data with other healthcare providers with the objective of providing you with better care. Patients can choose to withdraw their consent to their data being used in this way. When the practice is about to participate in any new data-sharing scheme we will make patients aware by displaying prominent notices in the surgery and on our website at least four weeks before the scheme is due to start. We will also explain clearly what you have to do to ‘opt-out’ of each new scheme.

A patient can object to their personal information being shared with other health care providers but if this limits the treatment that you can receive then the doctor will explain this to you at the time.

Mobile Telephone

If you provide us with your mobile phone number, we may use this to send you reminders about any appointments or other health screening information being carried out. This may be by telephone call or SMS text messaging. Please contact the reception if you wish to ‘opt-out’ of this service and this information will be added to your records.

Practice Website

Our Website does use cookies to optimise your experience. Using this feature means that you agree to the use of cookies as required by the EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. You have the option to decline the use of cookies on your first visit to the website.

Risk Stratification

NHS England (the national Commissioning Board) encourages GPs to use risk stratification tools as part of their local strategies for supporting patients with long-term conditions. By identifying these patients, we can provide care plans with the aim to prevent avoidable admissions or other emergency care. It is commonly used for those suffering with long term conditions such as COPD, cancer or other medical condition at risk of sudden worsening. This process can also be used for example, to identify patients at risk of developing a health condition in future who could benefit from preventative intervention now.

Information about you is collected from a number of sources including NHS Trusts and from this GP practice. A risk score is then arrived at through an analysis of your de-identified information using software provided by Harrow (CGG) as the data processor and is provided back in an identifiable form to your GP or member of your care team as a data controller.

Risk stratification enables your GP to focus on preventing ill health and not just the treatment of sickness. If necessary your GP may be able to offer you additional services.

Please note that you have the right to opt out of Risk Stratification.

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed, or wish to opt out of any data collection at the practice, please contact the practice, or your healthcare professional to discuss how the disclosure of your personal information can be limited.

Patients have the right to change their minds and reverse a previous decision. Please contact the practice, if you change your mind regarding any previous choice.

Invoice Validation

If you have received treatment within the NHS your personal information may be shared within a strictly monitored, secure and confidential environment in order to determine which Clinical Commissioning Group should pay for the treatment or procedure you have received.

Information such as your name, address and date of treatment may be passed on to enable the billing process – these details are held in a secure environment and kept confidential. This information will only be used to validate invoices, and will not be shared for any further commissioning purposes. This service is provided to practices within Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (which is overseen by the Information Commissioner’s Office), Human Rights Act, the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, and the NHS Codes of Confidentiality and Security. Every staff member who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to maintain the confidentiality of patient information.

All of our staff and contractors receive appropriate and regular training to ensure they are aware of their personal responsibilities and have legal and contractual obligations to uphold confidentiality, enforceable through disciplinary procedures. Only a limited number of authorised staff has access to personal information where it is appropriate to their role and is strictly on a need-to-know basis.

We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times. We will only ever use or pass on
information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), or where the law requires information to be passed on.

Who are our partner organisations?

We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations:

• NHS Trusts/Foundation Trusts
• GP Walk-in Centres and GP surgeries
• Accident and Emergency (A&E) and Urgent Care Centres
• Specialist Trusts
• NHS Commissioning Support Units
• Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private Sector Providers
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts
• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• NHS Digital (formerly HSCIC)
• Social Care Services
• Bexley Healthcare Limited (Referral triage and management)
• Local Authorities
• Education Services
• Fire and Rescue Services
• Police and Judicial Services
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Private Sector Providers
• LumiraDx Care Solutions/Public Cloud First – INRstar Anticoagulation Management System
• Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of

You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for explicit consent for this happen when this is required.

We may also use external companies to process personal information, such as for archiving purposes. These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure.

Access to personal information (Subject Access Requests)

You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998/2018 and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to request access to view information or obtain copies of the information the practice holds about you, and to have it amended or removed should it be inaccurate. This is known as ‘The Right of Subject Access’.

• If you would like to make a ‘subject access request’, you may contact the Practice Manager in writing. For information solely related to the hospital you should write directly to them. Requests can be made by other means, including verbal requests if appropriate however you will likely be contacted by a member of our team to confirm the details relating to the request.
• The Practice has the right enquire as to what (the amount, date range or specific details) information you are requesting, and to act accordingly to transfer the data to you. The Practice has the right to reject your request if it is seen to be excessive. An example of where we may reject a request is that you request full copies of your records and the following month, you request the same information to be transferred into your care.
• You have the right to sign up for an online ‘Patient access’ account, and request that the Practice change the default settings on its clinical system, to enable you to view the information we hold about you in an electronic format. If you don’t have an online / Patient services account, or want more information on what a Patient services account is, please visit reception.

The information will be provided free of charge within one month however, the practice may charge a reasonable fee to comply with requests for further copies of the same information or if it felt that the requests are manifestly unfounded or excessive.

Any changes to this notice will be published on our website or available from reception.

The practice is registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998.
You can find your practice registration details by entering this Practice’s details into the following Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) search at www.ico.org.uk.

Registration Number: Z6133644
Name: Enderley Road Medical Centre
Address: 41-45 Enderley Road, Harrow Weald, Middlesex
Postcode: HA3 5HF

Objections and Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at Enderley Road Medical Centre, please contact Mostafa Raji, Practice Manager. If you are still unhappy following a review by the GP practice, you can contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) with your complaint, via their website (www.ico.org.uk). Or contact them by telephone on their helpline: 0303 123 1113

If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this privacy notice then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared then please contact the practice.

Change of Details

It is important that you tell the person treating you if any of your details such as your name, address or contact numbers have changed or if any of your details such as date of birth are incorrect in order for this to be amended. You have a responsibility to inform us of any changes so our records are accurate and up to date for you.

If the GP surgery is holding incorrect information about you, please inform reception. If it relates to a change of name or address, you may be asked to provide proof that such details have changed.

If you wish to remove data from your records, i.e. a telephone number or contact details of next of kin, please inform reception, who will remove the data from your records. If you wish to remove medical data from your medical records, it is most likely that you will have to discuss the matter with one of our doctors, so please inform the reception desk, who will inform the doctor of your request. This may result in your requiring an appointment with the doctor.

Notification

The Data Protection Act 1998, updated and revised to the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information. This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk. This Practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

Who is the Data Controller?

The Data Controller, responsible for keeping your information secure and confidential is Enderley Road Medical Centre. Any changes to this notice will be published on our website and displayed in prominent notices in the surgery.

The Partnership is registered as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998 Z6133644. Our registration can be viewed on-line in the public register at www.ico.org.uk.

Further information

Further information about the way in which the NHS uses personal information and your rights in that respect can be found in:

• The NHS Care Record Guarantee: www.nigb.nhs.uk
• The NHS Constitution: www.gov.uk
• NHS Digital’s Guide to Confidentiality in Health & Social Care gives more information on the rules around information sharing: www.content.digital.nhs.uk

An independent review of information about patients is shared across the health and care system led by Dame Fiona Caldicott was conducted in 2012. The report, Information: To share or not to share? The Information Governance Review, can be found at: www.gov.uk

NHS England – Better Data, Informed Commissioning, Driving Improved Outcomes: Clinical Data Sets provides further information about the data flowing within the NHS to support commissioning.

Please visit the NHS Digital website for further information about their work. Information about their responsibility for collecting data from across the health and social care system can be found.

The Information Commissioner’s Office is the Regulator for the Data Protection Act 1998 and offer independent advice and guidance on the law and personal data, including your rights and how to access your personal information. For further information please visit www.ico.org.uk.

Summary Care Record (SCR)

The Summary Care Record is a secure, electronic patient record that contains key information from your detailed GP records that can be accessed by emergency services to ensure safe treatment. It is only used for your care. The core information held on your SCR is current medication, allergies and any previous adverse reactions to medicines. When you registered with us or any GP practice in England, a basic SCR will have been created for you, unless you have previously chosen not to have one.

Information about your healthcare may not be routinely shared across different healthcare
organisations and systems. You may need to be treated by health and care professionals who do not know your medical history and essential details about your healthcare can be difficult to remember, particularly when you are unwell or have complex care needs. Having a Summary Care Record can help by providing healthcare staff treating you anywhere in England with vital information from your health record. This will help the staff involved in your care make better and safer decisions about how best to treat you, particularly in an emergency or when your GP surgery is closed.

Who can see my Summary Care Record?

Healthcare staff who have access to your Summary Care Record:

• need to be directly involved in caring for you
• need to have an NHS Smartcard with a chip and passcode
• will only see the information they need to do their job and
• will have their details recorded every time they look at your record

Healthcare staff will ask for your permission every time they need to look at your Summary Care Record. If they cannot ask you (for example if you are unconscious or otherwise unable to communicate), healthcare staff may look at your record without asking you, because they consider that this is in your best interest.

If they have to do this, this decision will be recorded and checked to ensure that the access was appropriate.

You may choose to opt out of sharing any information at any time. Or you may wish to opt for further additional information to be included as well in the form of a detailed SCR which includes significant medical history, care plans, or any care preferences you may have. If you wish to either ‘opt-out’ or request the additional information to be included, please complete the attached form and pass the printed form to our reception team. Your options:

• Express consent for medication, allergies and adverse reactions only (default, no action needed).
  You wish to share information about medication, allergies for adverse reactions only.
• Express consent for medication, allergies, adverse reactions and additional information.
  You wish to share information about medication, allergies for adverse reactions and further medical information that includes: your illnesses and health problems, operations and vaccinations you have had in the past, how you would like to be treated (such as where you would prefer to receive care), what support you might need and who should be contacted for more information about you. Click here for the form.
• Express dissent for Summary Care Record (opt out).
  Select this option, if you DO NOT want any information shared with other healthcare professionals involved in your care. Click here for the form.

If you do not inform us of your wishes, the basic Summary Care Record (SCR) will be created for you.

Children and the Summary Care Record

If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 16, you should make this information available to them and support the child to come to a decision as to whether to have a Summary Care Record or not.

If you believe that your child should opt-out of having a Summary Care Record, we strongly recommend that you discuss this with your child’s GP. This will allow your child’s GP to highlight the consequences of opting-out, prior to you finalising your decision.

You are free to change your decision at any time by informing your GP practice. For more information on the SCR, please see the NHS Digital (formerly known as the HSCIC) website: www.digital.nhs.uk or you can contact them on 0300 303 5678

For GP practice use only

To update a patient’s consent status, Enderley Road Medical Centre uses the SCR consent preference dialogue box and selects the relevant option or adds the appropriate read code from the options below

For more information, please visit www.digital.nhs.uk, call NHS Digital on 0300 303 5678 or the NHS Care Records Service information line on 0300 123 3020 or speak to your GP Practice.

Data Sharing Measure in relation to the COVID pandemic

The secretary of state has served notice under the Health Service COPI(Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 to require organisations to process confidential patient information during the COVID Pandemic and these measures will remain in place until September 2020. In addition, aggregate data which supports the planning and delivery of health care during the COVID pandemic will be processed securely through the Whole Systems Integrated Care database. Any such data will be formally identified as COVID related and used only for this purpose until Sep 2020.

Primary care staff across each CCG will be able to access your full medical record without consent during the COVID-19 pandemic but will only do so when this is necessary to provide you with care. They will be required to use a smartcard which confirms their identity, and which limits their access and actions to those appropriate for their role. They will all have been trained to understand their professional and legal responsibilities in providing you with care. Access to records by trained clinicians will be made available for example when patients:

• are asked to present to the Respiratory Hubs offering care for COVID related illness
• are directed to other hubs based services for routine face to face, or telephone or video consultation
• require community visiting services

The extension to smart card permissions is currently limited to CCG wide sharing, but in the event of the pandemic escalating we have taken measures to implement NWL wide sharing and will notify patients through this Fair Processing Notice, should that need arise.

The government have requested reinstatement of the “break glass” facility” previously available in TPP clinical systems so as to allow a declared access to patient records in the event of an emergency.

We are committed to protecting your privacy. You can access our website without giving us any information about yourself. But sometimes we do need information to provide services that you request, and this statement of privacy explains data collection and use in those situations.

In general, you can visit our web site without telling us who you are and without revealing any information about yourself. However there may be occasions when you choose to give us personal information, for example, when you choose to contact us or request information from us. We will ask you when we need information that personally identifies you or allows us to contact you.

We collect the personal data that you may volunteer while using our services. We do not collect information about our visitors from other sources, such as public records or bodies, or private organisations. We do not collect or use personal data for any purpose other than that indicated below:

• To send you confirmation of requests that you have made to us
• To send you information when you request it.

We intend to protect the quality and integrity of your personally identifiable information and we have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to do so. We ensure that your personal data will not be disclosed to State institutions and authorities except if required by law or other regulation.

We do not use cookies on this website therefore you will not see a message asking you to choose to accept or decline cookies.

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should be aware that we don’t have any control over the other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting these sites.