News
This practice is supporting vital coronavirus (COVID-19) planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital.
The health and social care system is facing significant pressures due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Health and care information is essential to deliver care to individuals, to support health, social care and other public services and to protect public health. Information will also be vital in researching, monitoring, tracking and managing the coronavirus outbreak. In the current emergency it has become even more important to share health and care information across relevant organisations. This practice is supporting vital coronavirus planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital, the national safe haven for health and social care data in England.
Our legal basis for sharing data with NHS Digital
NHS Digital has been legally directed to collect and analyse patient data from all GP practices in England to support the coronavirus response for the duration of the outbreak. NHS Digital will become the controller under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) of the personal data collected and analysed jointly with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who has directed NHS Digital to collect and analyse this data under the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020 (COVID-19 Direction).
All GP practices in England are legally required to share data with NHS Digital for this purpose under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act). More information about this requirement is contained in the data provision notice issued by NHS Digital to GP practices.
Under GDPR our legal basis for sharing this personal data with NHS Digital is Article 6(1)(c) - legal obligation. Our legal basis for sharing personal data relating to health, is Article 9(2)(g) – substantial public interest, for the purposes of NHS Digital exercising its statutory functions under the COVID-19 Direction.
The type of personal data we are sharing with NHS Digital
The data being shared with NHS Digital will include information about patients who are currently registered with a GP practice or who have a date of death on or after 1 November 2019 whose record contains coded information relevant to coronavirus planning and research. The data contains NHS Number, postcode, address, surname, forename, sex, ethnicity, date of birth and date of death for those patients. It will also include coded health data which is held in your GP record such as details of:
- diagnoses and findings
- medications and other prescribed items
- investigations, tests and results
- treatments and outcomes
- vaccinations and immunisations
How NHS Digital will use and share your data
NHS Digital will analyse the data they collect and securely and lawfully share data with other appropriate organisations, including health and care organisations, bodies engaged in disease surveillance and research organisations for coronavirus response purposes only. These purposes include protecting public health, planning and providing health, social care and public services, identifying coronavirus trends and risks to public health, monitoring and managing the outbreak and carrying out of vital coronavirus research and clinical trials. The British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Data Guardian are all supportive of this initiative.
NHS Digital has various legal powers to share data for purposes relating to the coronavirus response. It is also required to share data in certain circumstances set out in the COVID-19 Direction and to share confidential patient information to support the response under a legal notice issued to it by the Secretary of State under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI Regulations).
Legal notices under the COPI Regulations have also been issued to other health and social care organisations requiring those organisations to process and share confidential patient information to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Any information used or shared during the outbreak under these legal notices or the COPI Regulations will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis for organisations to continue to use the information.
Data which is shared by NHS Digital will be subject to robust rules relating to privacy, security and confidentiality and only the minimum amount of data necessary to achieve the coronavirus purpose will be shared. Organisations using your data will also need to have a clear legal basis to do so and will enter into a data sharing agreement with NHS Digital. Information about the data that NHS Digital shares, including who with and for what purpose will be published in the NHS Digital data release register.
For more information about how NHS Digital will use your data please see the NHS Digital Transparency Notice for GP Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19).
National Data Opt-Out
The application of the National Data Opt-Out to information shared by NHS Digital will be considered on a case by case basis and may or may not apply depending on the specific purposes for which the data is to be used. This is because during this period of emergency, the National Data Opt-Out will not generally apply where data is used to support the coronavirus outbreak, due to the public interest and legal requirements to share information.
Your rights over your personal data
To read more about the health and care information NHS Digital collects, its legal basis for collecting this information and what choices and rights you have in relation to the processing by NHS Digital of your personal data, see:
GR8MINDS CAMPAIGN - Mental Health Support for Young People
Wharfedale, Airedale & Craven Alliance have developed a new service for young people offering mental health support. Please see the website www.GR8Minds.co.uk for further information on the campaign along with mental health first aid tools, smartphone apps and a downloadable self help guide.
CARE NAVIGATION
The right care from the right person, first time
When you ring to book an appointment, you might notice our reception team will ask you for a brief outline of how we can help you.
This is because we have introduced something called Care Navigation. It means our reception team has been trained to ensure they can help you to find the best service for your needs, so you can receive the right care more quickly. Anything you share with our team will be kept confidential.
Through this specialist training, our team will be able to direct you to the most appropriate clinician or service for your needs.
Our reception team will never offer clinical advice. Instead, this new way of working is about offering you the choice to see more appropriate professionals in our practice team or even somewhere else. If they can deal with the problem directly, it will often be quicker and means you may not need to see a GP at all.
By working this way, it helps to free-up time for GPs to care for patients with complex or serious health conditions that can only be managed by a doctor. More importantly though, it means people are seen first by the clinician that is best placed to help you with your health needs.
HELPING YOU TO CHOOSE
This choice is always yours though. It is completely up to you if you want to share information with our reception team.
You will never be refused a GP appointment but we hope next time you contact our practice and speak with our reception team you will see the value of seeing another healthcare professional if they are able to help.
You can find out more about Care Navigation by taking a look at our frequently asked questions, by picking up a leaflet or by speaking to a member of our practice team.
Useful Links
Care Navigation Frequently Asked Questions
STATEMENT OF FITNESS FOR WORK (FIT NOTE) DATA EXTRACTION
Fit notes, also known as a 'Statement of fitness for work' or a 'Med3 form' were introduced in April 2010 replacing the 'sick note'. Doctors issue fit notes to people to record the advice they have given about their fitness for work.
From January 2016 the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) started to extract anonymous data on fit notes issued in England. The DWP published the data from Spring 2016. The aim of the DWP data extraction is to gain a better understanding of sickness absence and to assist in the development of government policy to help people with health conditions return to work earlier. The anonymised statistics will also be used to evaluate the service, 'Fit for Work' for employed people who develop health conditions.
ILKLEY & WHARFEDALE PRACTICE NEWSLETTER
Please click the link below to download our latest edition of our practice newsletter.
Ilkley & Wharfedale Newletter Autumn/Winter 2017
PATIENT ACCESS TO YOUR GP RECORD
All practices are now required to promote and offer the facility for patients to view online, export or print any summary information from their records relating to medications, allergies, adverse reactions and any other items agreed between the GP surgery and patient. If you wish to be given access to this service please contact the surgery on 01943 604455 for a registration form which will need to be completed and returned to the surgery in person.
NAMED GP FOR PATIENTS OVER 75
You may be aware that from April 2014 all practices are required to provide all their patients aged 75 and over with a named GP who will have overall responsibility for the care and support that our surgery provides to them.
If you are one of our patients in this age group you will receive a letter informing you of your named GP. This does not prevent you from seeing any GP in the practice as you currently do. You do not need to take any further action but if you have any questions or wish to discuss this with us further, please contact the surgery.
FRIENDS AND FAMILY TEST
Patients are at the centre of our practice and we really want to understand your overall impression of the service you receive. From 1st December 2014 all GP practices had to undertake the Friends and Family Test (FFT). When you visit one of our GPs or Practice Nurse, you will be handed a short questionnaire asking the following:
"How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they need similar care or treatment?"
This questionnaire will take less than a minute to fill in, is anonymous and once completed is to be posted in the Friends and Family Test (FFT) post box situated in our reception area.The test will help us identify what makes our service great or where we need to make improvements.
For further information please click the link below to watch the animated Friends and Family Test film:
The following links display our results and we will continue to update this information on a regular basis.
Friends and Family Test Results - January to March 2018
Friends and Family Test Results - October to December 2017
