Belgrave Surgery
Phone us:
(01723) 361279
(01723) 361279
Lawrence House Medical Centre,
1 Belgrave Crescent,
Scarborough,
YO11 1UB
1 Belgrave Crescent,
Scarborough,
YO11 1UB
Privacy and Confidentiality of Your Medical Records
Your medical record is a life-long history of your consultations, illnesses, investigations, prescriptions and other treatments
At Belgrave Surgery we store our patients records in two ways:
Your GP is responsible for the accuracy and safe keeping of your medical records. You can help us to keep it accurate by informing us of any change in your name, address etc. and by ensuring that we have full details of your important medical history. We take regular 'back up' copies of all our computerised patient records. This is so that we would have up to date information if anything happened to the computer system.
If you move to another area or change GP, we will send your paper medical records plus a printout of your computerised records to the Health Authority to be passed on to your new practice. However, we do keep a copy of all Computerised entries into your records made whilst you were registered with us.
You have a right to keep your personal health information confidential between you and your doctor. This applies to everyone over the age of 16 years of age and in certain cases to those under 16. The law does impose a few exceptions to this rule, but apart from these (listed below) you have a right to know who has access to your medical record.
There is a balance between your privacy and good health care. We will normally share some information with other health professionals involved in your health care, unless you ask us not to. This could include, doctors, nurses, therapists, pharmacists and technicians involved in your investigation or treatment. These professionals may work for a variety of organisations such as the local acute and community NHS trusts, the Primary Care Group, social services or private hospitals.
Our Practice nursing team all have access to the computerised medical record system and paper records. They are governed by the same professional codes of confidentiality as your GP and will not disclose health information without your consent.
We aim to deliver the highest quality of care from a modern Primary Care Team.
Our practice staff have limited administrative access to the medical record system. They notify the Health Authority of registration and claim details and perform various filing, data entry and secretarial tasks on the medical records.
We are required by law to notify the government of certain diseases eg Meningitis or public health reasons. Law courts can also require GPs to disclose medical records to them. Doctors cannot refuse to co-operate with the courts without risking serious punishment. We are also often asked for medical reports from solicitors. These will always be accompanied by the patient's written consent for us to disclose information. We will not normally release any details about other people contained in your records eg wife, children etc. unless we also have your consent.
Limited information is shared with Authorities and Primary Care Groups to help them organise national programmes for public health (eg. breast screening) and to monitor NHS activities (eg. waiting lists).
The practice must keep the Health Authority up to date with all Privacy and Confidentiality of your medical records.
Data Protection Act
To protect your privacy and confidentiality, we will not normally disclose any medical information over the telephone or fax unless we are sure that we are talking to you. This means that we will not disclose information to family, friends or colleagues about any medical matters at all, unless we know that we have your agreement to do so.
We have a duty to keep your medical records up to date. Please feel free to update and correct any errors of fact that may have crept into your medical records over the years. After all these records are yours and it is important that they are as accurate as possible.
We must also notify the Health Authority of certain procedures that we carry out on patients eg contraceptive and maternity services, minor surgery , night visits and immunisations and other 'Item of Service' procedures, where we are paid for performing these procedures.
Local authority and government agencies eg Social Services, Benefits Agency, may require medical reports on you from time to time. These may not include written consent, but we will assume that you wish us to complete these reports in your best interests. Failure to co-operate with these agencies can lead to patients loss of benefits or other support.
Life assurance companies frequently ask for medical reports on prospective clients from their GP. These are always accompanied by your signed consent. GPs must disclose all relevant medical conditions in these reports. Your can ask to see the report before it is sent back to the company and you can instruct us not to make a full disclosure, but we must then inform the insurance company of your instructions.
We are required by law to allow you access to your computer and written medical records. All such requests must be made in writing . We are allowed to charge a fee to cover our administration and photocopying charges.
Data Protection Act