HPS
Ballysillan Group Practice
Privacy Policy
Your information, privacy and the Law; how we use your medical records
The use and sharing of personal information forms an essential part of the provision of health and care, benefiting individual patients, often necessary for the effective functioning of health and social services and sometimes necessary in the public interest. Nevertheless your doctor has a strong legal and ethical duty to protect patient information and all information you share with your doctor is kept confidential.
- This practice is committed to observing the laws on data protection and confidentiality concerning your medical record and all uses and sharing of your information.
- We share information about you with health professionals who are involved in providing you with care and treatment. This is on a need to know basis and, normally, event by event.
- Some of your health information (including your name, address, allergies and medications) is automatically copied to the Northern Ireland Electronic Care Record.
- Some information about you is shared with national screening campaigns such as Flu and Diabetes eye screening.
- Information about you in non-identifiable form is used to manage the NHS and make payments.
- Information about you in non-identifiable form is used to check the quality of care provided by the NHS.
- Information about you in non-identifiable form may be used for medical research. Where identifiable information may be required we will first seek your consent.
- We will share information when the law requires us to do, for instance when we are inspected or reporting certain illnesses or safeguarding vulnerable people.