Confidentiality and Medical Records

 

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The practice complies with data protection and access to medical records legislation. Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:

  • To provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from district nurses and hospital services.
  • To help you get other services e.g. from the social work department. This requires your consent.
  • When we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases anonymised patient information will also be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and Government plan services e.g. for diabetic care.

If you do not wish anonymous information about you to be used in such a way, please let us know. Reception and administration staff require access to your medical records in order to do their jobs. These members of staff are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as the medical staff.

 

Access to your own medical records

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have a legal right to apply for access to health information held about you. This includes information held by your GP on computer and in paper form. You do not have to give a reason for your request. You may apply to view your medical records or request a copy. A fee will apply to access your medical records and there is no facility for immediate access.

 

Third party access to medical records

Health records are confidential so you can only access someone else’s records if you are authorised to do so.
To access someone else’s health records, you must be acting on their behalf with their written consent, or have legal authority to make decisions on their behalf (power of attorney), or have another legal basis for access

 

Proxy Access on behalf of Children and Young People

Practices should be mindful of the benefits of proxy access for most children and families, whilst also protecting the small number of children and young people who could be at serious risk of harm from their family if medical information (such as use of the contraceptive pill) is inadvertently disclosed. Click here for more information

 

Access to medical records of a deceased person

The Access to Health Records Act 1990 gives the personal representative of the deceased, or those who may have a claim arising out of the death of the individual, a right to access the medical record of the deceased.

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives every living person, or their authorised representative, the right to apply for access to their medical records irrespective of when they were compiled. The exception to this is the records of deceased patients, which are still governed by the Access to Health Records Act 1990.

PLEASE NOTE: Time frame for access is 28 days