As you may be aware NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS) has been established as a new Strategic Health Authority (SHA), Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) from the 1st April 2021.

AS PART OF THE GDPR REGULATIONS THAT CAME INTO FORCE IN MAY 2018, WE ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO HAVE A NOMINATED DATA PROTECTION OFFICER FOR THE PRACTICE.

THE DETAILS OF THIS ARE BELOW.  IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR QUERIES REGARDING THIS PLEASE CONTACT THE PRACTICE MANAGER. 

OUR DATA PROTECTION OFFICER IS:

 Name of the ‘Data Protection Officer as a Service’ – Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW), Information Governance, Data Protection Officer Support Service. Our web address is: Keeping patient information safe – Digital Health and Care Wales (nhs.wales)

 Contact via – DHCWGMPDPO@wales.nhs.uk 

The staff at this practice record information about you and your health so that you can receive the right care and treatment.  We may need to record this information, together with the details of your care you receive, because it may be needed if we see you again.

We may use some of this information for other reasons, for example, to help us to protect the health of the general public , to plan for the future, to train staff and to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone. 

We are currently involved in research studies for which we provide anonymised information from patients’ notes. The risk of you being identified from this information is extremely low as all directly identifiable details (name, address, post code, NHS number, full date of birth) are removed from your notes before they are collected for research, and automatic programs to de-personalize any free text (non structured or coded data) are run after information is collected. Individual patients’ records are added into a much larger anonymous database, containing records from millions of patients across the UK. This information is used by researchers outside this practice. The database to which we contribute anonymised records is known as The Health Improvement Network (THIN). This data may be anonymously linked to other data, such as hospital data. This database is managed by a company outside the NHS which does not have access to your personal details, only to anonymous medical records. The data are used for research into such topics as drug safety, disease patterns, prescribing patterns, health economics and public health. Many of these studies provide useful information to medical staff on diseases, the use of drugs or outcomes of disease or treatment. These studies may be performed by academic researchers or commercial companies amongst others. However, no researcher has access to your full details such as your name and address, initials or your full date of birth. The researchers are not given information about the GP nor the practice name, address or post code. If you would like to opt out of this data collection scheme, please let your doctor know and no data from your records will be collected for use in research. This will not affect your care in any way. If anything to do with the research would require that you provide additional information about yourself, you will be contacted to see if you are willing to take part: You will not be identified in any published results. A list of published research using the THIN database can be found at http://csdmruk.cegedim.com/THINBibliography.pdf or please contact Michelle Page on michelle.page@thin-uk.com for a paper copy. Note that you have a right of access to your health records. If at any time you would like to know more, or have any concerns about how we use your information, you can speak to Nerys Boswell Telephone number: 01437 762162

Welsh GP Record

NHS Wales has changed to the way it uses patient information for care.

A digital summary of the information held in your GP record is available to the doctors, nurses and registered health professionals looking after you when you are in hospital. It will help them to give quick, safe and quality care.

Vital information from your GP Record has been available for some time to support your care when the surgery is closed ‘out of hours’ or in an emergency.

But, until now those caring for you in hospital, during an outpatient appointment of in-patient stay, were not able to access the important information held by your GP straight away. This includes current medications, recent tests and allergies.

Only the healthcare professionals looking you can see your information, and only with your permission. NHS Wales can check on who, when and how every record was looked at.

The Welsh GP Record is a summary of your full GP medical record. It contains your: • Name, address and contact details • Current medication and medication they have been prescribed in the last two years • Allergies or any adverse reactions • Current problems or diagnosis • Results of any recent tests they have had in the previous year, for example, blood tests and x-rays

It does not include any private discussions you may have had with your GP.

Opt-out

If you don’t want anyone other than your GP to see your records you can opt-out. You can do this by completing an opt-out form available from your GP practice. Patients are encouraged to talk with their GP before opting-out as it could make a difference to the care they receive. If a parent or guardian of a child under 16 does not wish their child to have a record, they can opt-out on their behalf, but should discuss this with their GP first. Learn More: www.gprecord.wales.nhs.uk

For full details please click here.