Patient Information Leaflet concerning Information Governance
The Market Harborough Pharmacy is governed by English Common Law of Confidentiality, Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998, Data Protection Act 1998, NHS Confidentiality Code of Conduce and the Caldicott principles. All of this is to ensure that the information you supply us will be kept private.
We train all our staff on the importance of maintaining patient confidentiality at all times. They receive refresher courses on an annual basis. There are serious consequences for them if they talk to anybody about P.I.I. NHS Prescriptions. By law, when you hand in your NHS prescription we have to record your details and those of your medication on our computer. If you do not want this, we cannot process your prescription. However access to the computer is by password and smart card to prevent unauthorised access. It also means that you are agreeing to us talking to any other healthcare professionals where necessary but these other professionals will also be bound by the rules of confidentiality. Any discussions with other healthcare professionals will occur in an area which cannot be overheard. Your prescription will be retained within the dispensary until it has to be sent off via a secure route for payment.
Collection and Delivery
As these new rules are being implemented and we all must take great care that we do not supply information to people who are not authorised to see it, we will being to ask you to put in writing who you are happy to collect your prescription for you to accept delivery if you are not home. We will give you a standardised letter for you to simply list the people you are authorising to pick up or who can receive your delivery sign and date.
Other Services
With all other services that we provide eg. smoking cessation, Medicine Use Reviews, private prescriptions etc, your consent will be asked to store your information and to share with other healthcare professionals if it is necessary. As above your information will be stored and accessed only on a need to know basis. However, if at a later stage you decide that you want to withdraw your consent, you simply tell us and we will make the necessary adjustments.
Who Has Access?
Generally the only people who can see your information will be those members of staff who have to process your prescription or service. However, on occasion audits and research have to be done to improve the services we and the NHS provide. Where possible the information supplied is anonymised (your identifiable details ie name and address are removed) and if it is not you will be informed. There are also times when it may be considered to be in the public interest that your details are disclosed eg if harm to a third party is possible or there is a suspected criminal offence.
Your Right to View the Record
Under the Data Protection Act you have a right to see a copy of the information about you that we hold either in paper form or on the computer. You need to put the request in writing and pay a fee. If the records are all on computer the fee will be £10 but if it is a combination of computer and paper records it will be £50. We must supply the copies within 40 days from receiving a written request with payment and must explain any medical terms that you are unfamiliar with.
Concerns
If you have any concerns about the information that we hold about you, who gets to see it, where it is kept and for how long please do not hesitate to talk to our Information Governance Lead.