The Ellwyn Medical Practice

The Health Centre, Currie Road, Galashiels TD1 2UA
Tel: 01896 661355 Fax: 01896 661357

Your Medical Records and Confidentiality

Doctors need to keep notes about any diagnosis, test results, treatments, including drug prescriptions, etc in order to provide better healthcare in the future, and also in the case of legal dispute.

Information about you will be shared: to provide further medical treatment for you e.g. from District Nurses and Hospital Services; when we have a duty to others e.g. in child protection cases.

Secretaries, receptionists and other clerical staff need access to some of your records in order to do administrative tasks, such as booking appointments and communicating with you and other parts of the NHS.  All staff are aware of protecting patient confidentiality.

Your doctor may also need to provide information under certain Acts of Parliament.

We keep paper and electronic records securely to prevent unauthorised access or misuse.

We may from time to time, be required to provide information to Health Care Agencies in order to verify the quality of care provided in our practice.  If you do not wish any information from your records to be used in this way, please notify the Practice Manager.

We fully comply with Data Protection and Access to Medical records legislation.

USE OF INFORMATION HELD

This practice records data which is sent for use by the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) to study disease development and pattern.  This enables us to compare health aspects against other areas.  This information is covered by the Data Protection Act and is treated confidentially.  This information is anonymised.

ACCESS  TO  MEDICAL  RECORDS

Competent patients may apply for access to their own records or may authorise a third party, such as their lawyer, to do so on their behalf.  Parents may have access to their child’s records if this is in the child’s best interests and not contrary to a competent child’s wishes.  People appointed by a court to manage the affairs of mentally incapacitated adults may have access to information necessary to fulfil their function.  (Further information regarding Access to Medical Records is available from Reception).