Your personal information leaflet (798kB pdf)
We aim to provide you with the highest quality care. To do this we must keep Medical Records about you and the care we provide for you. They are held electronically and on paper, and we have a legal duty to keep these confidential, accurate and secure at all atimes, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, Data Protection Act 2018 and other related legislation and guidance.
All of our staff are trained to handle your information correctly and protect your privacy. We aim to keep to high standards, use best practice for record keeping and regularly check and report on how we are doing. Your information is never collected for direct marketing purposes, and is not sold to anyone else. Your information is not routinely sent overseas, and if it is we do our best to inform you.
Sometimes care may be provided by other health or care organisations. Confidential health information about you is routinely shared with them to support your care, within legal and professional guidelines.
Information is held for periods of time in accordance with the NHS Records Management Code of Practice.
Information collected about you to deliver your care is used to assist with:
- Checking high standard care by local and national audit.
- Assessing your condition to ensure you are receiving the best possible care.
- Preparing statistics on our performance for the government and regulators.
- Helping train staff and support research.
- Funding your care.
- Reporting and investigating complaints, claims and incidents.
- Reporting events to the appropriate authorities when we need to do so by law.
- Planning services to meet the needs of the population including sharing information with local health and care organisations to improve patient routes through health and social care services.
When your data is used for research and planning it is usually made anonymous. You can manage how your information is used for these reasons at www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/manage-your-choice/ or by calling 0300 3035578.
The Trust gives information to the Sussex Integrated Dataset, which uses anonymous data to help the NHS in Sussex understand its population and those groups at greatest risk of poor health. This helps it design and run better services, while measuring and improving regional performance as a single health and care system.
The legal basis for using data for the purposes mentioned in this leaflet is that the NHS has a public duty to care for its patients. Data Protection law says it is appropriate to do so for treating patients and managing health and care systems.
If we need to use your information for any reason beyond those stated above, we will do our best to discuss it with you. You have the right to ask us not to use your information in this way. However, there are exceptions:
- The public interest is of greater importance, e.g. a serious crime has been committed; there are risks to the public or our staff; and to protect vulnerable people.
- We have a legal duty, e.g. registering births, reporting some infectious diseases, wounding by firearms and Court Orders.
- We need to use the information for medical research. We have to ask permission from the Confidentiality Advisory Group (appointed by the NHS Health Research Authority).
Data Protection laws gives individuals rights, in some instances, in respect of the personal information that we hold about you. These are to:
- Ask for access to your information.
- Ask for information to be corrected if inaccurate or incomplete.
- Ask us to restrict the use of your information.
- Ask us to copy or transfer your electronically-held information from us to another organisation in a safe and secure way.
- Object to how your information is used.
- Challenge any automated decisions made about you.
We will share necessary data with our health and social care partners if we have recorded that you have a need for support with communication as a routine part of our referral, discharge and handover processes.
If we have your mobile number, we are likely to use it in various ways, including phoning and texting to help manage your care, such as for booking appointments and reminding you about them.
To request copies of your personal information, please contact our Subject Access Request Team by email on
uhsussex.subject.access@nhs.net. Or you can telephone us.
Worthing, St Richard’s or Southlands Hospitals, 01903 205111 x85645.
Royal Sussex County or Princess Royal Hospitals, 01444 441881 x68013.
Should you have any further queries on the uses of your information, please speak to one of the following:
- Your healthcare professional
- The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), via the hospital switchboards; for Worthing, St Richard’s or Southlands Hospitals, 01903 205111 and for the Royal Sussex County or Princess Royal Hospitals, 01273 696955
- Our Data Protection Officer on uhsussex.dataprotectionofficer@nhs.net
Should you wish to lodge a complaint about the use of your information, please contact our complaints team using the PALS information above.
If you remain unhappy with the outcome of your enquiry you can write to the Information Commissioners Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF, or call them on 0303 123 1113.