Bush House Osteopathic Practice (BHOP) takes its responsibility to maintain sensitive and personal information in a secure and confidential way.
- Patient’s identities are not disclosed in conversation with other patients including spouses and colleagues.
- Patients records are kept in a lockable filing cabinet away form the practice and waiting room
- Phone calls and answer phone messages are taken out of the earshot of the treatment or waiting room.
- The message book is not kept in patient areas.
- Patient records are removed from the treatment room after each consultation.
- Switch receipts are removed from the treatment room daily and kept in annual boxes for the required 7 years after which time they are destroyed.
- Digital images taken during the course of a treatment for patient information will be deleted immediately in front of the patient. In the event of the image being retained, written consent will be sought identifying the purpose of the image, its intended use and time of intended retention.
- Written consent from the patient will be sought when communicating with general practitioners, legal representatives or other professionals. The only exception to this is when the practitioner believes the patient may be a danger to themselves or others or if there has been a disclosure in relation to a child protection issue. Advice will taken in all areas of uncertainty.
How and why we process your information
Our Privacy Notice explains why we collect your information and how that information may be used. Health care professionals who provide you with care are required by law to maintain records about your health and any treatment you have received. These records help us to fully understand your circumstances and provide you with the best possible care.
Your records may be processed electronically, verbally, on paper or a mixture of these and are kept confidential and secure.
Records held by us may include the following :
- Your personal data; such as address, date of birth, Email address, phone numbers.
- Your history with us; such as appointments, fees, method and details of payment.
- Notes and reports about your health, lifestyle, employment, education, family circumstances
- Details about your osteopathic treatment and care
- Some sensitive information such as mental health details, sexual life, racial origin, religious or other beliefs, offences and alleged offences.
- Results of investigations; such as blood tests, scans and x-rays
- Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or carers
We obtain and hold data for the sole purpose of providing osteopathic care to our patients and we will ensure that the information is kept secure and confidential.
Some research data is held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Strict measures are in place to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified. Sometimes your information will be required for particular research purposes and in these instances we will seek your additional consent.
We may need to share your information, with your agreement on how it will be used, with :
- NHS Trusts – eg your doctor, specialist, radiographer
- Independent and Private sector providers – eg physiotherapist, optician, podiatrist, dentist
- Osteopathic colleague – eg practice associate, locum cover
- Health Insurance Providers
- Legal Services Providers
- Voluntary Sector Providers
- Ambulance Trust, Fire and Rescue Service, Police
- Care Services
- Local Authorities
- Education Services
We are required by law to keep your medical records for a minimum of 8 years or up to the age of 25 in the case of patents we saw as children.
The Bush House Osteopathic Practice website uses cookies. A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time a visit returns. Cookies help the practice to track visitors and their website access preferences. Website visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on her computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using the practice website.
Bush House Osteopathic Practice does not sell or broker your data.
Under the DPA, you have the right to view information we hold about you, and have it amended or removed should it be inaccurate.
In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is being processed by Bush House Osteopathic Practice you have the right to complain to us. If you do not get a response within 30 days, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.
ICO
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF
Tel – 0303 123 1113
24/5/2018.