Dear Patient,

We have been asked to share the following important information with you. 

This practice has been asked to support vital health and care planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital. For more information about this see the GP Practice Privacy Notice for General Practice Data for Planning and Research.

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research

This collection will start on 1 July 2021

If you do not want your data to be shared with NHS Digital please register your Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice by 23 June 2021.

What data is shared:

Data may be shared from the GP medical records about:

• any living patient registered at a GP practice in England when the collection started – this includes children and adults
• any patient who died after 1 July 2021, and was previously registered at a GP practice in England when the data collection started

NHS Digital will not collect patients’ names or addresses. Any other data that could directly identify patients (such as NHS Number, date of birth, full postcode) is replaced with unique codes which are produced by de-identification software before the data is shared with NHS Digital.

This process is called pseudonymisation and means that patients will not be identified directly in the data. NHS Digital will be able to use the software to convert the unique codes back to data that could directly identify patients in certain circumstances, and where there is a valid legal reason.

If you would prefer that your identifiable patient data is only shared for your own health care purposes, you can opt-out by registering a Type 1 Opt-out or a National Data Opt-out, or both.

 These opt-outs are different and they are explained in more detail below. Your individual care will not be affected if you opt-out using either option (or both).

A Type 1 opt-out has to be registered by your Practice; please let us know if you want to register a type 1 opt-out. This can be returned by email to: [email protected] or via post to the practice.  A National Opt-out can be done without contacting your practice, at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

Type 1 Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital collecting your data)

NHSD will not collect data from GP practices about patients who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out with their practice. More information about Type 1 Opt-outs is in the GP Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice, including a form that you can complete and send to your GP practice.

This collection will start on 1 July 2021 so if you do not want your data to be shared with NHS Digital, please register your Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice by 23 June 2021.

If you register a Type 1 Opt-out after this collection has started, no more of your data will be shared with NHSD. They will however still hold the patient data which was shared before you registered the Type 1 Opt-out.

If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, then you can also register a National Data Opt-out.

National Data Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital sharing your data with other organizations)

NHSD will collect data from GP medical records about patients who have registered a National Data Opt-out. The National Data Opt-out applies to identifiable patient data about your health, which is called confidential patient information.

NHS Digital won’t share any confidential patient information about you – this includes GP data, or other information, such as hospital data – with other organisations, unless there is an exemption to this.

To find out more information and how to register a National Data Opt-Out, please read NHSD GP Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice.

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research/transparency-notice

Below are some websites that can help in your application for Settled Status:

• Settled – https://settled.org.uk/
• GOV.UK Apply to the EU Settlement Scheme – https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/applying-for-settled-status

If you have a consultation privately, and tests are requested, it will not be possible for these to be done at the practice nor for your GP to arrange them. They will also need to be arranged privately. If your clinician has not made arrangements for the tests, then please contact their private secretary.

If your hospital specialist recommends a blood test to be done at the GP surgery, the doctor who made the recommendation will need to provide a blood card (a request form) for the test. Without such a card, we will be unable to do the test. This is for safety reasons, to ensure that the result of the test requested is returned to the doctor who ordered it.

If you would like to order a repeat prescription, please do so by emailing your request to the practice on [email protected]. Alternatively, please speak to your pharmacist who will be able to make the request for you. If you are not sure about your list of medications, please look at the paper that comes with your medication – the list will be there. Your pharmacist will also be able to give you a list. Patients are no longer able to order repeat prescriptions directly through the website. This is a patient safety measure, to make sure that all requests are properly checked before the medication is authorised. We do not accept requests by telephone, again, for reasons of patient safety

Due to the ongoing issues surrounding Coronavirus we have had to adapt the way in which we operate.

To help patients understand how we now operate, we have created a guide to the processes that take place in the practice: Patient Journey

What is happening with the flu clinic this year?

It will be particularly important to have an effective immunisation programme this year to prevent people getting influenza whilst covid is still in circulation. The guidance for practices about how to arrange the clinics is still awaited. We will update this page as soon as we have further information.

We have received many queries about whether it is safe for children to return to school or adults to return to work.

Please look at the guidance on the government website as this is comprehensive and answers most questions.

In relation to schools

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/reopening-schools-and-other-educational-settings-from-1-june

In relation to work places

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19

Which advice applies to me?

For the purposes of the guidance on the government website, the

Extremely clinically vulnerable group (also known as the shielding group) are those people who have received a government letter advising them to shield. Individuals with the following medical conditions will be amongst this group.

1. Solid organ transplant recipients.

2. People with specific cancers:

• people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy
• people with lung cancer who are undergoing radical radiotherapy
• people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
• people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
• people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
• people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs

3. People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary (COPD).

4. People with rare diseases that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), homozygous sickle cell).

5. People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.

6. Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.

Clinically vulnerable (also known as ‘high risk’) are those individuals who have conditions such as asthma and diabetes. If you receive an annual flu jab, you will be in this group. These people have been advised to follow stringent social distancing advice.

What to do if there is a disagreement about returning to work?

If you feel that it is unsafe for you to return to work or for a child to return to school, please discuss it with the workplace or school in the first instance. These matters should be resolved without the need for the GP to be involved. Workplaces and employees should seek the advice of occupational health services or ACAS to resolve disputes in the first instance.

To care for your needs during this pandemic, the Practice and our Data Processors (including other GP Practices and NHS organisations) may obtain and securely process your existing and additional personal information to assess you. This information may include but will not be limited to capturing and storing video and photographic imagery. Any information obtained and processed will be joined up to your GP records where available. We rely on the lawful grounds of ‘public interest’ to process this information, we cannot achieve our health and social care objective by any other means.

Last updated 18 Jan 2021

The practice has started offering smears and we are inviting patients for their cervical cancer screening.

Last updated 18 Jan 2021