Connecting Care Record

Ever wondered why, when you visit your GP or hospital, they can’t see all your health and care information? And why you find yourself having to answer the same old questions over and over – about things like the medicines you take, the treatment you’ve had, and whether you have any allergies?

The simple answer is they all use different computer systems to record your details. And because these systems aren’t connected, the health and care organisations looking after you can’t see the information each other holds on you.

That will all change with the introduction of the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Shared Care Record. This new system allows health and care professionals to view the most up-to-date information about you so they can give you better, safer care.

What is the Shared Care Record?

Partner health and care organisations will make the information they hold on you available for professionals to view through the Shared Care Record. These organisations provide health and care services in the following areas:

• Birmingham and Solihull
• Coventry and Warwickshire
• Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

They include local GP practices, hospitals, NHS 111, community, mental health, ambulance and social care services.

The health and care partners involved follow the law on keeping your information confidential. The laws they must abide by are the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Each is also registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a data controller – an organisation that decides what information is collected and why, and how it is handled. The partners will be joint data controllers for any personal, or special categories of personal information they handle.

This privacy notice explains how your personal information will be used, what for, who will be able to see it and why.

What will your personal information be used for? 

Allowing health and care professionals involved in your care to view your records helps them understand your needs and make the best decisions with you, and for you.

It means:

• you won’t have to repeat your details every time you need care
• clinicians will be able to see what medications you’re taking and if you have any allergies, making your treatment safer
• they’ll also be able to make better decisions about your care by knowing your recent history – things such as tests, scans, results and prescriptions
• you won’t have to explain your social care support to health professionals
• you’ll get more efficient treatment because clinicians won’t have to wait for other organisations to forward your information by letter or phone

• your care will be more joined up wherever you need it in Birmingham and Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire or Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

What information will health and care professionals be able to see?

The information that will be available for professionals at our partners to view through the Shared Care Record is shown below. We have split this between ‘healthcare’ and ‘social care’ to show the kind of information each partner organisation will be able to look at.

Healthcare

• Information such as your name, address, date of birth and NHS number
• People to contact in an emergency
• Social care assessment information
• Care providers and the services you’ve used
• Any safeguarding information designed to protect you
• Your legal status for being in the UK
• Any conditions or illnesses you’ve been diagnosed as having
• Any operations you’ve had
• Your medication
• Any alerts or risks relevant to your care
• Your medical and maternity history
• Any birth and neonatal details
• Records of care you’ve had as an inpatient or outpatient
• Your appointments
• Documents such as discharge summaries, clinical letters, care plans, risk assessments and referrals
• Results of investigations, scans and laboratory tests
• Reports such as those from radiology scans or X-rays
• Examinations, for instance to check your blood pressure
• Trials or studies you might be part of
• If you’ve been sectioned under the Mental Health Act
• Details of supportive care, such as your end-of-life preferences

Social care

• Information such as your name, address, date of birth and NHS number
• People to contact in an emergency
• Social care assessment information
• Care providers and the services you’ve used
• Any safeguarding information designed to protect you
• Your legal status for being in the UK
• Any conditions or illnesses you’ve been diagnosed as having
• Your medication
• Your appointments
• A summary of the care you’ve had from a service, such as a hospital, when your care with that service is finished
• Details of supportive care, such as your end-of-life preferences

Our lawful basis for processing your information

Each partner organisation is responsible for the information they view, or make available to view, through the Shared Care Record. This includes personal records and special category information they hold in their records.

All the partners that can view your information must follow the law to make sure they always handle your personal information in a lawful way. What they have to do depends on the care or service you need.

Our lawful bases are:

NHS trusts/local authorities/primary care (GPs)/integrated care boards (ICBs) (to the extent that ICBs have access to shared personal data to provide integrated care):

• Provision of health/social care (Art 6(1) e UK GDPR, 9(2)h UK GDPR, in combination with Section 10 (1)(c) and any relevant condition in Schedule 1, Part 1 of the DPA 2018.

NHS trusts/primary care (GPs):

• Vital interests (situation of ‘life or death’) (Art 6(1)d and 9(2) c UK GDPR.

NHS trusts/local authorities/primary care (GPs)/integrated care boards (ICBs) (to the extent that ICBs have access to shared personal data to provide integrated care):

• Safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children (Art 6(1) c, 9(2) g UK GDPR in combination with Section 10(3) and Schedule 1, Part 2, condition 18 of the DPA 2018.

How long do we keep your records?

Each partner organisation keeps its own record of the care you’ve received from it in line with ‘The Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care’ guidance. None of your personal information (including your healthcare information) is kept in the Shared Care Record – it is only made available for health or social care professionals to view. To fulfil your ‘right to object’ (please see the next section), the Shared Care Record will keep limited information about you, such as your name, date of birth and NHS number. This will ensure that, where you have objected, no health or care professional will be able to view your records through the Shared Care Record. They will see only the electronic information recorded on their own organisation’s system for the care you have received there.

Your rights

You have the right to:

1. Object to your information being available for health and care professionals to view through the Shared Care Record.
2. Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with the way we are handling your information. See below for details of how to do this.  

Contact your relevant health or care provider to:

1. ask to see the personal information they hold about you 
2. ask them to change information they hold about you if it is wrong. 

If you would like to object to your records being made available for professionals to view through the Shared Care Record, you can find out how to do so on our ‘right to object’ page.

If you are aged 16 or above, we will process your ‘right to object’ form by carrying out our normal checks on the details you have given us.

From the age of 13 to 16, we will consider your right to object if your form has been signed on your behalf by someone with parental responsibility.

If it has not, we will ask a recognised health or care professional if they consider you to be competent to make such a decision.

If you are under the age of 13, we will only consider your right to object if your form has been signed on your behalf by someone with parental responsibility.

Complaints 

You have the right to complain if you are unhappy with the way your information is handled, or disagree with your healthcare provider’s decision about your information. In these circumstances you can contact the healthcare provider and ask them to look again at the decision.

If you are not happy with any decision your healthcare provider makes, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)
Telephone: 01625 545 745 (national rate)
Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: casework@ico.org.uk