We will keep your records safely.
This Practice complies with the Data Protection Act (1998) and general Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. This means that we will ensure that your information is processed fairly and lawfully.
What personal information do we need to hold? Your past and current medical & dental condition; personal details such as your age, address, telephone & medical practitioner
• We may need to request details of your NHS number for referrals to local hospitals #
• Radiographs, clinical photographs & study models
• Information about treatment we have provided or purpose and it's cost
• Notes of conversations or incidents that might occur for which a record needs to be kept
• Records of consent to treatment
• Any correspondence relating to you with other health care professionals, for example in the hospital or community services
Why do we hold this information? We need to keep accurate personal data about patients in order to provide you with safe & appropriate dental care. We also need to process personal data about you if we are referring you to NHS hospitals and to ensure the proper management and administration of the NHS.
Retaining information. We are required to retain your dental records, x-rays and study models while you are a patient of this practice and after you cease to be a patient, for at least 11 years or until age 25, whichever is longer.
Security. Your information is held in the practice's computer system. The information is only accessible to authorised personnel. Personal information will not be removed from this practice without the patient’s authorised consent.Your Personal information is carefully protected by the staff at this practice. All access to information is held securely and can only be accessed by passwords. Data is encrypted and computer terminals are closed if unattended.
Why we may need to disclose your information. In order to provide proper and safe care to:
• Your general medical practitioner
• The hospital or community dental services
• Other health professionals caring for you
• Private dental schemes of which you are a member
Disclosure will take place on a 'need to know' basis, so that only those individuals/organisations who need to know in order to provide care to you and the proper administration of Government (whose personnel are covered by strict confidentiality rules) will be given the information. Only information that the recipient needs to know will be disclosed.
In very limited circumstances or when required by law or a court order, personal data may have to be disclosed to a third party not connected with your health care.
In all other situations, disclosure that is not covered by this code of practice will only occur when we have your specific consent.
Where possible you will be informed of these requests for disclosure.
This dental practice is committed to ensuring the security of personal data held by the practice. This policy is issued to all staff with access to personal data at the practice and will be given to new staff during their induction. If any member of the team has concerns about the security of personal data within the practice they should contact Drs Dulku & Kang.
All members of the team must comply with this policy.
Confidentiality
• All employment contracts and contracts for services contain a confidentiality clause, which includes a commitment to comply with the practice confidentiality policy
• Access to personal data is on a ‘need to know’ basis only. Access to information is monitored and breaches of security will be dealt with swiftly by Drs Dulku & Kang
• We have procedures in place to ensure that personal data is regularly reviewed, updated and, when no longer required, deleted in a confidential manner. For example, we keep patient records for at least 10 years or until the patient is aged 25 – whichever is the longer.
Physical security measures
• Personal data is only removed from the practice premises in exceptional circumstances and when authorised by Dr A Dulku. If personal data is taken from the premises it must never be left unattended in a car or in a public place
• Records are kept in a lockable fireproof cabinet, which is not easily accessible by patients and visitors to the practice
• Efforts have been made to secure the practice against theft by, for example, the use of intruder alarms, lockable windows and doors
• The practice has in place a business continuity plan in case of a disaster. This includes procedures for protecting and restoring personal data.
Information held on computer
• Appropriate software controls are used to protect computerised records, for example the use of passwords, pseudonymisation and encryption. Passwords are only known to those who require access to the information, are changed on a regular basis and are not written down or kept near or on the computer for others to see
• Daily and weekly back-ups of computerised data are taken and stored in a fireproof container, off-site. Back-ups are also tested at prescribed intervals to ensure that the information being stored is usable should it be needed
• Staff using practice computers undertake computer training to avoid unintentional deletion or corruption of information
• Dental computer systems have a full audit trail facility preventing the erasure or overwriting of data. The system records details of any amendments made to data, who made them and when
• Precautions are taken to avoid loss of data through the introduction of computer viruses.
• Data stored on cloud computing facilities has in place a rigorous service level agreement with our cloud provider to ensure that all our obligations in this policy are fulfilled and that all information is secure.
Loss of patient information
• Any loss, damage to or unauthorised disclosure of patient information must be reported immediately to Drs Dulku & Kang immediately.
