Patient Privacy Notice

Who we are?

Bristol Spine Intervention comprises a group of radiologists that have a specialist interest in imaging and intervention of the spine and brain. In the following document, Bristol Spine Intervention might be referred to as ‘we’, ‘our, or ‘us’.

Why do we collect personal information about you?

The staff caring for you needs to collect and maintain information about your health, treatment and care, so that you can be given the best possible care. This personal information can be held in a variety of formats, including electronic information in our Electronic Patient Record, in other computer systems, in video and audio files and in paper format.

What is our legal basis for processing your personal information?

Any personal information we hold about you is processed for the purposes of ‘provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health of social care systems and services under chapter 2, section 9 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

For further information on this legislation please visit: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/

What personal information do we need to collect about you and how do we obtain it?

Personal information about you is collected in a number of ways. This can be from referral details from your GP or another hospital, directly from you or your authorised representative.

We will likely hold the following basic personal information about you:

  • your name, including your preferred name or maiden name
  • address (including correspondence)
  • telephone numbers including your mobile number
  • date of birth
  • next of kin contacts
  • your GP details, etc
  • your email address
  • marital status
  • occupation
  • overseas status

Your records are also identified by a hospital number, used only when in the hospital, and an NHS number, which can be used across the NHS.

In addition to the above, we may hold sensitive personal information about you which could include:

  • Notes and reports about your health, treatment and care, including:
    • your medical conditions
    • results of investigations, such as x-rays and laboratory tests
    • future care you may need
    • personal information from people who care for and know you, such as relatives and health or social care professionals
    • other personal information such as smoking status and any learning disabilities
  • Your religion and ethnic origin
  • Whether or not you are subject to any protection orders regarding your health, wellbeing and human rights (safeguarding status).

It is important for us to have a complete picture of you as this will assist staff to deliver appropriate treatment and care plans in accordance with your needs.

What do we do with your personal information and what we may do with your personal information?

What do we do with your personal information?

Your records are used to directly, manage and deliver healthcare to you to ensure that:

  • The staff involved in your care have accurate and up to date information to assess and advice on the most appropriate care for you.
  • Staff have the information they need to be able to assess and improve the quality and type of care you receive.
  • Appropriate information is available if you see another healthcare professional, or are referred to a different specialist or part of the NHS, social care or health provider.

What we may do with your personal information?

The personal information we collect about you may also be used to:

  • Remind you about your appointments and send you relevant correspondence.
  • review the care we provide to ensure it is of the highest standard and quality, e.g. through audit or service improvement;
  • support the funding of your care, e.g. with commissioning organisations;
  • help to train and educate healthcare professionals;
  • report and investigate complaints, claims and untoward incidents;
  • report events to the appropriate authorities when we are required to do so by law;
  • review your suitability for research study or clinical trial.
  • contact you with regards to patient satisfaction surveys relating to services you have used within our hospital so as to further improve our services to patients
  • Where possible, we will always look to anonymise/ pseudonymise your personal information so as to protect patient confidentiality, unless there is a legal basis that permits us to use it and we will only use/ share the minimum information necessary.

Who do we share your personal information with and why?

We may need to share relevant personal information with other NHS organisations. For example, we may share your information for healthcare purposes with health authorities such as NHS England, Public Health England, other NHS trusts, general practitioners (GPs), ambulance services, primary care agencies, etc. We will also share information with other parts of the NHS and those contracted to provide services to the NHS in order to support your healthcare needs.

We may need to share information from your health records with other non-NHS organisations from which you are also receiving care, such as Social Services or private care homes. However, we will not disclose any health information to third parties without your explicit consent unless there are circumstances, such as when the health or safety of others is at risk or where current legislation permits or requires it.

There are occasions where Bristol Spine Intervention is required by law to share information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

There may also be situations where we are under a duty to share your information, due to a legal requirement. This includes, but is not limited to, disclosure under a court order, sharing with the Care Quality Commission for inspection purposes, the Health & Safety Executive if you are involved in a reportable accident whilst on site, the police for the prevention or detection of crime or where there is an overriding public interest to prevent abuse or serious harm to others and other public bodies (e.g. HMRC for the misuse of public funds in order to prevent and detect fraud).

For any request to transfer your data internationally outside the UK/EU, we will make sure that an adequate level of protection is satisfied before the transfer.

Bristol Spine Intervention is required to protect your personal information, inform you of how your personal information will be used, and allow you to decide if and how your personal information can be shared.

Personal information you provide to Bristol Spine Intervention in confidence will only be used for the purposes explained to you and to which you have consented. Unless, there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the health or safety of others is at risk, where the law requires it or there is an overriding public interest to do so. Where there is cause to do this, Bristol Spine Intervention will always do its best to notify you of this sharing.

UK National Research Ethics Committees often allow health researchers to use clinical information anonymously (without any personal information) for medical research where this does not require any additional contact with patients. Bristol Spine Intervention participates in research to benefit patient care, and so your information could be studied anonymously but only after approval by a National Research Ethics Committee. If your identifiable personal information (the information that identifies you) is to be used in research you will be asked for your consent. However, a specially appointed national body, the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG), may allow personal details to be used without consent in specific circumstances when the research is seen to be in the public interest.

How we maintain your records?

Your personal information is held in both paper and electronic forms for specified periods of time as set out in the NHS Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care and National Archives Requirements.

We hold and process your information in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018. In addition, everyone working for Bristol Spine Intervention must comply with the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality and various national and professional standards and requirements.

Bristol Spine Intervention has a duty to:

  • maintain full and accurate records of the care we provide to you;
  • keep records about you confidential and secure;
  • provide information in a format that is accessible to you.

The following staff groups may have access to the information we hold about you:

  • clinical staff such as nursing or medical, allied health professionals and support staff
  • administration/management
  • safeguarding team
  • laboratory staff
  • data analysis’s/auditors
  • patient advice and liaison service and medical legal

Use of Email – Bristol Spine Intervention communicate with patients via email. Please be aware that Bristol Spine Intervention cannot guarantee the security of this information whilst in transit, and by requesting this service you are accepting this risk.

What are your rights?

If we need to use your personal information for any reasons beyond those stated above, we will discuss this with you and ask for your explicit consent. The Data Protection Act 2018 gives you certain rights, including the right to:

  • Request access to the personal data we hold about you, e.g. in health records. The way in which you can access your own health records is further explained in our Access to Health Records Procedure.
  • Request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete information recorded in our health records, subject to certain safeguards. This is also explained in our Access to Health Records Procedure.
  • Refuse/withdraw consent to the sharing of your health records: Under the Data Protection Act 2018, we are authorised to process, i.e. share, your health records ‘for the management of healthcare systems and services’. Your consent will only be required if we intend to share your health records beyond these purposes, as explained above (e.g. research). Any consent form you will be asked to sign will give you the option to ‘refuse’ consent and will explain how you can ‘withdraw’ any given consent at a later time. The consent form will also warn you about the possible consequences of such refusal/withdrawal.
  • Request your personal information to be transferred to other providers on certain occasions.
  • Object to the use of your personal information: In certain circumstances you may also have the right to ‘object’ to the processing (i.e. sharing) of your information where the sharing would be for a purpose beyond your care and treatment (e.g. as part of a local/regional data sharing initiative).
  • We will always try to keep your information confidential and only share information when absolutely necessary.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter.

Who is the Data Protection Officer?

Please contact the Information Governance Lead:

James Wareham
Information governance lead/Data Protection Officer
Bristol Spine Intervention