Confidential patient information/common law duty of confidentiality
COVID19 – from April 2020
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has directed NHS Digital to collect and analyse data from providers and other organisations involved in managing the COVID-19 response and then disseminate information to other bodies for the purpose of planning and managing the response. NHS England and NHS Improvement have been given legal notice to support the processing and sharing of information to help the COVID-19 response under Health Service Control of Patient Information Regulations 2002.
Individual healthcare organisations, Arms Length Bodies (except NHS Digital and NHS England and NHS Improvement which have been separately notified) and Local Authorities have now also been given legal notice under the same regulations to support the processing and sharing of information to help the COVID-19 response. The notice is available here .
This is to ensure that confidential patient information can be used and shared appropriately and lawfully for purposes related to the COVID-19 response.
These Notices will be reviewed on or before 30 September 2020 and may be extended by further notice in writing. If no further notice is sent they will expire on 30 September 2020.
Your Practice Data controllers are still required to comply with relevant and appropriate data protection standards and to ensure within reason that they operate within statutory and regulatory boundaries.
• These principles should lie at the heart of your approach to processing personal data.
• The GDPR sets out seven key principles:
• Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimisation
• Accuracy
• Storage limitation
• Integrity and confidentiality (security)
• Accountability
EPS during COVID-19 – MEDICINES MANAGEMENT TEAM SUPPORT
The Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) prevents an unnecessary visit to your GP practice to collect a paper prescription, reducing exposure for both yourself and practice healthcare professionals. To enable your Practice to do this, the patient is required to have a nominated pharmacy for EPS to work.
Our Medicines Management Team (MMT) will be contacting you in regards to this from May 2020 onwards.
