Confidentiality

Confidentiality is of the utmost importance to us. Confidential patient data is shared within our practice team, and with other health care professionals to whom you are referred for care. These parties may also use your data for the essential purpose of clinical audit. Confidential patient data may also be required for the broader purposes of public health and audit, research, the provision of health care services, teaching, and training. Data disclosed will be kept to the minimum required to serve the purpose, and if possible, will be removed before disclosure.

Confidential and identifiable patient information will not be disclosed otherwise without explicit consent, unless the situation is a matter of life or death, or poses a risk of serious harm to you or to another individual, is overwhelmingly in the public interest, or there is a legal obligation to do so. In all these circumstances, the minimum identifiable information that is essential to serve the purpose may be revealed to someone with a legal entitlement to access the data for that purpose.

All individuals with access to your data have a professional and/or contractual duty of confidentiality. If you are concerned about any of the ways in which your confidential data is accessed, you are entitled to register an objection, which will be respected if this is possible.