Why do we ask for information about you? What do we do with it and why might we need to share it?

Your information

As a patient of ours, you will be giving us information about yourself  which may be of a sensitive nature and which you may not wish to be widely known. We need to collect and record that information to help us provide you with the best care.

Your information may need to be shared with or be available to the health professionals working in the clinic who are directly involved in your care. Some data will also need to be seen by administrative and financial staff.

Everyone working in the Specialist Medical Clinic has signed our GDPR policy and has a legal duty to keep any information we hold about you, confidential at all times.

As healthcare professionals, we take confidentiality very seriously. We have policies and procedures in place to make sure information about you is managed carefully.
We have a duty to:

  • Ensure all involved in your care know about you and your condition
  • Maintain full and accurate records of the care we provide to you
  • Keep all records about you accurate, confidential and secure

Why is information collected about you?

We must keep records about you, your health and the care we have provided to you:

  • To give you the best possible healthcare and treatment
  • To provide our clinical team with historical data that may be relevant to your care
  • To help manage and plan services for you
  • To help monitor and evaluate services
  • To avoid delays in searching for your medical records

What information might you be asked for?

  • Your personal details
  • Your physical health
  • Your mental health
  • Treatments you have received.
  • Notes from other clinics and hospital

If you are uncertain why a question is relevant to your healthcare, please ask a member of staff to explain this.

Where is the information kept?

Some information is kept in written records and some is kept on our computer records system. Sometimes information is stored both ways.

Our computer systems are GDPR compliant and all computers are password controlled. All records are stored in secure areas when not in use.

How is your information shared and with whom?

Most information is only shared with healthcare professionals directly involved in your care.

They will use this to:

  • Provide a good basis for all health decisions made about you
  • Make sure your care is safe and effective

You may be receiving care from other healthcare organisations in Gibraltar or elsewhere as well as within the Specialist Medical Clinic. In order that we  can work effectively with other providers, for your benefit, we may be required to share some information about you, for example with your General Practitioner, staff at another clinics or specialist hospitals, scanning or treatment centres not provided by our clinic.

Confidentiality is your right

All information about you belongs to you and you are therefore able to have access to your records at any time if you request to see them. You have the legal right to confidentiality under the Data Protection Act 2004.

All Specialist Medical Clinic employees sign a confidentiality agreement and have a legal duty to keep information about you confidential both during and after working in the clinic. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal obligation to keep it confidential.

By signing our terms and conditions agreement you give permission for our staff and clinicians to share information about you solely for the provision of your medical care, unless you specifically request us not to do so.

How to request your clinical notes/results:

Your clinical notes can ONLY BE REQUESTED BY YOURSELF.  We will not release any medical notes to a third party without your written authority to do so. Copies of your clinical notes can be ordered:

  • By email
  • By telephone
  • In person at reception desk

We will ask two security questions in order to confirm your identity.

A minimum of 48 hours is usually required in order for our administration team to gather all your data and gain  permission for the release of this information by your practitioner. Should a greater time period be necessary, one of the Clinic Managers will contact you and inform you of this fact.

After having had a a blood test or CT/MRI scan or any other investigation you will normally be offered a follow up appointment so that you can discuss your results with the referring practitioner. Our receptionists are not qualified or authorised to comment on results. Please do not ask them to do so.   Results can only be discussed with the requesting practitioner at a follow up appointment.

Exceptions

We will only share information about you if there is a genuine need for it to be made available and it is in your interests. Whenever we can, when sharing medical data we will remove key details which could identify you.

As with all rules there may be exceptions. We may have to pass on your details during a public health emergency or to the police when ordered to do so by a court.

Sometimes we may need to share information about you without your consent, if it is deemed that by not doing so, there is a risk of serious harm to an individual or to the rest of the community at large.

 

Questions

Our Data Protection Officer is registered with the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority. If you have any questions about your information or about confidentiality, please speak to our management team.