Privacy Notice for Telephone calls

We record our telephone calls for two reasons:

• To protect patients, staff and other health workers. Patients are protected by our having a record of our conversations with you; staff and other health workers are protected from potential abuse.
• We record calls or other audio visual communications such as Skype calls, because they may contain clinical information that can become part of your medical records. We also occasionally use recordings for staff training and quality control.

When you register with us we will make this clear to you and we will also make this clear to you each time you contact us and via our web site and other sources of information.

Calls, or transcripts of calls, audio or audio-visual recordings or elements of the discussion you have with the clinicians that contain clinical information may be added to your medical records, but this will be clarified with you at the time.

The recordings are stored on a local hard drive which is kept in a locked telephony room and are protected by user-based password access to software which is required to listen to the calls.

These recordings will not usually be shared outside the practice.

We are required by articles in the general data protection regulations to provide you with the information in the following 9 subsections:

• Data controller contact details
  The Crouch Oak Family Practice
  45 Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 2BH
• Data protection officer contact details
  Dr Mohan Kanagasundaram. Please address correspondence to The Crouch Oak Family Practice, 45 Station Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2BH
• Purpose of the processing
  To facilitate your access to care and in the case of telephone or other audio visual consultations for your direct care. To protect patients, staff and other healthcare workers
• Lawful basis for processing
  The processing of personal data in the delivery of direct care and for providers’ administrative purposes in this surgery and in support of direct care elsewhere is supported under the following article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR:
  Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.
  Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services…”
  We will also recognise your rights established under UK case law collectively known as the common law duty of confidentiality.
• Recipient or categories of recipients of the processed data
  Necessary data will be shared with health and care professionals and support staff in this surgery. Clinical data or records of consultations may be transcribed or appended to the records we hold on you and may thence be shared at hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centres who contribute to your personal  are. Actual recordings will not be shared with anyone outside the practice. The actual recordings are stored within the practice.
• Rights to object
  You have the right to object to some or all the information being processed under article 21. You should be aware that this is a right to raise an objection – that is not the same as having an absolute right to have your wishes granted in every circumstance.
• Right to access and correct
  You have the right to access the data that is being shared and have any inaccuracies corrected. There is no right to have accurate medical records deleted except when ordered by a court of law.
• Retention period
  We will keep recordings for up to 15 years, subject to storage capacity. Clinical data transcribed from your telephone or other electronic consultations becomes part of your clinical record and is retained according to relevant rules and regulations.
• Right to complain
  You have the right to complain to the information commissioner’s office, you can use their website: www.ico.org.uk/contact-us or call their helpline 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 0162 554 5745 (national rate).

Common Law Duty of Confidentiality

Common law is not written out in one document like an act of parliament. It is a form of law based on previous court cases decided by judges. It is also referred to as judge-made or case law. The law is applied by reference to those previous cases, so common law is also said to be based on precedent.

The general position is that if information is given in circumstances where it is expected that a duty of confidence applies, that information cannot normally be disclosed without the information provider’s consent. In practice, this means that all patient information must not normally be disclosed without the consent of the patient.

It is irrelevant how old the patient is or what the state of their mental health is, the duty still applies.

Three circumstances making disclosure of confidential information lawful are:

• Where the individual to whom the information relates has consented
• Where disclosure is in the public interest
• Where there is a legal duty to do so, for example a court order