We need to hold personal information about you on our computer systems and in paper records to help us to look after your health needs, and your doctor is responsible for their accuracy and safe-keeping. Please help to keep your record up to date by informing us of any changes to your circumstances.

Doctors and staff in the practice have access to your medical records to enable them to do their jobs. From time to time information may be shared with others involved in your care if it is necessary. Anyone with access to your record is properly trained in confidentiality issues and is governed by both legal and contractual duty to keep your details private.

All information about you is held securely and appropriate safeguards are in place to prevent accidental loss.

In some circumstances we may be required by law to release your details to statutory or other official bodies, for example if a court order is presented, or in the case of public health issues. In other circumstance you may be required to give written consent before information is released – such as for medical reports for insurance, solicitors etc.

To ensure your privacy, we will not disclose information over the telephone or fax unless we are sure that we are talking to you. Information will not be disclosed to family, friends or spouses unless we have prior written consent, and we do not, leave messages with others.

You have a right to see your records if you wish. Please ask at reception if you would like further details about our patient information leaflet. An appointment may be required. In some circumstances a fee may be payable.

DOCMAIL

Bottisham Medical Practice uses a mailing company called Docmail to handle some mailings to patients. Typically this is for bulk mailings such as invitations to attend flu clinics where it is difficult to accommodate the administrative work involved without affecting our ability to serve patients. This is permissible under guidance from both the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Department of Health (DoH) subject to the provisions of GDPR and the Data Protection Act.

Please find below some more information about Docmail and how we work with them to ensure that we protect our patients’ personal data at all times.

WHAT IS DOCMAIL

Docmail is provided by CFH Total Document Management Ltd, a secure print and mailing company which provides print and mailing services for Local Government, GPs, Dentists, Medical Practices, Schools, Exam Boards and Banks etc. throughout the UK. The system can be found online at www.docmail.co.uk and requires a secure user name and password for us to log on and upload our letters and address lists to create the printed output for despatch to Royal Mail. The system allows us to upload a letter template and mailing data for the patients we want to write to via a secure web portal.

CONNECTING FOR HEALTH

Docmail has achieved a 100% rating in the Department of Health’s Information Governance Toolkit Assessment for 2016-2017 and meets with the terms and conditions of the DH Information Governance Assurance Statement. This assessment is publicly available and can be viewed here

DOCMAIL AND GDPR

Docmail will process any data that we supply in accordance with the General Data Protection  Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR). This means that they only process the data we send them according to our instructions and take technical and organisational measures to ensure the safety of data and ensure it is processed securely. Their terms and conditions can be found here.

The letters will be delivered to your address by Royal Mail in the normal way.

Docmail delete all personal data within 28 days after the mailing.