Confidentiality

All patient information is considered to be confidential and we comply fully with the data protection act. All employees have access to this information in relation to their role and have signed a confidentiality agreement. Information may be shared, in confidence, with other NHS organisations in the interests of patient care.

CCTV is installed internally in public areas for security. Recordings are used entirely at the discretion of the partners and management team including provision of images to the police or other official bodies, and will otherwise comply with the practice’s data protection registration.

Protection against viruses/maintenance and storage of clinical software

Patients medical records are now routinely stored electronically. Our central server is housed by our clinical software supplier in a specifically designed data warehouse which is approved by Connecting for Health. Staff will only access information stored within the warehouse when they are required to maintain and support the practice to resolve problems identified with the software.

The practice takes precautions to ensure that anti-virus software is installed on all computer equipment and the supplier of our clinical software manages the antivirus software version control and regular updates. Data is backed up to the central server.

Access to data may also be made available from time to time to staff working within our local CCG or its successor at times when there are faults with hardware or software which is beyond the expertise of the practice to uphold.

The Caldicott Guardian at Lion Health is currently Dr Michael Wilcox.