Patient Confidentiality

Please read carefully our patient confidentiality agreement. Here you can learn why we ask for information about you, what we do with it and how we share it.

Your information

Everyone working at Ocean Medical Clinic has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

As a patient you will be giving us medical information about yourself and your condition, which could be of a sensitive nature. We need to sensitively collect and record that information to help us provide you with the best care at our clinic.

Your information will need to be shared with the health professionals who are directly involved in your care, but some of it will also need to be seen by administrative and financial staff.

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?

Ocean Medical Clinic 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 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

• Treatments you have undergone previously

• Your medical history

• Your physical medical history

• Your mental health medical history

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

Where is the information kept?

Some information is kept in written records and some is kept on our clinic software. Your records are kept in your clinic profile that is created for you when you book your first appointment. Sometimes information is kept in both formats.

All computers are password controlled as well as our clinic software. All records are normally stored in secure areas when not in use and physical files are destroyed after a maximum of two years.

How is your information shared and with whom?

Most information is only passed to healthcare professionals involved in your care and reception staff whom handle your records directly as your first point of call when coming into our clinic. Only our specialists and healthcare professionals can see your medical records.

We understand that sometimes this information will be extremely important for you should you need to visit another clinic or public health service and take your records with you. So that we can all work together for your benefit, we may share your records but only after your consent is given.

Confidentiality is your right so information about you as an individual belongs to you and you are able to have access to your records if you request to see them at any time.

You have the right to confidentiality under the Data Protection Act 2004. All Ocean Medical Clinic employees have a confidentiality clause within their contract and have a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal obligation to keep it confidential.

We will assume you are happy for staff to share information about you solely for the provision of 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:

• By email

• By telephone

• In person at reception desk

A minimum of 24 hours is usually required in order to gather all your data as well as permission for the release of this information be given by your practitioner. Should a greater time period be necessary, one of the Clinic Managers will contact you and inform you of this.

After a blood test or CT/MRI scan or any other investigation you will be offered a follow up appointment so that you can discuss your results with the referring practitioner. As these tests are not undertaken directly at our clinic you will need to request the hospital or clinic to pass them on to us. Our receptionists are not authorized (or qualified) to comment on results – this can only be done with the requesting practitioner at a follow up appointment.

Exceptions

As with any 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 as part of an ongoing case. In such a situation we need to share information without your consent.

Questions

If you have any questions about your information or about confidentiality, please speak to our Receptionist staff or your Clinician or contact us on info@oceanmedicalclinic.gi