Beacon Medical Services Group Ltd are an independent healthcare provider commissioned by the NHS to provide community-based services across Greater Manchester, Greater Preston, South Ribble, Chorley and Nottingham.

Our Head Office is – Parkway House, Palatine Road, Northenden, Manchester. M22 4DB

This privacy notice provides information about the personal information we process, in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purposes for which they process personal and sensitive information. This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioners Office website www.ico.org.uk

Our Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) registration reference is Z3038545

How we use your personal information

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.

NHS health records may be electronic, on paper or a mixture of both, and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Records which we hold about you may include the following information:

• Details about you, such as your address, carer, legal representative, emergency contact details
• Any contact we have had with you, such as appointments, clinic appointments, etc.
• Notes and reports about your health
• Details about your treatment and care
• Results of investigations such as diagnostic tests, laboratory tests, scans etc
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care
  for you

To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive. Information may also be used within our Organisation for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected
lawfully in accordance with:

• Data Protection Act 1998
• Human Rights Act 1998
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
• Health and Social Care Act 2012
• Information: To Share or Not to Share Review

We will only share information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on and / or in accordance with the new information sharing principle following Dame Fiona Caldicott’s information sharing review (Information to share or not to share) where “The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” This means that health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of their patients within the framework set out by the Caldicott principles.

We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it
will be used, with the following organisations:

• NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts
• GP’s
• NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Independent Contractors such pharmacists
• Private Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts
• Social Care Services
• Police & Judicial Services
• Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of

As an employer, we process personal data further to contracts of employment with
our employees. The information includes:

• Names, addresses and contact details
• Pay and bank details, pay slips;
• Curricula vitae, contracts of employment, references and appraisals;
• Health information ( in reliance on the occupational health exemption contained in the Data Protection Act 2018)

Access to personal information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information we hold about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate. There may be a charge to have a printed copy of the information held about you.

We are required to respond to you within 40 days.

In order to request this your request must be made in writing to us, as per our correspondence address above or via email to BMSG.beacon-enquiries@nhs.net You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth, NHS number and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified and your records located.

Objections / Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by us, please contact us directly. If you are still unhappy following a review by our Organisation, you can then contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) at via www.ico.org.uk or email to casework@ico.org.uk or telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745

If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this privacy notice, then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared, then please contact us