All information held about patients is completely confidential and everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to maintain the highest level of confidentiality about patient information.

Your Medical Record

If you wish to access your own personal health records you can do so online via Patient Access. Please click here to go to the Patient Access page for information. Due to current data protection legislation we will ask you to request the access in writing by completing specific forms. This will allow as to set up Patient Access for you. The request will have to be processed by our administration team which due to large number of requests made may take a few days.

If you wish to request a copy of your medical records the quickest way to do so is through Patient Access. They will not only be available to you at time of you choosing but also will be current including your recent consultations. If you cannot access your medical records online then an encrypted disc can be created for you. Please contact the reception for more information.

If you would like a third party to view your records (solicitor/other) you will need to complete one of our consent forms.  We will then contact the third party company and advise them of this process.  Please contact us for more information.

You will not be charged for accessing your medical records.

What information do we hold about you?

We ask you for information about yourself so we can give you the most appropriate care and treatment. This information is kept together with details of the care you receive for future reference.  For a full list of the information we keep/share please contact the surgery or click on the documents below:

• Data Flow Mapping 2018-2019 
• Data Flow Mapping 2018-2019 OUTBOUND

How do I know it will be kept in a confidential way?

Everyone working for the NHS or in General Practice has a legal, ethical and contractual duty to keep information confidential and anyone who receives information from us is bound by the same legal duty.

Will my information be shared with anyone?

If you are receiving care from other people as well as the NHS, we may need to share information to enable us all to work together for your benefit. We only ever use or pass on information about you if people have a genuine need for it in your and everyone’s interest.

For a full list of the information we share please contact the surgery or see the documents above.

The sharing of some information is strictly controlled by law, so unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the safety of others is at risk, we will not disclose your information to other parties without your permission.

Requesting access on behalf of someone else (child/carer etc)

If you would like to request medical records access on behalf of another person (carer etc) then please request this via our appropriate consent form.

Cheshire Care Record Leaflet

This notice briefly explains why the doctor’s surgery collects information about you, and how that information may be used.

The health and social care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, social care package etc.). These records help to provide you with the best possible health and social care.

Records may be held in electronic or manual (written down) format, and may include the following information;

• Details about you, such as address and next of kin
• Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc.
• Notes and reports about your health
• Details about your treatment and care
• Results of investigations, such as laboratory tests, x-rays, etc.
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you and know you well

To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive and will be shared with other health and social care professionals to aid decision making about your total care package.

Information held about you may also be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS. Information may be used 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.

Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for research purposes – the surgery will always endeavour to gain your consent before releasing the information.

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the surgery please contact the Patient Services Manager to discuss how the disclosure of your personal information can be limited.

How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?

Every member of staff who works for an NHS or social care organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential. Anyone who receives information from an NHS or social care organisation has a legal duty to keep it confidential.

We maintain our duty of confidentiality to you at all times. We will only ever use or pass on 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), or where the law requires information to be passed on.

Who are our partner organisations?

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

• NHS Trusts / Specialist Trusts / Independent Contractors such as dentists, opticians, pharmacists
• Private Sector Providers / Voluntary Sector Providers
• Ambulance Trusts / Clinical Commissioning Groups /Social Care Services
• Local Authorities / Education Services / Fire and Rescue Services / Police / Other ‘data processors’

Access to your Information

You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 to access/view what information the surgery holds about you, and to have it amended or removed should it be inaccurate. This is known as ‘the right of subject access’. If you would like to make a ‘subject access request’, please contact the Patient Services Manager in writing.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is publicised and the required disclosure is shown below. However, it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice and should not be used to for any judgement about GP earnings, nor to make any comparisons with other practices.
The average earnings for GPs working in the Firdale Medical Centre in the last financial year ending in 2021/22 was £79,408 before taxation and National Insurance. This is for 3 full time 4 part time GPs and 1 locum GP who worked in the practice for more than 6 months.

1. Postgraduate Training – Firdale Medical Centre is a teaching practice and offer placements for registrar and trainee doctors who have worked in hospitals for a number of years. This is valuable work experience and also benefits us by stimulating new ideas within the practice.
2. Teaching Medical Students – We also teach in association with the University of Manchester and students may be present at your consultation but we will give you notice of this in advance. Please speak to one of our receptionists if you would prefer to see the doctor on your own.