Protection and Personal Data

While you are receiving care and treatment from Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) you will be asked for information about yourself and your family.

This information makes up your health and care record. It will be shared with staff involved in your care.

Your information will be kept on a computer system that only your care team use. There may also be a paper file which is locked in a cabinet when it is not in use or archived with our secure storage company.

The Trust has a confidentiality code.

A confidentiality code means that staff, or anyone else who provides a service on behalf of the Trust, cannot give information about you to other people not involved in your care unless it is in special circumstances.

If you would like to know about the way your health record is protected and used, speak to your care worker.

• Passing on information about you

  It is against the law for staff to pass on your information to just anyone. Staff must only share it with people who need to know; for example, information about your health condition, care and treatment will be shared with members of your care team.

  Your care team may include people from different organisations that work in partnership with the Trust.

  We will also ask you whether you would be happy for us to share any information about your care with your partner or family members before doing so. Your care worker will make a note of your wishes in your care record so that other members of your care team are kept up to date with your wishes.

  The law tells us how and when we are allowed to share information about you. Information about you might be shared because staff feel it would help your overall care and treatment.

  Sharing information will help:

  • Other staff working with you to have the information they need to make sure you receive the right treatment.
  • Senior staff look at your care to make sure it is good quality.
  • To keep your doctor and other members of your care team up to date.
  • For some people we may have to keep the Education Authority or the Local Authority informed when they are applying for Educational support or Social Care support.
  • Look into any complaint, if you make one.
  • The Department of Health collect information on diseases.
  • We may be asked to pass on information to protect a child or a vulnerable adult.
  • Anyone who receives information from the Trust must keep information private.
  • If you give us your consent to contact you for surveys or research purposes or to use your information for a specific purpose outside of your direct care such as training, you will have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting your care worker.
• Information that does not identify you

  We may use information about you that does not name you, or let people know who you are. This will help to:

  • Train staff
  • Provide information for clinical research. Research helps people find out about things and improve treatments and services
  • Make sure the service meets your needs

  We may look at:

  • The numbers of people we see
  • The diagnosis – what is the matter with a person
  • The age of service users or carers

  If you are not happy with the way your information is recorded or shared, please talk to your care worker who will talk to you and discuss what you can do about this.

  For further information please see our Fair Processing Notice.

• Your rights to see your record

  The Law (Data Protection Act 2018) gives you the right to apply to see your care records. You can also give permission for someone else (e.g. parents or carer) to apply to see them on your behalf.

  Staff will explain what your record says about you if you ask them.

  Please ask a member of staff for the “Access to your Health Records” application form, or you can make a verbal or written request by contacting:

  The Information Rights and Compliance Team
  Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
  99 Waverley Road
  St Albans
  Hertfordshire
  AL3 5TL

  Tel: 01727 804956

  Email: hpft.informationrights@nhs.net