All patient records, including paper and computer-based records, are confidential. They are protected by Data Protection Laws, which lays down legal requirements for computer users such as ourselves.
We will pass on specific information only if there is a genuine clinical need for it. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.
Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information e.g. to notify a birth, or when we encounter infectious diseases that may endanger the safety of others. Data may be gathered for audit purposes, and in development of medical care or other NHS services.
All NHS members who access your data are legally bound to keep this confidential.
Your records and your rights
By law, you have the right to request access to your health records. You can do this by email, by post or face to face. For more information please see our full Privacy Notice or ask someone at the surgery.
Patient privacy during consultations
Cauldwell Medical Centre takes the privacy of patients very seriously, and all appointments are carried out in a private consultation room.
Rights and responsibilities
We provide high quality health services designed around patient need.
You can help us by:
- arriving promptly for your appointment
- cancelling any appointment you do not need so that someone else can take your place
- acting in a polite and non-abusive manner
- ordering your repeat prescriptions in plenty of time
- switching off mobile phones while on the premises
- providing us with any change of your personal details, including address, telephone number, or name (if you are registering with or are registered with us) so that our records are kept up to date
Removal of registered patients
Having informed the individual patient and discussed the circumstances, we would intend to remove the patient from our list if they:
- were now living outside of the practice area.
- experienced irretrievable breakdown of the doctor-patient relationship.
- exhibited violent or threatening behaviour to any practice staff
- exhibited rudeness to any practice staff
- persistently did not attend without cancelling booked appointments
We will not remove patients from our list because of:
- costly treatment
- patients suffering from any particular clinical condition
- their age