ICO: ZA168661
DATA PROTECTION CODE OF PRACTICE FOR PATIENTS
KEEPING YOUR RECORDS
This practice complies with the 1998 Data Protection Act and this policy describes our procedures
for ensuring that personal information about patients is processed fairly and lawfully.
What personal data do we hold?
In order to provide you with a high standard of dental care and attention, we need to hold personal
information about you. This personal data comprises:
- your past and current medical and dental condition; personal details such as your age, address, telephone number and your general medical practitioner
- radiographs, clinical photographs and study models
- information about the treatment that we have provided or propose to provide and its cost
- notes of conversations/incidents that might occur for which a record needs to be kept
- records of consent to treatment
- Any correspondence relating to you with other health care professionals, for example in the hospital or community services.
Why do we hold information about you?
We need to keep comprehensive and accurate personal data about our patients in order to provide them
with safe and appropriate dental care.
How we process the data
We will process personal data that we hold about you in the following way:
Retaining information
We will retain your dental records while you are a practice patient and after you cease to be a patient,
for at least eleven years or for children until age 25, whichever is the longer.
Security of information
Personal data about you is held in the practice’s computer system and/or in a manual filing system. The
information is not accessible to the public and only authorised members of staff have access to it. Our
computer system has secure audit trails and we back up information routinely.
Disclosure of information
In order to provide proper and safe dental care, we may need to disclose personal information about you to:
- your general medical practitioner
- the hospital or community dental services
- other health professionals caring for you
- Private dental schemes of which you are a member.
Disclosure will take place on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, so that only those individuals/organisations who need to know in order to provide care to you and for the proper administration of Government (whose personnel
are covered by strict confidentiality rules) will be given the information. Only that information that the
recipient needs to know will be disclosed.
In very limited circumstances or when required by law or a court order, personal data may have to be
disclosed to a third party not connected with your health care. In all other situations, disclosure that is not
covered by this Code of Practice will only occur when we have your specific consent.
Where possible you will be informed of these requests for disclosure.
Access
You have the right of access to the data that we hold about you and to receive a copy. Access may be obtained by making a request in writing and the payment of a fee for access of £10 (for records held on computer) or £50 (for those held manually or for computer-held records with non-computer radiographs).
We will provide a copy of the record within 40 days of receipt of the request and fee and an explanation of
your record should you require it.
If you do not agree
If you do not wish personal data that we hold about you to be disclosed or used in the way that is described in this Code of Practice, please discuss the matter with your dentist. You have the right to object, but this may affect our ability to provide you with dental care.
Our Complaints Procedure
Here at Southfields Dental Centre we take complaints very seriously indeed and try to ensure that all of our patients are pleased with their experience of our service.
When a patient complains, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible.
Our aim is to react to complaints in the way in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled.
We learn from every mistake that we make and we respond to patient concerns in a caring and sensitive way.
- The person responsible for dealing with any complaint about the service which we provide is: Nicola Payne.
- If a patient complains on the telephone or at the reception desk, we will listen to their complaint and offer to refer him or her immediately to Nicola Payne. If Nicola Payne is not available at the time, then you will be given an appointment to speak to her or the dentist, which ever you prefer.
- The member of staff will take brief details of the complaint and pass them on. If we cannot arrange this within a reasonable period or if the patient does not wish to wait to discuss the matter, arrangements will be made for someone else to deal with it.
- If the patient complains in writing the letter will be passed on immediately to Nicola Payne
- If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be referred to the dentist, unless the patient does not want this to happen.
- We will acknowledge the patient's complaint in writing within 3 working days and enclose a copy of this code of practice.
- We will seek to investigate the complaint within fifteen working days of receipt to give an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint. If the patient does not wish to meet us, then we will attempt to talk to them on the telephone. If we are unable to investigate the complaint within fifteen working days we willnotify the patient, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed.
- We will confirm the decision about the complaint in writing immediately after completing our investigation.
- Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaint received.
- If patients are not satisfied with the result of our procedure, then a complaint may be made to:
Dental Complaints Service
37 Wimpole Street
London
W1G 8DQ
Or, the dentist’s registration body:
The General Dental Council,
37Wimpole Street,
London,
W1M 8DQ