Why We Collect Your Information

Your doctor and other health professionals caring for you keep records about your treatment and care you receive from the PCT.

This information is vital to the proper operation of the NHS and is needed to give you and others the best possible healthcare.

It is important that you tell us if any of your details change.  Your records also contain facts about your health, including appointments, treatments and test results.  They may also contain information based on the professional opinion of the staff caring for you.

Any correspondence you send to us may also form part of your health record.

Your records are used to guide and administer the care you receive to:

• Ensure your doctor, nurse or any other healthcare professionals involved in your care have accurate and up-to-date information to assess your health and decide what care you need when you visit in the future.
• Allow us to contact you for further visits.
• Ensure full information is available should you see another doctor, or be referred to a specialist or another part of the NHS.
• Ensure your concerns can be properly investigated if you need to complain.

Your information may also be used to help us to:

• Look after the health of the general public.
• Pay your GP, dentist and hospital for the care they provide.
• Audit NHS accounts and services.
• Investigate complaints, legal claims or untoward incidents.
• Make sure our services can meet patient needs in the future.
• Prepare statistics on NHS performance.
• Review the care we provide to ensure it is of the highest standard.
• Teach and train healthcare professionals.
• Conduct health research and development.

Some of this information will be held centrally, but where this is used for other purposes care is taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.