Publish date: 5 August 2019
The arrangements for Grenfell are different from the rest of CNWL.
CNWL’s general position is explained on our website: please see https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/about-cnwl/data-protection/fair-processing-notice/There are also legal agreements between service providers to share information where there are joint teams – what’s called a Section 75 Agreement with Councils where for example we have a joint mental health team, or Children’s Team: we have published the one with RBKC here: https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/news/s75-partnership-agreement-with-the-royal-borough-of-kensington-and-chelsea/
“Share” means that the records are available to teams on the clinical record system.
However, any staff member looking at records must have a good reason to do so and the system records their name and the times the records were looked at. It is a disciplinary offence for such staff to look at someone’s record without a valid reason.
The Grenfell Health and Wellbeing Service (GHWS) however is different.
All information is held by the team itself on a separate system and is not shared with any other organisation; the Section 75 Agreement mentioned above does not cover the Grenfell Health and Wellbeing Service.
If GHWBS need to share, we will only do so with your consent – unless there is an emergency or a Court order.
This means that anyone who uses the GHWS can be fully confident that we do not, and will not, share information about you with any other organisation (like for example RBKC) without your consent or in exceptional circumstances as mentioned below.
Your rights
Personal information about anyone who is treated in the NHS is confidential by law – that’s the treatment itself as well as other details about you.
We understand that you want this to be kept confidential, and to only share it with your consent. But you also understand that in an emergency, information should be shared if it’s in your best interests (like someone’s life being at risk or someone being at risk of serious harm). We can be ordered by a Court to release information too.
People have rights to see their own records and to be sure that they are secure – please see these pages for more information https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/service-users-carers/health-records/
As our website says - https://www.cnwl.nhs.uk/about-cnwl/data-protection/ - we would encourage you to ask questions and challenge us on our data protection practices if you feel uncomfortable about anything or believe that we could do better.
Ultimately, we hope that this information helps you to feel more comfortable with the services we provide.
Maintaining the legal right to patient confidentiality continues to be an important commitment on our part. To help with this, we have appointed a Caldicott Guardian.
A Caldicott Guardian is responsible for ensuring the protection of patient confidentiality throughout the Trust in accordance with your legal rights.
Our Caldicott Guardian is Dr Julia Palmer.
If you have any questions or concerns about the information provided here please contact either of the following:Dr Julia Palmer, Caldicott Guardian
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust 350 Euston Road, Regent's Place, London NW1 3AX : juliapalmer@nhs.net