The Trust’s Information Security Department ensures your personal health records are kept safely, that only those professionals who need to see your information are allowed to do so and that they only see the information they need to see.
We also make sure that the hospital only uses your information for purposes for which you have given your agreement.
The Trust increasingly keeps records on computers and eventually paper notes will be a thing of the past. Storing information electronically gives us tighter control over your notes and health records.
There are a number of Acts of Parliament designed to protect the information that we hold about you and the hospital takes every step to ensure that we comply with the Acts.
We do of course recognise that there can be breaches of security in any system and in the very unlikely event that you do become aware of any information getting into the wrong hands we would encourage you to report it to the Information Security Department where we will conduct a full investigation and where necessary recommend changes in working practices to ensure the error is not repeated. We would also provide you with a report of our investigation.
The address to write to is -
The Information Security Department
2nd Floor, Worthington House
Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust
Stott Lane
Salford M6 8HD
Phone – 0161-206 4251
Email – information.security@srht.nhs.uk
What kind of electronic information does the hospital hold about you?
We hold ‘demographic’ information about you such as your name, address, age, hospital number and details of your next of kin. This type of information is available to a wider range of staff than your actual health records, but is obviously only available to those who may need to legitimately access it including receptionists and clerical staff from the health records department.
We also store electronically the notes that any member of our clinical staff has made about consultations they have had with you, treatment they have recommended or observations they have made such as blood pressure and heart rate. This information is more strictly controlled and is only available to members of your healthcare team.
Finally there is a record of any tests or investigations you have had and their results – blood tests, x-rays, scans etc. These records are also controlled and only accessed by those with a need to know this information.
Every entry in your personal record logs the name of the person making the record and the date that the entry was made.
What kind of information does the hospital hold about you on paper?
Your ‘paper notes’ hold ‘demographic’ information about you including your name, address, age, hospital number and next of kin.
We also hold in the paper notes anything that a member of our clinical staff has recorded about consultations that they have had with you, treatment they have recommended or observations they have made such as blood pressure and heart rate.
Finally there is a record of any tests or investigations you have had, and their results – blood tests, x-rays, scans etc.
Every written entry in your notes records the name of the person making the record and the date that the entry was made.
Access to your notes is restricted. For most of their life your notes will be locked away in the Library of the Health Records Department and they will only be withdrawn from there if there is any activity relating to you. When your notes are out of the Health Records Library they are ‘tracked’ for the entire time so that we know exactly where they have been. When the notes are out of the library access to them is controlled and all staff handling notes are contractually obliged to keep the information in them secure.
The Information Security Department does carry out spot checks around the hospital to make sure that patients’ notes are being handled securely.
Can I see my records?
Under the Data Protection Act you can see, or have copies made, of your health record but only by applying in writing to the Information Security Department. The reason your clinical information is not immediately available to you is that under the Data Protection Act certain types of information can be withheld, these include any notes made on patient’s suffering mental health problems and anything that would be likely to cause distress to the subject of the notes or any other person. Your consultant will be asked to decide which parts of your record should be withheld.
If you would like to apply to see your record you should request am application form from -
The Information Security Department
2nd Floor, Worthington House
Salford Royal Hospitals NHS Trust
Stott Lane
Salford M6 8HD
Phone – 0161-206 4251
Email – information.security@srht.nhs.uk
You should note that if you would like copies of any records we will normally have to raise a charge.
Legislation Governing the Use of Your Information
Data Protection Act 1998
Freedom on Information Act 2000
Public Records Act 1958
Records Management : NHS Code of Practice 2006
