Our GP practice is taking part in a project to improve access to patient records for healthcare researchers and planners.
Giving researchers and planners access to patient information can help find new treatments and improve care for everyone.
They will only see coded information like your medicines, or what illnesses you have. Your name and any personal details are removed or replaced with a code before anything is accessed. They are only allowed access if they meet strict security and ethical standards. Their research must also be in the public interest. Your health records will stay within the NHS, and researchers will only be allowed to view the parts of your record that they have permission to access. Find out more about the North East and North Cumbria Secure Data Environment.
The staff at this practice record information about you and your health so that you can receive the right care and treatment. We need to record this information, together with the details of the care you receive, so that it is available each time we see you.
The information recorded about you may be used for reasons other that your personal care for example, to help protect the health of the general public, to plan for the future, to train staff and to carry out medical and other health research.
We are involved in research studies which require access to anonymous information from patients' notes. You cannot be identified from these notes as all personal details (name, address, post code, full date of birth) are removed. Individual patients' records are added into much larger anonymous databases from many patients across the UK which is used by researchers outside this practice. This will not affect your care in any way.
If anything to do with the research would require that you provide additional information about yourself, you will be contacted by your GP to see if you are willing to take part; you will not be identified in any published results.
You have a right of access to your health records. If at any time you would like to know more, or have any concerns about how we use your information, please ask reception for more details.