General

DHU Health Care CIC (‘DHU’ or the ‘Company’) is a Community Interest Company and a ‘not for profit’ social enterprise, providing a wide range of integrated health services including but not limited to;

• Primary Care Out of Hours
• District Nursing Out of Hours
• Emergency Planning
• NHS 111
• Urgent Care Walk in Centres
• Healthcare Professional Support
• Special Patient Notes (Care Planning)
• Clinical Advice Service
• Home visiting Services
• A&E Streaming Services

DHU provides services to over 5 million patients and employs over 1,400 staff covering a range of skills and specialisms. 

DHU is the Data Controller for the information which it holds.

The Data Protection Officer (‘DPO’) can be contacted on: information.governance@dhuhealthcare.nhs.uk or DPO@affinityresolutions.co.uk

Information about the structure of the NHS in England is available from “About the NHS” pages of the NHS Choices website.

Information about the roles and functions of DHU is available from the About Us section of this website.

Information about the structure of DHU is available from the Board of Directors section of this website, as well as within our Annual and Quality Reports.

The names of the members of DHU Board are available from the Board of Directors section of the website. 

Browse the Services section of this website for detailed clinical information.

Information about the services delivered is available from the 'Contact Us' section of this website.

A Privacy Notice is a statement by DHU to patients, service users, visitors, carers, the public, and staff, that describes how the we collect, use, retain and disclose personal information which we hold.

It is sometimes also referred to as a Privacy Statement or Privacy Policy. This privacy notice is part of the DHU’s commitment to ensure transparency around the way that DHU process your personal information/data fairly and lawfully.

DHU recognises the importance of protecting personal and confidential information in all that it does and takes care to meet its legal and regulatory duties.

This notice is one of the ways in which the Company can demonstrate its commitment to the DHU values and being transparent and open in relation to its activities.

This notice also explains what rights you have to control how DHU use your information.

DHU may ask for or hold personal confidential information about you which will be used to support delivery of appropriate care and treatment. This is to support the provision of high quality care.

These records may include:

• Basic details, such as name, address, date of birth, next of kin.
• Contact details, such as appointments and home visits.
• Details and records of treatment and care, including notes and reports about your health.
• Results of x-rays, blood tests, etc.
• Information from people who care for you and know you well such as relatives or carers.
• Information from Health professionals such as your GP
  NHS Number

It may also include personal sensitive information such as:

• Sexuality,
• Race,
• Religion or beliefs, and
• Whether you have a disability, allergies or health conditions.

It is important for DHU to have a complete picture, as this information assists staff involved in your care to deliver and provide improved care, deliver appropriate treatment and care plans, to meet your needs.

Information is collected in a number of ways, via your healthcare professional, referral details from your GP or directly given by you.

This information may be recorded in writing (i.e. in your medical notes), or electronically on a computer, or a mixture of both.

Please note that all calls made to and from DHU Health Care and its associated services are recorded for Training, Quality, Compliance and Regulatory Purposes.

• To help inform decisions that we make about your care. 
• To ensure that your treatment is safe and effective. 
• To work effectively with other organisations who may be involved in your care. 
• To support the health of the general public. 
• To ensure our services can meet future needs. 
• To review care provided to ensure it is of the highest standard possible. 
• To train healthcare professionals. 
• For research and audit. 
• To prepare statistics on NHS performance. 
• To monitor how we spend public money. 

It helps you because:

• Accurate and up-to-date information assists us in providing you with the best possible care.
• If you see another healthcare professional, specialist or another part of the NHS, they can readily access the information they need to provide you with the best possible care. 
• Where possible, when using information to inform future services and provision, non-identifiable information will be used.

There is huge potential to use your information to deliver care and improve health and care services across the NHS and social care. The information can be used to help:

• Improve individual care.
• Understand more about disease risks and causes.
• Improve diagnosis. 
• Develop new treatments and prevent disease.
• Plan & develop services. 
• Improve patient safety.
• Evaluate Government, NHS and Social Care policy. 

Information is retained in secure electronic and paper records and access is restricted to only those who need to know. It is important that information is kept safe and secure, to protect your confidentiality.

There are a number of ways in which your privacy is shielded;

• By removing your identifying information, 
• Using an independent review process, 
• Adhering to strict contractual conditions, and 
• Ensuring strict sharing or processing agreements are in place. 

The Data Protection Act 2018 & General Data Protection Regulation 2018 regulates the processing of personal information. Strict principles govern the use of information and DHU’s duty to ensure it is kept safe and secure. 

DHU is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). Details of our registration can be found on https://ico.org.uk/esdwebpages/search

Enter our registration number (Z9765227) and click ‘search register’.

Technology allows DHU to protect information in a number of ways, in the main by restricting access. The guiding principle is that DHU is holding your information in strict confidence.

Everyone working for DHU is subject to the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

Information provided in confidence will only be used for the purposes to which you consent to, unless there are other circumstances covered by the law.

Under the NHS Confidentiality Code of Conduct, all staff are required to protect information, inform you of how your information will be used and allow you to decide if and how your information can be shared. This will be noted in your records.

All DHU staff are required to undertake annual training in data protection, confidentiality, IT/cyber security, with additional training for specialists, such as healthcare records management, data protection officers and IT staff.

Teaching clinicians – Some medical files are needed to teach student clinicians about rare cases. Without such materials, new doctors and nurses would not be properly prepared to treat you. 

Clinical placements – Clinical placements for students commonly take place within the DHU Health Care services. 

Students, such as student nurses, medical students, social work students, could be receiving training in the service that is caring for you. This may be when you are in a community setting, such as in clinics, or when you are being visited by health care staff at home. 

If staff would like a student to be present they will always ask for your permission before that meeting or episode of care. The treatment or care you receive will not be affected if you refuse to have a student present during your episode of care. 

Occasionally, for assessment purposes, students may request that their supervisor be present. You may refuse this if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

To provide best care possible, sometimes DHU will need to share information about you with others. 

DHU may share your information with a range of Health and Social Care organisations and regulatory bodies. You may be contacted by any one of these organisations for a specific reason; they will have a duty to tell you why they have contacted you. 

Information sharing is governed by specific rules and law and outside of these information relating to you or your care will only be shared with your consent.

For your benefit, DHU may also need to share information from your records with non-NHS organisations, from whom you are also receiving care, such as social services or private healthcare organisations. However, the Company will not disclose any health information to third parties without your explicit consent, unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the health or safety of others is at risk or where the law requires the disclosure of information.

DHU may also be asked to share basic information about you, such as your name and parts of your address, which does not include sensitive information from your health records. Generally, DHU would only do this to assist them to carry out their statutory duties (such as usages of healthcare services, public health or national audits).

In these circumstances, where it is not practical to obtain your explicit consent, DHU is informing you through this notice, which is referred to as a Privacy Notice, under the Data Protection Act.

Where patient information is shared with other non-NHS organisations, an information sharing agreement is drawn up to ensure information is shared in a way that complies with relevant legislation. 

Non-NHS organisations may include, but are not restricted to:

• Social services. 
• Education services. 
• Local authorities. 
• Police. 
• Voluntary sector providers. 
• Private sector providers.

Under the GDPR and Data Protection Act, you have the following rights:

• The right to request a copy of your personal data which DHU holds about you. 
• The right to request that DHU corrects any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date.
• The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for DHU to retain such data.
• The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time, where DHU have sought your consent for this processing. 
• The right to request that the data controller provide the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability, where certain conditions are met.
• The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing.
• The right to object to the processing of personal data.
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office. 

If you would like further information about any of these rights, please contact DHU’s Data

Each organisation has a senior person responsible for protecting the confidentiality of your information and enabling appropriate sharing. This person is known as the Caldicott Guardian. They are supported by the Data Protection Officer. 

You can contact DHU’s Caldicott Guardian or Data Protection Officer by information.governance@dhuhealthcare.nhs.uk or dpo@affinityresolutions.co.uk

If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information that DHU holds on you, the use of your information or would like to discuss further, please contact the Information Governance team. 

Should DHU wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Data Protection Privacy Notice, then the Company will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions.

DHU endeavour to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information and encourage people to bring concerns to the Company’s attention.

DHU takes any complaints received very seriously.

You can submit a complaint through DHU’s Complaints Procedure, which is available on the Company’s web site, or you can write to:

The Complaints Department

Freepost:

DHU Health Care CIC

No2 Roundhouse Road

Derby

DE24 8JE

Tel: 0300 1000 407

Email: dhulclinical.governance@nhs.net

If you remain dissatisfied with DHU’s decision following your complaint, you may wish to contact:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Their web site is at www.ico.gov.uk