Legal Requirements to Share Data

 

BACK TO MAIN INDEX

 

The law requires us to share information from your medical records in certain circumstances. Information is shared so that the NHS or Public Health England can, for example:

  • plan and manage services;
  • check that the care being provided is safe;
  • prevent infectious diseases from spreading.
 

We will share information with NHS Digital, the Care Quality Commission and local health protection team (or Public Health England) when the law requires us to do so. Please see below for more information.

We must also share your information if a court of law orders us to do so.

 

NHS Digital

NHS Digital is a national body which has legal responsibilities to collect information about health and social care services.

It collects information from across the NHS in England and provides reports on how the NHS is performing. These reports help to plan and improve services to patients.  

This practice must comply with the law and will send data to NHS Digital, for example, when it is told to do so by the Secretary of State for Health or NHS England under the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

More information about NHS Digital and how it uses information can be found here

 

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The CQC regulates health and social care services to ensure that safe care is provided.

The law says that we must report certain serious events to the CQC, for example, when patient safety has been put at risk.

For more information about the CQC click here

 

Public Health

The law requires us to share data for public health reasons, for example to prevent the spread of infectious diseases or other diseases which threaten the health of the population.

We will report the relevant information to local health protection team or Public Health England.

For more information about Public Health England and disease reporting click here

Please read our Privacy Notice for further information about how we handle your information