f. Data Processors

EMIS Health and Egton

Purpose if the processing: EMIS Health and Egton are responsible for the provision of a clinical system, software and IT services used by the Practice to securely store and process your medical record.

All information about your personal health records are stored in your GP electronic record. This information is then available to practice staff & external bodies as outlined in this document.

Data retention period: All records held in the Practice EMIS  system be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care

“GP records should be retained until 10 years after the patient's death or after the patient has permanently left the country, unless they remain in the European Union.

Electronic patient records must not be destroyed or deleted for the foreseeable future.”

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority. The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: In line with the GDPR Article 21, you have a general right to raise an objection to the processing of your personal data in some particular circumstances. This right only applies where we cannot demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for continued processing of your personal data for the purposes of direct provision of care, and compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

NHS Camden Clinical Commissioning Group (Camden CCG)

Purpose of the processing: NHS Camden Clinical Commissioning Group (Camden CCG) is responsible for securing, planning, designing and paying for your NHS services, including planned and emergency hospital care, mental health, rehabilitation, community and primary medical care (GP) services, Information Communication Technology (ICT), providing risk stratification services.

The CCG act as the Data Processor for Care Integrated Digital Record (CIDR) and EMIS Systems Local Record Sharing and, process personal data from your GP record in accordance with instructions from the Practice.

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record.

Data retention period: All records held in the Practice EMIS  system be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care

“GP records should be retained until 10 years after the patient's death or after the patient has permanently left the country, unless they remain in the European Union.

Electronic patient records must not be destroyed or deleted for the foreseeable future.”

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority. The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being shared with CCG.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

North East London Commissioning Support Unit (NEL CSU) - GP Practice Data Extraction Services

Purpose of the processing:The GP Practice Data Extraction Services enables NEL CSU to extract personal data from GP Practice covering all currently registered patients and those ever registered since April 2009 except where patients have explicitly dissented from their information being extracted, for the provision of services back to the practice which may include:

Risk stratification; linking data to other data sets;

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record.

Data retention period: All records held in the Practice EMIS  system be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority. The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being shared with NEL CSU.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Health Information Exchange (provided by Cerner)

HIE Privacy Notice

Purpose of the processing: Cerner is responsible for the provision of IT clinical systems that enables safe, digitised patient care across the healthcare facilities. Cerner is the supplier of Health Information Exchange (HIE) - an Electronic Health Record (EHR) that links system and brings together patient data across the health and care system irrespective of traditional organisational or technological boundaries. This means health and care professionals in North London can access subsets of their patients/service users’ medical or social records from a single system in order to provide the best possible care.

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record for the purposes of direct patient care and population health management.

Data retention period: All records held in the Practice EMIS system and the HIE system are kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care

“GP records should be retained until 10 years after the patient's death or after the patient has permanently left the country, unless they remain in the European Union.

Electronic patient records must not be destroyed or deleted for the foreseeable future.”

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority. The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being in Cerner HIE.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Campus Doctor

Purpose of the processing: The data supplied by you is processed by CampusDoctor in line with the laws on data protection and confidentiality.

CampusDoctor processes your information so that it can be sent to your medical practice to enable your registration at the practice as a patient to receive general medical services.

CampusDoctor may send you health promotion information on behalf of the medical practice based on information supplied by you in the health questionnaire, but only if you have opted to receive this communication.

This data is processed using a secure server based in the European Union and forwarded using encrypted communication to the medical practice. There is no profiling or automatic decision making in this process.

It is your choice to provide your information to CampusDoctor. If you chose not to do so you will need to attend the medical practice in person to register with them.

Data Retention period: CampusDoctor has no other interest in your data other than the two uses above. It will not share this data with any other party. The data will be retained for 336 hours before being deleted.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority. The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being used by Campus Doctor.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Docman and Docmail

Purpose of the processing: Docman Limited act as a data processor and provides cloud-based storage software for electronic patient document. This includes letters that we receive, scan and upload to the patient record, as well as letters that we receive in an electronic format.

Generally, Docman enables primary health care organisations capture, file, workflow, view and manage primary care documents efficiently.

Docmail (Currently Ridgmount Practice does not use Docmail) enables primary health care organisations send letters, invoices and documents directly from computers and other portable devices.

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record for the purposes of direct administrative patient care.

Data retention period:All records held in the Practice EMIS system and the Docman vault are kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care

“GP records should be retained until 10 years after the patient's death or after the patient has permanently left the country, unless they remain in the European Union.

Electronic patient records must not be destroyed or deleted for the foreseeable future.”

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority.

The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: In line with the GDPR Article 21, you have a general right to raise an objection to the processing of your personal data in some particular circumstances. This right only applies where we cannot demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for continued processing of your personal data for the purposes of direct provision of care, and compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

iPlato

Purpose of the processing: iPlato is cloud-based text messaging service used by GPs to communicate with their patients.

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record for the purposes of direct administrative patient care.

Data retention period: All personal health records held in the Practice EMIS system and the iPlato system are kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care

“GP records should be retained until 10 years after the patient's death or after the patient has permanently left the country, unless they remain in the European Union.

Electronic patient records must not be destroyed or deleted for the foreseeable future.”

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation  The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority. The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: In line with the GDPR Article 21, you have a general right to raise an objection to the processing of your personal data in some particular circumstances. This right only applies where we cannot demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for continued processing of your personal data for the purposes of direct provision of care, and compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Quality Medical Solutions UK (QMS-UK):

Purpose of the processing: QMS-UK are commissioned by NHS England to provide secure data processing solutions for two services:

Child Health Information Service – information relating to children’s vaccinations is shared with North East London Foundation Trust who run one of 4 Child Health Information Services across London.

National Diabetic Retinal Screening Service – Diabetic eye screening is carried out in north central London by the North Central London Diabetic Eye Screening Programme (NCL-DESP).

NCL-DESP is provided by North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust which conducts screening across five London boroughs: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington.

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record.

Data retention period: All records held in the Practice EMIS system and the QMS database are kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care

“GP records should be retained until 10 years after the patient's death or after the patient has permanently left the country, unless they remain in the European Union.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority.

The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being shared in QMS.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Purpose of the processing: Ridgmount Practice performs computerised searches of some or all of our records to identify individuals who may be at increased risk of certain conditions or diagnoses i.e. Diabetes, heart disease, risk of falling). Your records may be amongst those searched. This is often called “risk stratification” or “case finding”. These searches are sometimes carried out by Data Processors who link our records to other records that they access, such as hospital attendance records. The results of these searches and assessment may then be shared with other healthcare workers, such as specialist, therapists, technicians etc. The information that is shared is to enable the other healthcare workers to provide the most appropriate advice, investigations, treatments, therapies and or care.

Risk stratification can be grouped into two purposes namely:

Direct Care – ‘Case Finding’ where carried out by a health professional (e.g. GPs and Provider) involved in an individual’s care or by a data processor acting under contract with such a provider, it is treated as direct care.

Indirect Care - understand the local population needs and plan for future requirement.

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record.

Data retention period: All records held by the Practice will be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority.

The processing of special categories of personal data concerning health is permitted under the following paragraph:Article 9 (2) (h) - processing is necessary for medical or social care treatment or, the management of health or social care systems and services

Related Legislation:Section 251 NHS Act 2006

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being shared for the purpose of risk stratification.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Currently Ridgmount Practice does not engage with any research organisations but if we do then these data processes apply. This will be updated as and when a research organisation is engaged.

Purpose of the processing: To enable healthcare professionals working for Ridgmount Practice to provide information, derived from GP records, about individuals to accredited research organisations.

This covers research situations where the data controller Ridgmount Practice is approached by research organisations, directly, to recruit patients for studies.
Any research proposal will only be agreed with a clearly defined protocol, consent mechanisms, and relevant research ethics committee approval, and in line with the principles of Article 89(1) of the EU GDPR.
Research organisations do not approach patients directly, rather Ridgmount Practice will invite appropriate patients directly seeking their wish to take part.
This Fair Processing Notice does not cover situations where Ridgmount Practice has been approached by an organisation seeking personal sensitive data to be disclosed in the absence of consent, i.e. via Related Legislation: Section 251 NHS Act 2006 / Health Research Authority (HRA) approval.

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record.

Data retention period: All records held by the Practice will be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority.

The processing of special categories of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9 (2) (j) - for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1) based on Union or Member State law

Related Legislation: Section 251 NHS Act 2006

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being shared for the purpose of risk stratification.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Camden GPIT (Part of Camden CCG)

Purpose of the processing:To provides solutions for, data backup and recovery, secure storage, and accredited data destruction (Hardware).

The source of the information shared in this way is your electronic GP record.

Data retention period: All records held by the Practice will be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority.

The processing of special categories of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:Article 9 (2) (j) - for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1) based on Union or Member State law

Your rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being shared for the purpose of risk stratification.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

NHS England

Purpose of the processing: NHS England offer a wide range of business assurance services, from internal audit, counter fraud and forensic investigations, risk management and governance.

Data retention period: All records held by the Practice will be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 6(1) (e) - public interest or in the exercise of official authority.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• To access, view or request copies of your personal information;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy in your personal information;
• restrict the processing of your personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection to your personal data being shared for the purpose of risk stratification.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

IRIS Payroll Bureau

Purpose of the processing:  Iris Payroll Bureau provides practices with a software solution to enable the recording of Human Resources related information of its  employees’ personal data, in particular for the purposes of payroll.

The Practice ensures that personal data it collects from employees are used only for payroll related purposes.

Data retention period: All records held by the Practice will be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation  The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:(e) (public interest or in the exercise of official authority).

The processing of special categories of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph: Article 9(2) (b): processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject

Your rights

Employees have the  right to:

• To access, view or request copies of their personal information held by the Practice;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy to their personal information;
• restrict the processing of their personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: Employees have a general right to raise an objection to the sharing personal data.

If an employee wishes to exercise his/her rights they can contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and their request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

Ridgmount Practice

Purpose of the processing: Ridgmount Practice provides recording of Human Resources related information of its employees personal data, in particular for the purposes of the recruitment, obligations performance contract of employment, rights and benefits management planning, health and safety, equality and diversity in the workplace, health and safety at work.

The Practice ensures that personal data it collects from employees are used only for employment related purposes or where there is a statutory obligation to share the personal information with regulatory bodies(e.g. courts, police or NHS England).

Data retention period: All records held by the Practice will be kept for the duration specified in the Records Management Codes of Practice for Health and Social Care.

Lawful basis General Data Protection Regulation The processing of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:(e) (public interest or in the exercise of official authority).

The processing of special categories of personal data is permitted under the following paragraph:Article 9(2) (b): processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject

Your rights:

Employees have the  right to:

• To access, view or request copies of their personal information held by the Practice;
• request rectification of any inaccuracy to their personal information;
• restrict the processing of their personal information where:
• accuracy of the data is contested,
• the processing is unlawful or,
• where we no longer need the data for the purposes of the processing.

Right to object: Employees have a general right to raise an objection to the sharing personal data.

If an employee wishes to exercise his/her rights they can contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and their request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your data, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here

COVID-19 Clinical Risk Assessment Tool

Purpose of the processing: This COVID-19 Clinical Risk Assessment Tool Privacy Notice is provided to explain how your personal information is used when we use the COVID-19 Clinical Risk Assessment Tool (the Tool). This notice is an additional notice to our full privacy notice which explains how we process your personal information more generally and is available on request and on our website.

The Tool is an online tool, provided by the NHS, that assesses the risk to you of coronavirus. It has been designed for use during a consultation with a patient and otherwise to support direct patient care. Your doctor or healthcare professional (clinician) inputs information about you into the Tool, to generate individual risk assessment results for you (see section 4 below which describes how this works).

Using information provided by you or obtained by your clinician, for example your weight and information from your health record, your clinician answers the questions in the Tool. The Tool will then generate risk assessment results based on this information. The results will give you or your clinician a better understanding of your risks of infection and potential consequences for you of infection from coronavirus. Your clinician may discuss the result with you to give you personalised health advice.

In addition to using the Tool to support the individual care of our patients, we will be providing information about your experience to NHS Digital, which provides the Tool. Anonymous data collected through the Tool will also help NHS Digital and the University of Oxford, who developed the QCovid® model used in the Tool, to develop and improve the Tool.

The Tool is registered as a medical device with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

What is the Tool and how does it work? Your clinician will enter information into the Tool about you, your health and the medicines you take. Some of this information will be taken from your health record but your clinician may also need to ask you some questions about you and your health. They may also need to measure your height and weight to work out your body mass index (BMI).

The Tool will generate results for absolute risk and relative risk (see below), estimating how likely it is that you will:

• catch coronavirus and go to hospital
• catch coronavirus and die

All of the information used to answer the questions in the Tool is required because it has been identified as a factor which is relevant to the risk of catching and being hospitalised or dying from coronavirus.

The Tool has been developed from research by the University of Oxford about how people have been affected by coronavirus. The Tool uses a model called QCovid® which was developed based on information about people who had coronavirus in early 2020. The University of Oxford looked at data about people who went to hospital or died as a result of coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic and combined it with data from hospital records and GP surgeries.

To develop the QCovid® model used by the Tool, the University of Oxford analysed this data to find out if certain things impact how coronavirus affects people. Researchers found that some things make it more likely that a person will need to go to hospital or die from coronavirus – these are called ‘risk factors’. 

Risk factors that were identified as important included: age; body mass index (BMI); ethnicity; certain health conditions and where people live. The University developed a model which weighted each of these factors and this is used within the Tool to generate risk assessment results from the information entered about you by the clinician. The results may support a discussion between you and your clinician about what your level of risk means for you or otherwise used by your clinician for your healthcare.

The Tool will estimate your ‘absolute risk’ and ‘relative risk’.

‘Absolute risk’ is the risk of catching and being hospitalised or dying from coronavirus. This is based on data from the first wave, alongside a second time period (May-June 2020). For example, an absolute risk of 1% (or 1 in 100), would mean that we would expect 1 person to be hospitalised or die with the same characteristics and 99 to not be hospitalised or die.

‘Relative risk’ is the risk of catching and being hospitalised from coronavirus based on your information and risk factors compared with a person of the same age and sex, but no other risk factors. For example, a relative risk of 2 would mean that we would expect you to be twice as likely to catch and be hospitalised or die from coronavirus than somebody of the same age and sex with no other risk factors.

The risks factors used to develop the QCovid® model used in the Tool, are based on data collected in the first few months of the pandemic in 2020. These risks are changing over time in line with infection rates, social distancing measures and individual behaviour. It is based on data collected between February and April 2020, at a time when different measures were in place for shielding and social distancing and different national restrictions were in place. This means that, although risk assessment results are generated for you using the Tool, your clinician will consider these alongside shielding, social distancing and local or national restrictions, which may be different from when the QCovid® model was developed.

Because we don’t yet have enough research about some groups of people, risk assessment results may not be accurate for:

• People aged under 19 and over 100, because the research was done on adults aged from 19 to 100 and because very few children became seriously ill with coronavirus.
• People who are trans or intersex, because the research was done using information about the sex people were registered with at birth
• People who are pregnant, because only small numbers of pregnant people were included in the research so we cannot be confident about their level of risk.
• People who were asked to shield during the first wave because, when the research was done, many of these people were shielding at home and so were less likely to catch coronavirus. This means the Tool may underestimate the risk for these people.Your clinician will explain more about these limitations when they tell you what your risk assessment means for you. Risk assessment results will not be used in isolation to remove anyone from the Shielded Patient List (SPL). However, your clinician may use the Tool as part of their assessment of whether you should be placed on the SPL.  Researchers are continuing to learn more about coronavirus as more information becomes available. The QCovid® model used in the Tool will change and be updated over time as more information becomes available. The online service will be updated to reflect changes to the model.

Your clinician will explain more about these limitations when they tell you what your risk assessment means for you. Risk assessment results will not be used in isolation to remove anyone from the Shielded Patient List (SPL). However, your clinician may use the Tool as part of their assessment of whether you should be placed on the SPL.  

Researchers are continuing to learn more about coronavirus as more information becomes available. The QCovid® model used in the Tool will change and be updated over time as more information becomes available. The online service will be updated to reflect changes to the model.

Our legal basis to process your personal information: Your clinician is processing your personal data in order to answer the questions in the Tool and to record the risk score in your health record.  This is to provide you with safe care and treatment.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulations (UKGDPR) we are allowed to process your personal information using the Tool for the purposes of providing you with healthcare services. This is called “Public Task” under the UKGDPR and is allowed under Article 6(1)(e).

We are also processing personal information about your ethnicity and health conditions to use the Tool. This is also for a healthcare purpose and this is allowed under Article 9(2)(h) of the UKGDPR and under Schedule 1 of Paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018. 

Categories of personal information we process when using the Tool : Your clinician will input the following about you into the Tool using information you have provided or taken from your health record:

• Age (19-100)
• Sex registered at birth
• Ethnic group
• Living arrangements (whether you live in your own home, in a care home or are homeless)
• Postcode (to identify a Townsend deprivation score, a well-known way of measuring deprivation based on data from the 2011 Census). Your postcode is deleted from the Tool once the Townsend score is created.
• Health information, including

• Height (cm), Weight (Kg) – used to calculate BMI
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Respiratory diseases and treatment
• Metabolic, renal and liver conditions
• Neurological and psychiatric conditions
• Autoimmune and haematological conditions
• Cancer and Immunosuppressants– If you have a diagnosis of certain cancers and you have been prescribed if you have been prescribed 4 or more times with certain immunosuppressants in the last 6 months.

The Tool takes the answers we have provided to the questions above and generates a risk assessment result which will allow your clinician to provide personalised advice to you about your risk and otherwise for your healthcare.

Your rights

You have the right to:

more information about:

• how long we keep your personal information for
• where we store your personal information
• how to contact us

Right to object: You have a general right to raise an objection in relation to how we process your personal information.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights please contact the Practice (data controller) or the DPO and your request will be carefully considered.

Right to complain: If you are dissatisfied with the way Ridgmount Practice process your personal information, you have the right to appeal/complain to the Information Commissioner (IC). The Information Commissioners Office can be contacted at: click here