Please read these terms in full before you use our website. If you do not accept these terms of use, please do not use our website. Your continued use of our site confirms your acceptance of these terms.
Use of website
1.1 Our website may be used for your own private purposes and in accordance with these terms of use.
1.2 You may print and download material from our website provided that you do not modify or reproduce any content without our prior written consent.
Website uptime
1.3 All reasonable measures are taken by us to ensure that our website is operational all day, every day. However, occasionally technical issues may result in some downtime and accordingly we will not be liable if this website is unavailable at any time.
1.4 Where possible we always try to give advance warning of maintenance issues that may result in website down time but we shall not be obliged to provide such notice.
Visitor provided material
1.5 When using this website you shall not post or send to or from this website any material:
(a) For which you have not obtained all necessary consents;
(b) That is discriminatory, obscene, pornographic, defamatory, liable to incite racial hatred, in breach of confidentiality or privacy, which may cause annoyance or inconvenience to others, which encourages or constitutes conduct that would be deemed a criminal offence, give rise to a civil liability, or otherwise is contrary to the law in the United Kingdom;
(c) Which is harmful in nature including, and without limitation, computer viruses, Trojan horses, corrupted data, or other potentially harmful software or data.
1.6 We will fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requiring us to disclose the identity or other details of any person posting material to this website in breach of paragraph
Links to and from other websites
1.7 Throughout our website you may find links to third party websites. The provision of a link to such a website does not mean that we endorse that website. If you visit any website via a link on this website you do so at your own risk.
1.8 Any party wishing to link to this website is entitled to do so provided that the conditions below are observed:
(a) you do not seek to imply that we are endorsing the services or products of another party unless this has been agreed with us in writing;
(b) you do not misrepresent your relationship with this website; and
(c) the website from which you link to our website does not contain offensive or otherwise controversial content or, content that infringes any intellectual property rights or other rights of a third party.
1.9 By linking to our website in breach of paragraph 1.8 you shall indemnify us for any loss or damage suffered by us as a result of such linking.
Disclaimer
1.10 Whilst we do take all reasonable steps to make sure that the information on this website is up to date and accurate at all times we do not guarantee that all material is accurate and ,or up to date.
1.11 All material contained on our website is provided without any warranty of any kind. You use the material on our website at your own discretion.
Exclusion of liability
1.12 We do not accept liability for any loss or damage that you suffer as a result of using our website.
1.13 Nothing in these Terms of Use shall exclude or limit liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence which cannot be excluded or under the law of the United Kingdom.
Law and jurisdiction
These terms of use are governed by English law. Any dispute arising in connection with these terms of use shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.
How we use your information
Introduction
Everybody who works in Health and Social Care has a legal duty to keep information about patients and service users confidential
We take the security of information very seriously. Anyone with access is properly trained in confidentiality and governed by both a legal and contractual duty to keep information safe. Our Staff received training on Information Governance when they join BCH and receive a yearly refresher thereafter. We also regularly remind our staff on the need to keep information confidential, and our Clinical Audit Manager provides advice and guidance in this area to ensure good practice.
What do we collect?
For us to support you properly, we must keep a record. This record must include your name, address, date of birth and GP details.
We have to record why we are seeing you, how we treat your condition and any medications prescribed or treatment undertaken. We may also record information about the illnesses of other family members, information from GPs, or other hospitals where treatment has been received.
The Data Protection Act
- All personal information about you is kept safely, this will mostly be stored on the computer, although there are some services who still use paper records.
- You have the right to see the information which we keep
- All information is kept securely and only those who need it to help with treatment, have access to it
- We only pass on the information about you if the other person has a genuine need to know or to protect your health
- We only pass on the information which is needed and no more
Each type of record is held for a certain amount of time before it is recognised as no longer being needed and can be confidentially destroyed. National time periods are shown in the NHS Records Management: NHS code of practice. We never keep records for longer than necessary.
Who might we share your information with?
We may have to share information with GPs, hospitals, or other organizations supporting you. We will never share any information that is not necessary for your care and support
We have to share information with our Commissioners, this information will not usually identify individual patients and is usually to help plan future service provision
We also carry out reviews ourselves to help improve our services, this is called Clinical Audit.
Some conditions or infectious diseases are required to be added to national registers. Sometimes this does require a patients’ name but if this is the case, we will tell you.
All those who handle this information are fully aware that it has to remain confidential.
Keeping your records up to date
Please help us to keep our information about you up to date by informing us if you change your address, GP or contact details.
How you can get access to your health record
Patients or their representatives (with consent) are entitled to apply for copies of their health records. You can do this by contacting the patient services manager on 0117 900 2540
For an explanation of how we use the information of our patients, services users and the general public, click here.