NHS Digital’s daily collection of GP data will support vital health and care planning and research.

The data held in the GP medical records of patients is used every day to support health and care planning and research in England, helping to find better treatments and improve patient outcomes for everyone. NHS Digital has developed a new way to collect this data, called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection.

The new data collection reduces burden on GP practices, allowing doctors and other staff to focus on patient care.

Please see link for further information  https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research

If you don’t want your identifiable patient data to be shared for purposes except for your own care, you can opt-out by registering a Type 1 Opt-out or a National Data Opt-out, or both.

These opt-outs are different and they are explained in more detail within the link above. Your individual care will not be affected if you opt-out using either option.

NHS England require that the net earnings of doctors engaged in the practice is published and the required disclosure is shown below.

However, it should be noted that the prescribed method for calculating earnings is potentially misleading because it takes no account of how much time doctors spend working in the practice and should not be used for any judgement about GP earnings, no to make any comparisons with other practices.

The average earnings for GPs working in the Springwell Medical Practice in the last financial year was £73,928 before taxation and national insurance.

This is for 1 full time GPs and 6 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than 6 months.

The practice is required by the Government under the terms of the latest GP contract to allocate all patients a named accountable GP.

Individual patients will be informed of their named accountable GP at the first appropriate interaction with the practice.

Where a patient expresses a preference as to which GP they have been assigned, the practice will make reasonable efforts to accommodate this request.

Your named GP will not be available at all times and if your needs are urgent, you may need to discuss them with an alternative doctor.

How we use your medical records

Important information for patients

• This practice handles medical records in-line with laws on data protection and confidentiality.

• We share medical records with those who are involved in providing you with care and treatment.

• In some circumstances we will also share medical records for medical research, for example to find out more about why people get ill. 

• We share information when the law requires us to do so, for example, to prevent infectious diseases from spreading or to check the care being provided to you is safe. 

• You have the right to be given a copy of your medical record.

• You have the right to object to your medical records being shared with those who provide you with care.

• You have the right to object to your information being used for medical research and to plan health services. 

• You have the right to have any mistakes corrected and to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please see the practice privacy notice on the website or speak to a member of staff for more information about your rights.