Data Protection Act - Section 2

The request was partially successful.

Dear University Hos​pitals of North Midlands NHS Trust,

A) Do you agree that records and notes relating to an accusation of a Patient viewing illegal material online would fall under the definition of The Data protection Act 1998, Section 2, sub-section G: the commission or alleged commission by him of any offence?
Ai) Please outline your reasons as to why you agree or disagree with this.

B) What is your policy on how notes should be recorded, handled, stored, transmitted and secured which detail or regard an allegation of the Patient having committed a crime?
Bi) Who would have access to these notes?
Bii) What condition(s) under Section 3 of the DPA 1998 would you cite for processing data (such as notes, etc) regarding the commission or alleged commission by the Patient of an offence?

C) Would details of a Patient allegedly committing a crime ever be included and noted in explicit detail in a Patients medical record?

D) Would actions between staff members and the Police regarding an investigation into the criminal allegation against a Patient ever be included in the Patients medical records? Such as a note in their medical records that a staff member has given a statement to the Police? Etc.

E) Would the details of the allegation against the Patient be given to other NHS trusts, such as when the Patient moves trust?

Yours faithfully,
Thomas Smith

FOI, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

Dear Mr Smith

 

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 28^th June 2018
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000)
regarding Data Protection Act - Section 2.

 

Your reference number is 181-1819 please quote this number on any
correspondence.

 

The FOI Act sets out a twenty working day timescale for requests to be
completed by. We will always try to complete your request within this
timeframe. We will let you know whether the Trust holds the information
you have requested, and we will contact you as soon as possible if we are
delayed in our response for some reason. If we require further information
from you or we need you to further explain your request before we can
continue to process it we will also contact you. 

 

Yours,

 

Information Governance Team

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

 

 

 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please do not
use or publish its contents. Please contact the sender immediately and
then delete the email. The unauthorised use, disclosure, transmission,
copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. Opinions,
conclusions and other information expressed in this message are not given
or endorsed by the UHNM unless such information is transmitted in the
normal course of its business.

FOI, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

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    20180702 FOI Response Letter Data Protection Act Section 2.final ref 181 1819.pdf

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    20180417 satisfaction survey.odt

    28K Download

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Please find the response to your FOI request attached

 

Many thanks,

 

IG Team

University Hospitals of North Midlands

NHS Trust

 

 

 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please do not
use or publish its contents. Please contact the sender immediately and
then delete the email. The unauthorised use, disclosure, transmission,
copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. Opinions,
conclusions and other information expressed in this message are not given
or endorsed by the UHNM unless such information is transmitted in the
normal course of its business.

Hello Mojgan,

Thank you for your swift reply; it is greatly appreciated.

I just want to clarify some information, specifically:

1) Please provide a copy of all policies and procedures that a staff member must follow if the partner of a patient makes an allegation to the staff member that the Patient has viewed child pornography at home

2) Please provide a copy of all policies and procedures relating to the disclosure of information about a Patient to the Police

3) Please provide a copy of all policies and procedures relating to how an email which contains details of an alleged offence by a Patient that was sent by the partner of the Patient to a staff member should be securely transferred to the Police

I now refer to your answers detailed in A2:

Please note: the following questions are specifically about recording an alleged offence in a Patients official Medical Records that anyone providing treatment to the Patient would have access to, as opposed to internal trust records.

4) If the explicit consent of the Patient was not given, please state all the conditions under Schedule 3 of the DPA that you would rely on to record a note in the Patients Medical Records identifying that the police may want to interview the Patient.

5) If the explicit consent of the Patient was not given, please state all the conditions under Schedule 3 of the DPA that you would rely on to record explicit details of the alleged offence in the Patients Medical Records (not just a brief note, but things such as a detailed description of the alleged offence, or the circumstances of why the Police want to interview the Patient)?

a. If no Schedule 3 conditions would allow you to record explicit details of an alleged offence in the Patients official Medical Records, please state this as the case.

6) Regardless of your answer to the previous question, if explicit details of an alleged offence against a Patient are recorded by a member of staff into a Patient’s official Medical Records, without the Patient’s explicit consent, and the Patient’s Medical Records are requested by and transferred to another healthcare provider in order to provide treatment to the patient, please state the Schedule 3 conditions you would rely on to transfer the Patients Records and thus disclose the explicit descriptions of the allegation.

a. If no Schedule 3 conditions would allow you to transfer the records and thus disclose the details of the alleged offence to another healthcare provider who takes over providing care to the Patient, please state this as the case.

Thank you,
Thomas Smith

FOI, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

Dear Mr Smith

 

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 2^nd July  2018
(received into our office 3^rd July) requesting information under the
Freedom of Information Act (2000) regarding new and additional questions
to your FOI request reference 181-1819 therefore this is a new request and
is being dealt with accordingly.

 

Your reference number is 188-1819 please quote this number on any
correspondence.

 

The FOI Act sets out a twenty working day timescale for requests to be
completed by. We will always try to complete your request within this
timeframe. We will let you know whether the Trust holds the information
you have requested, and we will contact you as soon as possible if we are
delayed in our response for some reason. If we require further information
from you or we need you to further explain your request before we can
continue to process it we will also contact you. 

 

Yours,

 

Information Governance Team

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

 

 

 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please do not
use or publish its contents. Please contact the sender immediately and
then delete the email. The unauthorised use, disclosure, transmission,
copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. Opinions,
conclusions and other information expressed in this message are not given
or endorsed by the UHNM unless such information is transmitted in the
normal course of its business.

FOI, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

Dear Mr Smith,

 

I have been asked to contact you to seek clarification on your request.
Your request states:

“I just want to clarify some information, specifically:

 

1)            Please provide a copy of all policies and procedures that a
staff member must follow if the partner of a patient makes an allegation
to the staff member that the Patient has viewed child pornography at home

 

2)            Please provide a copy of all policies and procedures
relating to the disclosure of information about a Patient to the Police

 

3)            Please provide a copy of all policies and procedures
relating to how an email which contains details of an alleged offence by a
Patient that was sent by the partner of the Patient to a staff member
should be securely transferred to the Police

 

I now refer to your answers detailed in A2:

 

Please note: the following questions are specifically about recording an
alleged offence in a Patients official Medical Records that anyone
providing treatment to the Patient would have access to, as opposed to
internal trust records.

 

4)            If the explicit consent of the Patient was not given, please
state all the conditions under Schedule 3 of the DPA that you would rely
on to record a note in the Patients Medical Records identifying that the
police may want to interview the Patient.

 

5)            If the explicit consent of the Patient was not given, please
state all the conditions under Schedule 3 of the DPA that you would rely
on to record explicit details of the alleged offence in the Patients
Medical Records (not just a brief note, but things such as a detailed
description of the alleged offence, or the circumstances of why the Police
want to interview the Patient)?

 

a.            If no Schedule 3 conditions would allow you to record
explicit details of an alleged offence in the Patients official Medical
Records, please state this as the case.

 

6)            Regardless of your answer to the previous question, if
explicit details of an alleged offence against a Patient are recorded by a
member of staff into a Patient’s official Medical Records, without the
Patient’s explicit consent, and the Patient’s Medical Records are
requested by and transferred to another healthcare provider in order to
provide treatment to the patient, please state the Schedule 3 conditions
you would rely on to transfer the Patients Records and thus disclose the
explicit descriptions of the allegation.

 

a.            If no Schedule 3 conditions would allow you to transfer the
records and thus disclose the details of the alleged offence to another
healthcare provider who takes over providing care to the Patient, please
state this as the case.”

 

To continue with your request we require clarification on the specific
 allegations of abuse you are referring to?  Are all of your questions
relating to alleged child abuse or are you referring to adults who may
have abused illegal drugs/partner etc.?

 

Your request will therefore be paused until we fully understand the
information requested. We will continue to process your request when we
understand the information requested. If we do not hear from you within
two weeks we will close your request

 

Yours,

Information governance team

University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust

 

 

 

 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please do not
use or publish its contents. Please contact the sender immediately and
then delete the email. The unauthorised use, disclosure, transmission,
copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. Opinions,
conclusions and other information expressed in this message are not given
or endorsed by the UHNM unless such information is transmitted in the
normal course of its business.

Dear FOI,

Thank you for your reply asking for clarification.

All my questions deal specifically with a general allegation of an adult viewing indecent images of children online; so no physical abuse nor is any specific individual child identified as being abused.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Smith

FOI, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

Thank you

We will proceed with your request

Kind regards

IGT

show quoted sections

FOI, University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Please find the response to your FOI request attached

 

Many thanks,

 

IG Team

University Hospitals of North Midlands

NHS Trust

 

 

 

The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential to the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient please do not
use or publish its contents. Please contact the sender immediately and
then delete the email. The unauthorised use, disclosure, transmission,
copying or alteration of this message is strictly forbidden. Opinions,
conclusions and other information expressed in this message are not given
or endorsed by the UHNM unless such information is transmitted in the
normal course of its business.