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If you have a cough, fever or shortness of breath since returning from a category 1 or 2
risk area, phone your GP or NHS 24 (111) if your GP is closed.
If you don't have symptoms,
visit
NHS inform.
for general advice or phone 0800 028 2816.
| 1. Our policy | 3. Information from your call |
| 2. Our websites | 4. Data protection |
When you phone NHS 24, so that we can offer you the most appropriate treatment and care as soon as possible, you'll be asked to provide some basic information about yourself and to describe the nature of your call. The personal information needed includes your:
When you call NHS 24 we'll use the information you provide to:
Where we determine that it's required under the legal obligations we're governed by, we'll pass the relevant information to an appropriate care provider such as
We may also use the information to contact you regarding the care you've received.
You can decide how much information you wish to give. You can even use NHS 24 anonymously if you wish.
Certain information such as your symptoms will, of course, be needed so that we can arrange for you to receive appropriate treatment safely. If you do not wish to give your personal details we may not be able to provide you with the most appropriate care.
To ensure that NHS 24 staff are competent in what they do and to enable them to provide the best possible service to people in Scotland, spending time reviewing patient records and listening to calls is an essential part of staff training and development.
Information is also helpful to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone. Only anonymised data will be used for audit and research purposes. You'll be asked for your consent to participate in identifiable research. Typically NHS research is approved by the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel before being carried out. When information is needed to manage the wider health service, careful measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified. Anyone who receives information from us is under a legal duty to keep it confidential.
Everyone who works for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.
For NHS 24 this includes the information recorded during your call and the information documented on our computer systems. Calls to NHS 24 are recorded and stored securely on our computer systems along with any other information we may have about your contact with us. Only approved relevant members of staff at NHS 24 have access to this information.
If you're receiving care from other people as well as NHS staff, NHS 24 may be legally obliged to pass on relevant information for your care or treatment.
As with other NHS organisations, NHS 24 has a ‘Caldicott Guardian’ who has responsibility for the safe keeping of your personal and clinical information and records.
This ensures that your personal health information is treated appropriately. NHS 24’s Caldicott Guardian is also the Medical Director, who can be contacted at
NHS 24
Caledonia House
Cardonald Park
Glasgow
G51 4EB
The data protection legislation are the laws which state that information about you can only be used in certain ways.
The data protection legislation contains 6 principles, one of these is that information must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner. This means that you’ve a right to know how we intend to use the information you provide.
The legal duty of confidentiality also governs information passed in confidence.
NHS 24 processes your information under a legal basis defined in the data protection legislation. NHS 24 considers there are several legal bases such as:
When we use more sensitive ‘special category’ types of personal information which includes health information then our legal basis is usually that the use is necessary for the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services, amongst others. Where it is deemed appropriate NHS 24 will share all relevant information with the appropriate organisations.
You have a right of access to the information we hold about you on our records. If you access your records and you feel that information is inaccurate or incorrect then you should let us know as soon as possible so that we can correct it.
Our Data Protection Notice can be found here.
