Fair Processing Notice

Solent Mind and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust work in partnership to provide an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service, under the brand name NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire (formally italk)

Your information and what we do with it...

This is a plain English version of our “Fair Processing Notice” covering just the key points that people ask us most often. You can find the full legal version below it.

We keep information about you so that we can give you a good service. We follow a law called the “GDPR” to make sure we use your information fairly and keep it safe.

What information do we keep?

	Information about who you are, like your name and your NHS Number.
	Information about how to contact you, like your phone number and whether or not it's ok for us to leave a voicemail if you can't answer.
	Information about what we are helping you with, like your symptoms and medications that you take.
	Information about how we are helping you, like your appointments and letters that we've sent.
	If you make a complaint we keep information about your complaint in a different place. This is so that only the people who help to put things right for you will know about it.

Why do we keep this information?

All of the information we keep about you helps us to give you a good service.

The information also helps us to:

	Tell the NHS and the government how we’re doing. We don’t give your personal information when we do this. Instead, we use small bits of information from lots of people to tell them general things like how many people used our service this month, and how many of them felt better.
	Make our service better. If you tell us what you think about our service, we keep that information to help us find out what works well about our service and what we should change.

Who can see it?

Only people who work for NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire can look at your information. We only look at your information to help you, like to arrange an appointment.

If you know someone who works for NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire, you can tell us and we can make it so that they can’t see your information at all. This is called having your information “locked”.

We don’t share your information with anyone else, unless it’s for these two reasons:

	If you have said it’s OK. If we want to share your information with another service we will tell you what information we think it would be helpful to share, and who will see it. You can choose whether we share your information with them or not. The law says we can only share your information with them if you agree.
	If the law says we have to. We may have to share your information if we have a good reason to think you might hurt yourself or someone else. The law says we have to work together with other services like the police or social services. The law says we don’t have to tell you if we do this, but we will if we can.

You can ask to see the information we keep about you by emailing us at info@italk.org.uk or writing to us at:

NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire
3rd Floor, Black Horse House,
8 - 10 Leigh Road,
Eastleigh
SO50 9FH

Fair Processing Notice

NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire takes your confidentiality and privacy rights very seriously. The information below explains how we collect, process, transfer and store your personal information. This fair processing notice forms part of our accountability and transparency to you under the UK Data Protection Act, and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR).

How NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire processes patient information

We will process your personal information fairly and lawfully by;

a) Only using your personal information when we have a lawful reason to do so;

We rely on specific provisions under Article 6 and 9 of the UKGDPR “…a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.”
We do not ask for your consent to process your data.
You do have the right to object to the processing of your information, but this could have an impact on our ability to provide you with care.
It is important to note that you do not have the absolute right to the erasure of information processed under the Public Task legal basis.

b) Only using personal information that is relevant and necessary to enable us to carry out tasks within the delivery of your care;

c) Keeping your information accurate and up to date when using it. If it is found to be wrong, we will make it right, where appropriate, as soon as we can;

d) Only keeping your information in a way that it will identify you for as long as we are legally required to, whilst ensuring your rights;

e) Having secure processes in place to keep your personal information safe when it is being used, shared, and stored.

For more information on your confidentiality and privacy rights you can visit Southern Health’s website.

What information do we collect from you?

Your information is used to guide and record the care you receive and is vital in helping us to;

Have all the information necessary for assessing your needs and for making decisions with you about your care
Have details of our contact with you, such as referrals and appointments and the services you have received
Assess the quality of care we provide to you
Properly investigate if you have a concern or a complaint about your experience with our service.

We could provide appropriate information to another health care provider if you:

Move to another area
Need to use another service
See a different healthcare professional

What information do we collect from you?

NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire staff involved in your care keep records about your support and the treatment you receive. This may include:

Personal details such as your name, address, contact details, date of birth, your next of kin or carer and their contact details, mobile phone number, email address etc.
Your referral details, notes about your long-term medical conditions, and any other information about, or relevant to, the care or support you need and receive
Relevant information from other services such as your GP Practice
Any contacts you have with us, such as telephone support, group work or face to face support
Information on medicines you take
Patient experience feedback and treatment outcome information you provide

If you self-refer using our online referral process, you will be asked to provide some personal details and to complete some medical questions. When you submit this self-referral, an automated decision process will be initiated, assessing which of our assessment or treatment options may be most appropriate for you. You may be able to book your assessment or first treatment online. Or if some of the things you have indicated in your assessment mean it is most appropriate for us to have a discussion with you, you will be asked to contact us directly so that we can discuss and complete your referral and agree the best way forward.

Who might we share your information with?

our information will be shared with members of the NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire team who are supporting you and are providing treatment to you.

It is often helpful for your care if we share information with other services such as your GP, Community Mental Health Teams, or social services. If it would benefit your care for us to share information with other services, we will discuss this with you and seek your consent.

Our Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners and Therapists undergo rigorous training throughout their career. As part of their training, they may ask to record one or more of your sessions so that they can learn and improve. They will discuss with you how they would use the recording and whom it would be shared with so that you can decide whether to give your consent. We will only make these recordings with your consent.

You have the right to refuse/withdraw your consent to information sharing at any time. Please contact us to discuss this first as this could have implications in how you receive further care, including delays in you receiving care.

There may be circumstances when we must, by law, share information with other agencies. In these rare circumstances, we are not required to seek your consent. In some cases, we will not be able to inform you about the information we are sharing.

Examples of this are:

If there is a concern that you are putting, or may put, yourself at risk of severe harm
If there is concern that you are putting, or may put, another person at risk of severe harm
If there is concern that you are putting, or may put, a child or vulnerable adult at risk of harm
If we have been instructed to do so by a Court
If the information is essential for the investigation of a serious crime
If you are detained under a section of the Mental Health Act (1983), there are circumstances in which your ‘nearest relative’ must receive information even if you object
If your information falls within a category that needs to be notified for public health or other legal reasons, such as certain infectious diseases

Your personal information will only be used for purposes that benefit treatment and care. It will never be used for marketing or insurance purposes.

Enhancing our services and performance

To help us monitor our performance, evaluate and develop the services we provide, it is necessary to review and share information with our parent organisations Solent Mind and Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, NHS England, Department of Health and the four NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) that commission our service: North Hampshire CCG, South Eastern Hampshire CCG, Fareham & Gosport CCG and West Hampshire CCG.

The information we share is either anonymised or pseudonymised so you cannot be identified and all access to and use of this information is strictly controlled and kept in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018.

In order to ensure that we have accurate and up-to-date patient records, we carry out a programme of clinical audits. Access to your patient records for this purpose is monitored and only anonymised or pseudonymised information is used in any reports.

Please contact us if you have any questions or wish to opt out of sharing your information with the above.

Responding to complaints, claims and incidents

Everyone working in NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

As well as helping us to provide the appropriate support and treatment, your record can also provide us with an important source of information when we need to:

Investigate complaints, legal claims or untoward incidents within our service

We store this type of information in a separate location from the rest of your patient record. Only staff involved in responding to a concern, complaint, legal claim or incident, will have access to your information.

The policies and procedures that govern how we respond to concerns, complaints, legal claims and incidents are held by our parent organisations, Solent Mind and Southern Health NHS Trust.

This means that the way we collect, store and process this information may depend on which part of NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire you are treated under:

Step 2: Solent Mind
Step 3: Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

Psuedonymised information about all comments, complaints, legal claims and incidents are reported to Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. These reports contain personal information in a way that does not identify you.

Data Protection Officer

Heather Mitchell

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust

7 Sterne Road

Tatchbury Mount

Calmore

Southampton

SO40 2RZ

Solent Mind Data Protection Officer

DPO

Solent Mind

15-16 The Avenue

Southampton

Hampshire

SO17 1XF

Email: dpo@solentmind.org.uk

How we store and secure your information

Information about you will be stored on our secure patient record system, called IAPTus.

If you use SilverCloud, the information you provide through the SilverCloud programme will be stored and processed within this system in order to enable you to use this treatment option.

Your information in SilverCloud is also manually transferred to the IAPTus system, by appropriate NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire staff, to either create or maintain your clinical record.

We have contracts with the organisations who provide these systems (Third Party Contractors) to ensure there are robust information security safeguards in place to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your personal confidential information. The security controls adopted by NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire are influenced by a number of sources including National Guidance, NHS Digital and other Government Standards, in line with the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust is also accredited to Industry Standard ISO27001, which is an internationally recognised information security framework.

All staff are required to adhere to a confidentiality agreement as part of their employment contract with NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire and to comply with the security operating procedures relevant to their method of working. Any breach of these is treated seriously, and could result in disciplinary action, including dismissal.

Sometimes your care will be provided by a third party provider, such as SilverCloud or Xyla. All of these providers will be required to adhere to the same data security and policies as NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire.

The national data opt out (planning and research information)

The IAPT service have to share your information for analysis, with NHS Digital, as directed by NHS England under section 254 of the Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) 2012.

If you do not want your confidential patient information being used for the planning of health and care services, as well as research in England, you have the right to Opt-out via the National Data Opt-out programme. You can do this by registering your choice via https://nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.

If you do choose to nationally opt out, you can still consent to your data being used for specified individual research studies and planning purposes locally.

The Trust will honour your national choice to opt out of your personal confidential patient information being used for planning and research purposes where we are legally required to do so.

How long do we keep your information?

All records held by the NHS are subject to Records Management Code of Practice 2021.The Code sets out best practice guidance on how long we should keep your patient information before we are able to review and securely dispose of it.

How can I access the information you hold about me?

You have a right to see the information we hold about you, both on paper or, computer except for information that:

Has been provided about you by someone else if they haven’t given permission for you to see it
Is being used to detect or prevent crime
Could cause physical or mental harm to you or someone else

To access this information, you would need to complete a Subject Access Request via Privacy law (DPA/GDPR).

Your request must be made in writing, either in email or letter form, and we must see valid proof of identity before we can disclose personal information.

All applications for access to your clinical record must be made in writing and sent by post or email to:

NHS Talking Therapies Hampshire,

3rd Floor,

Black Horse House,

8 - 10 Leigh Road,

Eastleigh,

SO50 9FH

Email: info@italk.org.uk

DPO,

Solent Mind,

15-16 The Avenue,

Southampton,

Hampshire,

SO17 1XF

Email: dpo@solentmind.org.uk

Key Contacts

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust: Sterne 7, Sterne Road, Tatchbury Mount, Calmore, Southampton SO40 2RZ - The Data Controller for your information

Solent Mind, Registered Office: 15-16 The Avenue, Southampton, Hants. SO17 1XF

Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Freedom of Information: foi@southernhealth.nhs.uk telephone: (023) 8087 4662