How Antrim Road Practice uses your information to provide you with healthcare
This practice keeps medical records confidential and complies with the General Data Protection Regulation. We hold your medical record so that we can provide you with safe care and treatment. We will also use your information so that this practice can check and review the quality of the care we provide. This helps us to improve our services to you.
We will share relevant information from your medical record with other health or social care staff or organisations when they provide you with care. For example, your GP will share information when they refer you to a specialist in a hospital or community services. Or your GP will send details about your prescription to your chosen pharmacy. Likewise, if you are seen or assessed by health care professionals outside the practice, within the NHS, it would be usual for them to send us information relating to that encounter. We retain this as part of your medical notes. This is also usual for colleagues who may work in the non –NHS work sector but may not be the case.
People who have access to your information will only have access to information which they require to fulfill their role.
Your consent to the sharing of this personal data, within the practice and with those outside the practice is assumed and allowed by law-( see table below. )
Healthcare staff working in A&E and out of hours care will also have access to your information. For example, it is important that staff who are treating you in an emergency know if you have any allergic reactions. This will involve the use of your ENCOMPASS electronic record. NHS staff and some private providers also have access to this information. For more information see https://dhcni.hscni.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Encompass-Privacy-Notice-v5.pdf
You have the right to object to information being shared for your own care. Please speak to the practice manager if you wish to object. You also have the right to have any mistakes or errors corrected.
You have the right to object to your information being used for medical research and to plan health services. There are no national opt-out policies Northern Ireland, however, some specific research projects make provision for opting-out of their research.
Your medical records are stored on computer software Emis Web stored in a third party centre, Cloud computing is an established technology and the adoption of which is something which is being driven within the public sector – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-cloud-first
This is a change as of August 2025, moving from local server to cloud storage.