GDPR

Introduction

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) is a new law that determines how your personal data is processed and kept safe, and the legal rights that you have in relation to your own data.

What is GDPR?

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is a piece of legislation introduced in May 2018 along with the Data Protection Act 2018 sets the regulation about how organisations must handle information in the UK. GDPR regulations apply from the 25th May 2018, and will apply even after the UK leave the EU.

What GDPR will mean for patients

GDPR sets out key principles about processing data:

• Data must be processed lawfully and transparently
• It must be collected for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes
• It must be limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed
• Information must be accurate and kept up to Date
• Data must be held securely
• It can only be retained for as long as is necessary for the reasons it was collected

There are also stronger rights for patients regarding the information that practices hold on them. These include:

• Being informed about how their data is used
• Having access to their own data
• Ask to have incorrect information changed
• Restrict how their data is used
• Move their patient data from one health organisation to another
• The right to object to their information being processed (in certain circumstances)