General Data Protection and Regulation (GDPR)
It is important for us, as a healthcare service, to be able to gather some details about you in order to provide a safe, thorough and effective assessment and treatment.
Details that we will need to collect from you are:
- Full name, address, telephone number/ email – to enable communication if, for example, we need to reschedule an appointment.
- Date of birth – this is important as, for example, some signs/ symptoms of what you present with may be age-related.
- Doctor’s name, address and telephone number- this will be needed if we need to contact your Doctor for their assistance and/ or advice with your presenting complaint but only, of course, with your consent.
- A thorough medical history –will provide us with a greater understanding of your general health and whether those conditions may affect your feet, for example, for people with diabetes or poor blood circulation.
- A list of medications- this again helps gives us a good understanding of your general health.
- Allergies- are you allergic to latex, iodine, elastoplast, any particular antibiotics or anything else we may need to know? Knowing these details helps prevent any risk to you.
Having these details will enable us to provide you with the best treatment as thoroughly and safely as possible.
We understand that personal information is confidential, and we can assure you that the information we obtain will be for no other purpose than for a medical record for us to refer to when treating you. We need to fulfil this promise in order to comply with the legal and regulatory requirements of The Royal College of Podiatry (RCPod), the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) and The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
If we need a case study for evidence for Continuing Professional Development purposes then we will seek your consent first and we will only identify you as a case number, we will not use your name.
AP Podiatry is a member of the ICO with processes in line with the UK and GDPR regulations. As a medical facility, your medical and personal data is securely stored electronically for 8 years, and no paper records are held.
The software we use to input your personal and medical information is called Cliniko. This software is vetted and approved by The Royal College of Podiatry and is GDPR compliant. All information is held in ‘The Cloud’ and not on the computer itself. If draft notes are taken on paper, before being inputted onto Cliniko, then the draft notes will be shredded immediately afterwards.
If you require a copy of your medical notes, which you can ask for at any time, please email Amy@APPodiatry.co.uk.