What is Population Health Management?
Population Health Management (or PHM for short) is aimed at improving the health of an entire population. It is being implemented across the NHS and this Practice is taking part in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
PHM is about improving the physical and mental health outcomes and wellbeing of people and making sure that access to services is fair, timely and equal. It helps to reduce the occurrence of ill-health and looks at all the wider factors that affect health and care.
The PHM approach requires health care organisations to work together with communities and partner agencies, for example, GP practices, community service providers, hospitals and other health and social care providers.
These organisations will share and combine information with each other, in order to get a view of health and services for the population in a particular area. This information sharing is subject to robust security arrangements.
How will my Personal Data be used?
Information about your health care, which includes personal data, will be combined to create a picture of your health care.
Anything that can identify you will be removed and will be replaced with a unique code, so that people working on that data will only see the code and cannot see any personal data.
This means that the people working with the data will only see the code and cannot see which patient the information relates toIf we see that an individual might benefit from some additional care or support, we will send the information back to your GP or hospital provider and they will use the code to identify you and offer you relevant services.
Examples of how the information could be used for a number of healthcare related activities, include:
- improving the quality and standards of care provided
- research into the development of new treatments
- preventing illness and diseases
- monitoring safety
- planning services
Who will my Personal Data be shared with?
Your GP and other care providers will send the information they hold on their systems to the Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Support Unit (MLCSU), who are part of NHS England.
More information can be found here: NHS Midlands and Lancashire (midlandsandlancashirecsu.nhs.uk)
MLCSU will link all the information together. Your GP and other care providers will then review this information and make decisions about the whole population, or particular patients that might need additional support.
MLCSU is legally obliged to protect your information and maintain confidentiality in the same way that your GP or hospital provider is.
Is using my Personal Data in this way lawful?
Health and Social Care Providers are permitted by data protection law to use personal information where it is ‘necessary for medical purposes.’ This includes caring for you directly, as well as management of health services more generally.
Some of the work that happens at a national level with your pseudonymised personal information is enabled by other legislation. Sharing and using your information in this way helps to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations.
Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this, where allowed by law, and, unless directly for your care, pseudonymised data is used so that you cannot be identified.
For more information, speak to our Data Protection Officer who will be happy to help with any queries you may have.
Can I object to my Personal Data being used as part of the Population Health Management project?
You have a right to object to your personal information being used in this way. If you do choose to ‘opt out’ please contact our Data Protection Officer at the practice in the first instance. If you are happy for your personal information to be used as part of this project, then you do not need to do anything further, although you do have the right to change your mind at any time.
You also have a number of other rights relating to how your personal information is used. See our main privacy policy for more information available via St Stephen’s medical partnership website at : https://www.ststephenssurgery.co.uk/practice-information/
If you still have concerns, you can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office directly at the following link: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/your-personal-information-concerns/.