Privacy
Privacy Statement
Etrack Medical Ltd. wants to ensure the highest standard of data protection for our partner therapists and their patients. We understand that we work as a support service to a trusted community governed by an ethic of privacy and confidentiality. This information is about advising you of our policies and practices in dealing with your medical information.
Legal Basis for Processing Your Data
All the doctors involved with Etrack Medical Ltd. are members of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) and have signed up for the ICGP Data Protection Guideline for GPs. The processing of personal data is necessary to protect the vital interests of the patient and for the provision of health care and public health. You can access the Guidelines at https://www.icgp.ie/data.
Managing Your Information
In order to support the care you provide to your patients, we need to collect and keep information about your patients and their health.
We retain patient information securely.
We will only ask for and keep the information that is necessary.
All persons working in Etrack Medical (not already covered by a professional confidentiality code) sign a confidentiality agreement that explicitly makes clear their duties in relation to personal health information and the consequences of breaching that duty.
Access to patient records is regulated to ensure that they are used only to the extent necessary to enable the support staff or managers to perform their tasks for the proper functioning of the service.
In this regard, practitioners should understand that specific Etrack Medical staff may have access to their patient's records for:
Generating necessary certificates for the patient. This is then checked and signed by our GP.
Reviewing and confirming patient information for review by our GP.
Review the status of updates of patient imaging results from an imaging provider.
Downloading imaging results and reports and performing integration of these results into the electronic patient record.
And other activities related to the support of patient referral and therapist support appropriate for Etrack Medical Ltd support staff.
Disclosure of Information to Other Health & Social Care Professionals
Etrack Medical Ltd. will pass on patient information to suitable medical imaging service providers to secure medical imaging services for the patient. Only the necessary information will be released. These professional imaging service providers are also legally bound to treat your information with the same duty of care and confidentiality that we do.
Disclosures Required or Permitted Under Law
The law provides that in certain instances personal information (including health information) can be disclosed, for example, in the case of infectious diseases.
Disclosure of Information to Employers, Insurance Companies & Solicitors:
In general, work-related Medical Certificates from Ertack Medical GPs will only provide a confirmation that a patient is unfit for work with an indication of when they will be fit to resume work. Where it is considered necessary to provide additional information this will be discussed with the patient's therapist. However, Department of Social Protection sickness certs (“Social Welfare Certs”) for work must include the medical reason why patients are unfit to work.
In the case of disclosures to insurance companies or requests made by solicitors for patient records, we will only release the information with the therapist's and patient's signed consent.
Use of Information for Training, Teaching & Quality Assurance
It is usual for clinicians to discuss patient case histories as part of their continuing medical education or for the purpose of training clinicians and/or medical students. In these situations, the identity of the patient concerned will not be revealed.
In other situations, however, it may be beneficial for other doctors within Etrack Medical to be aware of patients with particular conditions and in such cases, Etrack Medical would only communicate the information necessary to provide the highest level of care to the patient.
Use of Information for Research & Audit
It is usual for patient information to be used for research and audit in order to improve services and standards of practice in Healthcare. GPs on the specialist register of the Medical Council are required to perform yearly clinical audits. Information used for such purposes is done in an anonymised or pseudonymised manner with all personal identifying information removed.
If it were proposed to use patient information in a way where it would not be anonymous or Etrack Medical was involved in external research we would discuss this further with the patient's therapist and the patient before we proceeded and seek your written informed consent. The quality of the patient service provided can only be maintained and improved by training, teaching, audit and research.
Your Right of Access to Your Health Information
Patients have the right of access to all their personal information held by Etrack Medical. If patients wish to see their records, a request should be made through the patient’s therapist. Where necessary, Etrack Medical GP will review the information in the record with the patient. Patients can make a formal written access request to Etrack Medical and receive a copy of their medical records. These will be provided to you within thirty days.
Other Rights
Patients have other rights under data protection regulations in relation to the transfer of data to a third country, the right to rectification or erasure, restriction of processing, objection to processing and data portability. Further information on these rights in the context of general practice is described in the Guideline at https://www.icgp.ie/data. Patients and therapist providers also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commissioner.
Categories of Personal Data
1. Administrative
Name, address, contact details (phone, mobile, email), dates of appointment
Purpose of Processing:
Necessary to support the referral of the patient to medical screening services.
Lawfulness of Processing:
Article 6.1(d): processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person; Special Categories are processed under the derogations in Articles 9.2(h) and 9.2(i). Please see the notes under this table.
2. Medical Record
Individual Health identifier, date of birth, gender, current and past medical history, imaging test results, ultrasound scan images, and other data required to support patient care.
Purpose of Processing:
Necessary to support patient care in a community therapist environment.
3. Account Details
Record of billable services provided to the therapist, patient name, address, contact details, and imaging services provided.
Purpose of Processing:
Required for providing a service and billing to community therapists.
Lawfulness of Processing:
Article 6.1(c): processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject (Revenue, Medical and Legal Obligations), and Article 6.1(b) in relation to getting paid for providing a service to private patients.
Recipients With Whom We Share Personal Data
1. Health & Social Care Providers
Other GPs, Health Service Executives, Private Consultants, Pharmacies, Diagnostic Imaging Services, and other health care providers.
2. Data Processors, With a Contract
GP Practice Software Vendor (Clanwilliam Health), Online Data Backup Companies, Healthlink, Squarespace.
3. Legal Arrangements
Coroner, Social Protection, Medical Council.
4. Public Health
Infectious disease notifications.
5. Third Parties, With Explicit Patient and Therapist Consent
Solicitors, Employers.
Questions
We hope this privacy policy has explained any issues that may arise. If you have any questions, please contact info@EtrackMedical.ie.