You are here: home > privacy
Privacy
What information do we hold?
Most of the work we do involves individual patients or service users, and to do this properly we need to know about their health, their personal circumstances and their treatment. This might include information about their carers and relatives.
If you have, or have had, a mental disorder, it is likely that health and social care professionals will have recorded details of your medical and personal history and treatment as part of your routine care. Sometimes these records must, by law, be passed on to us. This is the case, for instance, if you have been treated under the Mental Health or Adults with Incapacity Act. We also receive reports about service users who have committed suicide, or who have been involved in a serious accident or incident. Information can be kept either in paper files or on computer.
People can contact us by telephone, letter, fax or email. We will ask you your name, details of how we can contact you, the name and date of birth of the person you are calling about and, if you are calling about someone else what your relationship is with them. This is so that we can find any other information we already have and to make sure we give you the right advice and information. We may keep a record of this contact if it relates to a person being treated or cared for under mental health or incapacity law this helps our staff to follow up on enquiries. You don't have to give us all this information for us to be able to help, but if you have a problem with your care and treatment and would like us to follow up on your behalf we will need to know your name.
We also keep contact information for people who have joined our mailing list including e-mail addresses. People on our mailing list receive notice of Commission events, news and information. We will not share that information with other organisations.
How do we use this information?
We use the information we are given about individual patients and service users to help us protect their rights and to make enquiries into their care and treatment. We use some of this information to make statistical reports which will help improve mental health care for everyone. Our annual report, together with other reports we publish, gives anonymous health and social welfare information based on individual records. Sometimes we are asked for statistical information, and from time to time we carry out research. If our research could involve you personally, you will be contacted and asked for your permission.
Some of the information is used to check that cases are being dealt with properly. This allows staff to learn from the experience and ability of their colleagues. We also use the information to make sure that we are being efficient. When we make these checks we always try to use the information anonymously.
Do we give this information to anyone else?
We have a duty to treat the information we hold about you confidentially. Normally this means that we will not give it to anyone else without your permission. However staff within the Commission may need to discuss your personal information with each other, and may need to bring their concerns to the attention of authorised professionals outside the Commission to make sure that you are cared for properly. In some cases, to do with property and complaints, we must, by law, pass on information to the Public Guardian. In all these cases only information that the person needs to know in order to help you will be passed on.
The details you provide to us for mailing list purposes will not be passed on to third parties.
How do we protect your personal information?
The Commission has a code of confidentiality which binds all our staff. We take great care to see that personal information about contacts, patients and service users is not wrongly used or given out.
All organisations like the Commission have appointed a 'Caldicott Guardian', whose job is to oversee how personal health information is used and to see that people's rights to confidentiality are respected. The Commission's Caldicott Guardian can be contacted on 0131 222 6111.
Click here out more about your rights to access information that we hold about you how we protect that To find out more about how the Commission protects information about you and your rights to access that information click here.
To ask for information that we might hold about you please .
Our e-mail policy
Commission email facilities are a way of forwarding general enquiries. They are not a secure route for sending personal information. The Commission regrets that it cannot enter into long exchanges with individuals by email. However, if necessary, discussions can continue by other means.
If you send us an e-mail that message will be stored for one year. If your message is passed on to a practitioner for further action your message will remain on the system for three years.
Our email address is enquiries@mwcscot.org.uk
