Introduction

The Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust has the ability to record telephone calls to protect patients, staff and other health workers. Recordings protect our patients by our having a record of our conversations with you. Staff and other health workers are protected from potential abuse.

We do not record all conversations but if a decision is made in the future to record all calls, then patients will be informed. Call recordings are currently used within our Single Point of Access Service.

When you contact our Single Point of Access Service we will make it clear to you that recordings are taking place.

Calls that contain only administrative information, such as enquiries about appointments, are only retained for 4 weeks and are then routinely deleted.

Calls, or transcripts of calls, audio or audio-visual recordings or elements of the discussion you have with the clinicians that contain clinical information may be added to your medical records, but this will be clarified with you at the time.

The recordings are stored on the Kent and Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust telephone system, provided by Call Handling Ltd, and are protected through the companies GDPR Policy.

These recordings will not usually be shared outside of the organisation, unless there is a need to share some clinical information with other groups of professionals involved in the provision of your care. This information will only be passed on to those who have a need-to-know and will be shared in a secure manner.

If we hold recordings that have not been deleted you can ask for copies by putting a request to the Data Protection Officer.

If you do not wish for the call to be recorded then please tell the member of staff at the time, and a call back without recording will be arranged.

People who have access to your information will only normally have access to that which they need to fulfil their roles, for instance admin staff will normally only have limited access to your information, whilst your clinical treating team will be able to access the full record. All access to your information is logged within the system and is auditable.

You have the right to object to our sharing your data in these circumstances but we have an overriding responsibility to do what is in your best interests.

We are required by Articles in the General Data Protection Regulations to provide you with the information in the following 9 subsections.