Confidentiality and Privacy Policy

Your medical record is kept securely by the practice on our computer system.  We place paramount importance on service and aim to meet your expectations on every occasion to provide you with health care and treatment. To achieve this we need accurate personal information from you which we review regularly to ensure we take into account any changes in your circumstances. We have a legal obligation under the Data Protection Act to ensure that all information held and processed about you complies with the principles of the Act

In fact, everyone working for the Health Service has a legal duty to keep information held about you confidential.  You may be receiving care from other health-care professionals as well as your GP.  So that we can all work together for your benefit we may need to share some information about you. We only ever use or pass on information about you if it is in your or the public’s best interest to do so.  Whenever we can we shall remove details which identify you. The sharing of some types of very sensitive personal information is strictly controlled by law. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

Identifiable information about you will be shared with others in the following circumstances:-

• To provide additional medical treatment for you  eg from hospital services and community nurses.
• To help you tap into further services eg Social Services.  This requires your consent.
• When we have a duty to others eg in criminal or child protection cases.

Anonymised patient information will be used at local and national level to help the Health Board and the Scottish Government plan services

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Information about the general practitioners and the practice which are required for disclosure under this act, can be made available to the public.  All requests for such information must be made to:-

The Practice Manager
Keith Health Centre
Turner Street
Keith
AB55 5DJ

Access to Records

In accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and to Health Records Act 1990, patients may request to see their medical records.  If at any time you would like to know more about how we use your information,  or obtain a copy of the information we hold about you, you can do this  by making a Subject Access Request.  Applications for Subject Access can be made by contacting the health centre or completing the Subject Access Request Form (follow link below).  Such requests may be subject to an administrative charge.  No information will be released without the patient’s consent unless we are legally obliged to do so.

Please click on the links below to read our full privacy policy and further information regarding the GDPR legislation:

Keith-Health-Centre-Privacy-Notice-2025

GDPR Information Leaflet

How to request GP records & other information

Request for medical notes

Request for medical records – deceased patient

Confidentiality – Patients aged 12-16 years- Online access

Important information for patients

In keeping with other GP practices, Keith Health Centre is currently backscanning all GP paper records to allow your medical information to be viewed and stored digitally.  The scanning of your paper records will be undertaken by a company called NEC Software Solutions UK Limited (NEC), commissioned by NHS Grampian.  Unfortunately, for a short period of time, to allow for this process to take place, your paper records will be unavailable for viewing.  However, for the vast majority of patients, medical information will be available electronically from the early 2000s onwards.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this necessary work.  For more information, please read the following privacy policy:

Privacy Notice (Back scanning GP Records NEC) (2)