The Culverhay Surgery records both incoming and outgoing phone calls. We record all calls to:
- Review and improve services
- Monitor and review quality of care
- Train, develop and manage staff and medical trainees
- Prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute allegations, complaints, claims and / or fraud relating to patients, other organisations or The Culverhay Surgery staff.
- Protect staff and patients
We do this in the interests of offering a good service to our service users, patient safety, being a good employer and to protect public funds. If you object to this, you will need to end the call when you are told that calls may be recorded.
Sometimes, calls may not be recorded if:
- there’s a technical fault with the telephony system
- a call handler is using equipment which does not let calls be recorded
How your information is shared
The law requires The Culverhay Surgery to share information from your medical records in certain circumstances. Call recordings may form part of your medical record. Information is shared so that the NHS or Public Health England can, for example:
- Plan and manage services
- Check that the care being provided is safe
- Prevent infectious diseases from spreading
We will share information with NHS Digital, the Care Quality Commission and the local health protection team (or Public Health England) when the law requires us to do so.
Call recordings may be shared internally within the practice. This includes team members, managers and GPs. They will only have access if the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
We may share call recordings with NHS England or NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (ICB) in order to respond to complaints made about the practice.
How long we keep your call recording
General call recordings will be retained for up to 3 months from the date of creation.
Call recordings may be linked to your patient record at the end of the call. Where this is the case, the recording will form an integral part of your NHS medical record and will therefore be stored as a permanent record.
The above retention periods are in line with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016.
Can I request a copy of my call record?
Call recordings may have been destroyed in accordance with the practice retention schedule. If the recording is still available, you can request a copy of your conversation by contacting The Culverhay Surgery. This information will be provided to you in accordance with the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998.
We are required by law to provide you with the following information about how we handle your information and our legal obligations to share data.