GP surgeries handle patient data well - review
PAGuernsey's GP surgeries generally handle patient data and sensitive information well, a review has found.
The Office of the Data Protection Authority assessed the use of Medicus in surgeries, a system used by the island's medical practices.
It found IslandHealth, Healthcare Group and Queens Road Medical Practice demonstrated "a clear commitment to safeguarding sensitive information" and access to patient records was "carefully controlled".
Brent Homan, Data Protection Authority commissioner, said reviews "play a critical role in identifying risk areas before they translate into real-world harms," which was "especially important" in health as it involved the "most sensitive of personal data".
He went on to thank the medical practices for their cooperation, adding: "Their engagement, and the commitments made, are key to strengthening data protection standards across the sector, meaning that Guernsey residents benefit from an even higher level of protection for their health information."
During the review, each practice was asked to provide documents covering the handling of patients' personal data within Medicus, including internal policies and Data Sharing Agreements.
It noted that when a patient registers with a practice, only that practice and the out-of-hours service can access their records on the system.
Other practices can only access those records where a formal patient transfer has taken place, at which point the previous records are made inactive.
The review found improvements needed included updates to policies addressing access to Medicus and staff roles, updates to policies addressing patient transfer and inactive records and updates to the retention and disposal of patient data.
The authority said all its recommendations were accepted and the majority of commitments have since been completed while the remaining commitments being addressed.
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