Frequently Asked Questions
Below you’ll find answers to the questions we get asked the most about Leeds Care Record. Just click on ‘show answer’ to view the answer. If you have a question which isn’t answered below or if you wish for any further information the please get in touch with us here.
What is the Leeds Care Record?
The Leeds Care Record is a secure virtual health and social care record. The Leeds Care Record pulls key information from several different health and social care records and stores it in one combined record. This enables health and social care professionals to find all the key information for your care in one place.
At the moment, every health and social care organisation that you use has a different set of patient or service user records for you. These records may duplicate information or one record might hold information about your treatment, care and support that another one doesn’t. To provide the best care to you as a patient or service user it is essential that health and social care professionals have access to the most up-to-date information.
Who runs the Leeds Care Record?
The Leeds Informatics Board, a group of senior managers and clinicians across health and social care organisations in Leeds, commissions the delivery of the Leeds Care Record. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is the current provider. In turn, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust may use certain technology suppliers to deliver this service. In line with the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust fair processing notice, safeguards are in place to ensure that all information is handled safely and securely. A copy of the Leeds Care Record privacy policy can be found under the about us section, and the resources page of the website.
Why do you need to share my information?
To provide the best treatment, care and support to you as a patient or service user it is essential that health and social care professionals have access to the most up-to-date information. Information is already shared between health and social care organisations by phone and through paper records. The Leeds Care Record allows this sharing process to happen more efficiently, enabling better care for you.
What are the different data sharing models in Leeds?
Healthcare organisations across Leeds are working together to further improve health and social care across the city. Health and social care professionals have a duty to share relevant information between them if they are involved in providing you with care.
Details of the data sharing which happening in Leeds is available on our Sharing Health Records leaflet.
What kind of information is included in the Leeds Care Record?
The more health or social care organisations involved in your care the more information will be shared in your Leeds Care Record. The following organisations share:
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust:
- Outpatient appointments, inpatient stays & clinical contacts
- Referrals, clinic letters & discharge information
- Test results
- Medications prescribed
Leeds General Practices and Branch Surgeries:
- Address & telephone numbers
- Problem diagnosis list
- Medications prescribed
- Recorded allergies
- Care plans
The Leeds and York Partnership NHS Trust
- Recorded allergies
- Community treatment orders
- Contact details of care professionals
The Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust
- Indicators to active or open referrals
- Contact details of care professionals
Leeds City Council
- Indicators to active or open referrals
- Contact details to care professionals
Will Leeds Care Record link to the national organ donor register?
No. The project is focused on providing health and social care professionals in Leeds access to information to improve care directly. For more information around the national organ donor register, please see www.organdonation.nhs.uk.
How do I know my records are kept secure?
By law, everyone working in, or on behalf of, the NHS and adult social care must follow strict information governance rules designed to respect your privacy and keep all information about you safe. The Leeds Care Record will be held on a secure, encrypted system at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals. The system keeps a record of everyone who has accessed a patient record, the time and date when they accessed it and the information they were viewing. The laws on data protection are clear and we take them very seriously. We regularly check to make sure that only people who need to see your patient record are viewing it.
Can anybody see my records?
Your medical records will still be confidential. They will only be looked at by people who are directly involved in your care. Your information isn’t shared with anyone who doesn’t need it to provide treatment, care and support to you.
Your details will be kept safe and won’t be made public, passed on to a third party who is not directly involved in your care, used for advertising or sold.
Who can amend or add information to my Leeds Care Record?
The Leeds Care Record is a “view only” system which draws information from several health and social care systems. Information cannot be added or amended on the Leeds Care Record. Health and social care professional can still update your records within their own systems; any changes made in these systems will be reflected in information in your Leeds Care Record.
If I receive treatment or care outside the Leeds area can health and social care professionals see my Leeds Care Record?
No. The Leeds Care Record is only available to the NHS and social care organisations in Leeds that have signed up to the system. However there is a separate national project called the Summary Care Record.
As the name suggests, the Summary Care Record does not contain detailed information about a patient’s medical history, but contains a summary of important health information. More information about the Summary Care Record can be found in our Sharing Health Records leaflet or at www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk.
Can I choose who can access my Leeds Care Record?
No. The system works at the care provider level and we are not able to set up individually tailored requests for access simply because it would be very complex to administer and manage. We have purposely included other organisations such as community care, mental health care or social care services so that we can deliver the very best care for the citizens of Leeds.
We are only sharing commonly asked for information and have put safeguards in place so that only people directly involved in your care will have access to it.
Can I access my Leeds Care Record?
We are conscious that there is a demand from patients for a patient portal and have already identified this within our future scope, but at the moment the Leeds Care Record is only available to registered Health and Social Care users in Leeds.
Patients have the right under Article 15 of GDPR to request access to any information that an organisation holds about them. Each individual organisation that contributes information to your Leeds Care Record has a responsibility to handle these “Subject Access Requests”.
Should you wish to access your records this way, contact the organisation who holds the part of the record you are interested in directly, e.g. your GP, hospital, mental health trust or social care team.
Can I object to my records being shared via the Leeds Care Record?
Yes. You have the right to opt out of your Leeds Care Record being shared. However, if staff require access to the information shared on Leeds Care Record to provide safe individual care they are legally allowed access.
For further information you can contact the Information Governance team by emailing [email protected] or calling 0113 2065824, 0113 2065221 or 0113 2069272 or in writing to:
Information Governance
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
St James University Hospital
Chancellor Wing Link Corridor
Beckett Street
Leeds
LS9 7TF
What do I do if I would like to make a complaint about improper use of my Leeds Care Record?
Please contact the care provider alleged of improper use directly to register a complaint.