How our general practice deals with your personal data and your privacy
General information
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new European Union law that is meant to protect your privacy and personal data. The new law imposes certain obligations on organisations that work with personal data, and it also grants rights to the person to whom that data relates. In addition to this general EU law, there are also specific rules that apply to privacy in the health care sector. These rules are defined in the Dutch Medical Treatment Act (WGBO) and other Dutch legislation. Our privacy notice is to let you know your rights and our obligations under the GDPR (Dutch: AVG) and the WGBO.
General practice
Our general practice may process some of your personal data. We do this to ensure that you receive the best possible medical care and for billing purposes related to your treatment. We may also need to process your data for other reasons, for example to combat a serious threat to your health or to meet a legal obligation (such as the obligation to report an infectious disease under the Dutch Public Health Act).
The general practice’s obligations
Under the GDPR, Poort van Gaveren General Practice is responsible for any processing of personal data that occurs in our practice. Our practice satisfies the relevant obligations in the following ways:
- We collect your data for specific purposes, i.e.:
- for the provision of medical and health care;
- in the interests of efficient management and policy;
- to support research, teaching and public information.
- In principle, we do not process data for any other purposes.
- We inform you that your personal data is being processed. The relevant information may be provided by your health professional, but you may also find it in a brochure or leaflet, or on our website.
- Every staff member in our practice has undertaken to treat your personal data with confidentiality.
- We secure your personal data against unauthorised access.
- We do not retain personal data longer than is needed to provide good medical care.
The retention period for medical data is 15 years (from the date of the final treatment), unless the health practitioner deems it necessary to retain the data longer, for example in the interests of your own or your children’s health.
You have the following rights
- The right to know whether your personal data is being processed and which data that is.
- The right to inspect and receive a copy of your data (unless doing so infringes the privacy of others).
- The right to rectify, add or remove data when necessary.
- The right to request the erasure of some or all of your medical data. We can only comply with your request if retention of your data is of no significant interest to others and if there is no legal obligation to retain it.
- The right to add your own statement (of a medical nature) to your record.
- The right to object to the processing of your data in certain cases.
If you wish to exercise your rights, you can let Poort van Gaveren General Practice know orally or by submitting a request form. You can also have someone represent you (for example an authorised representative or your guardian or attorney).
Explanation of request form
Bear in mind that, under the law, medical data may be retained for a maximum of 15 years. You can help us locate your record and protect your privacy by filling in the form as completely and accurately as possible. We will treat any information that you provide with the strictest confidence. Poort van Gaveren General Practice is not liable for postal delivery errors. If you prefer to collect the record in person or have an authorised representative collect it for you, please let us know on the form.
Download the request form here
Patient data
This is where you fill in the information on the person whose medical record your request concerns. Under the WBGO, patients are regarded as adults once they have reached the age of 16. As from the age of 16, patients who wish to inspect or receive a copy of their medical record must submit the request form themselves. Medical data on a deceased patient may be provided if it can be assumed that the patient would not have objected or if there are significant reasons for breaking the health professional’s oath of secrecy. This is up to the health professional to decide.
Disclosing your personal data to others
The staff of Poort van Gaveren General Practice have a duty to deal confidentially with your personal data. This means, for example, that our health professionals must have your explicit consent before they can disclose your personal data to others. There are, however, a number of exceptions to this rule. Certain legal provisions permit health professionals to break their oath of secrecy, but they may also do so if there is a serious threat to your own or other person’s health. In addition, data may be shared orally, digitally or in writing with other health professionals when necessary (for example with a pharmacist who is preparing a prescription and receives the relevant information from the GP).
Data sharing
Once you have given your explicit consent, Poort van Gaveren General Practice will use the Netherlands’ secure and reliable National Exchange to share relevant medical data with the out-of-hours GP service (huisartsenspoedpost) at the hospital. If you have visited the out-of-hours GP service in the evening or weekend, the health practitioners there will notify our practice. So your GP knows exactly why you went to the out-of-hours GP service and the outcome of the consultation.
We may also share information about your medication with your pharmacist and medical specialists who are treating you. This includes information on any drugs that your GP has prescribed for you and on any intolerances, contraindications and allergies (ICA data) that you might have, so that other health professionals who write and issue prescriptions can take these into account. This is how our general practice contributes to drug safety.
Medical record transfer
If you transfer to another General Practice, your new GP needs to know your medical history. This history is recorded in your patient record. The usual procedure is for your former GP to transfer the record to your new GP. Your former GP will do this as quickly as possible, in any event within a month after you asked for your record to be transferred.
Your GP will transfer your medical record either in person or by registered post. We cannot give you the original record, but you have the right to inspect your record at any time and to receive a copy. Where possible, the record may also be transferred to your new GP by email. In that case, both GPs must ensure that their computers and internet connections are adequately secured.
Question or complaint
If you have a question or complaint, for example about who we share your data with or how we deal with your medical data, please do not hesitate to discuss this with your GP.
