Data Protection Privacy Notice for Patients

Introduction:

This privacy notice lets you know what happens to any personal data that you give to us, or any information that we may collect from you or about you from other organizations.

This privacy notice applies to personal information processed by or on behalf of the practice.

This Notice explains:

• Who we are and how we use your information
• Information about our Data Protection Officer
• What kinds of personal information about you we hold and use (process)
• The legal grounds for our processing of your personal information (including when we share it with others)
• What should you do if your personal information changes?
• For how long your personal information is retained/stored by us?
• What are your rights under Data Protection laws?

The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 became law on 1 July 2023.

For the purpose of applicable data protection legislation including the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, your hospital or clinic, or where such hospital or clinic is government owned, the overseeing Ministry of Health, is responsible for your personal data.

This Notice describes how we collect, use and process your personal data, and how in doing so, we comply with our legal obligations to you. Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your data privacy rights.

How we use your information and the law

Your hospital will be what’s known as the ‘Controller’ of your personal data. Plateaumed is acting in the capacity of a data processor.

We collect basic personal data about you and location-based information. This does include name, address and contact details such as email and mobile number etc.

We will also collect sensitive confidential data known as “special category personal data”, in the form of health information, religious belief (if required), ethnicity and sex life information that are linked to your healthcare. We may also receive this information about you from other health providers or third parties.

Why do we need your information?

The health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously. These records help to provide you with the best possible healthcare and treatment.

Your health records may be electronic, paper-based or a mixture of both. We use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure.

Records about you may include the following information;

• Details about you, such as your address, your next of kin or guardian and emergency contact details.
• Any contact your hospital or clinic has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments.
• Notes and reports about your health.
• Details about your treatment and care.
• Results of investigations such as laboratory tests, X-rays etc.
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you.
• Contact details (including email address, mobile telephone number and home address).

To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive, including contacting you. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the services we provide. Information may also be used within your hospital or clinic for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service you were provided.

How do we lawfully use your data?

We need your personal, sensitive and confidential data in order to support your hospital or clinic in providing you with healthcare services. Under the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations we will be lawfully using your information in accordance with:

“Article 2.2, b) processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the Data Subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the Data Subject prior to entering into a contract;

Article 2.2, d) processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the Data Subject or of another natural person,

Article 2.2, e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;”

This Privacy Notice applies to the personal data of patients and the data you have given us about your next of kin/family members.

We use your personal and healthcare information in the following ways:

• when you are referred to, or contact other doctors, consultants, nurses or any other medical/healthcare professional or organization within your hospital or clinic group during the course of your diagnosis or treatment or ongoing healthcare.
• when we are required by law to hand over your information to any other organization, such as the police, by court order, solicitors, or immigration enforcement.
• In a de-identified form to support health research, planning of health services and to improve health outcomes for our population.

We will never pass on your personal information to anyone else who does not need it, or has no right to it, unless you give us consent to do so.

Legal justification for collecting and using your information

The law says we need a legal basis to handle your personal and healthcare information.

Contract: We have a contract with your hospital or clinic group to provide software that supports delivery of healthcare services to you. This contract provides that we have an obligation to ensure that we provide software to support your clinic or hospital, and to responsibly manage your data.

Consent: Sometimes we also rely on the fact that you give us consent to use your personal and healthcare information so that we can ensure support for your hospital or clinic.

Please note that you have the right to withdraw consent at any time if you no longer wish to have your data retained.

Necessary care: Ensuring that your data is available so that you can be provided with the appropriate healthcare, where necessary. The Law refers to this as ‘protecting your vital interests’ where you may be in a position not to be able to consent.

Law: Sometimes the law obliges us to provide your information to an organization (see above).

Special categories

The law states that personal information about your health falls into a special category of information because it is very sensitive. Reasons that may entitle us to use and process your information may be as follows:

Public Interest: Where we may need to handle your personal information when it is considered to be in the public interest. For example, when there is an outbreak of a specific disease and we need to contact you for treatment, or we need to pass your information to relevant organizations to ensure you receive advice and/or treatment.

Consent: When you have given us consent

Vital Interest: If you are incapable of giving consent, and we have to use your information to protect your vital interests (eg if you have had an accident and you need emergency treatment)

Defending a claim: If we need your information to defend a legal claim against us by you, or by another party

Providing you with medical care: Where we need your information to support providing you with medical and healthcare services.

Anonymised information

Sometimes we may provide information about you in an anonymised form. Such information is used to analyse population-level health issues, carry out or support clinical research and to help the healthcare regulators to plan better services. If we share information for these purposes, then none of the information will identify you as an individual and cannot be traced back to you.

Patient Communication

Because we are obliged to protect any confidential information, we hold about you and we take this very seriously, it is imperative that you let us know immediately if you change any of your contact details.

We may contact you using SMS texting to your mobile phone if we need to notify you about appointments and other services involving your direct care; therefore you must ensure that we have your up-to-date details. This is to ensure we are sure we are contacting you and not another person. As this is operated on an ‘opt out’ basis we will assume that you give us permission to contact you via SMS if you have provided us with your mobile telephone number. Please let us know if you wish to opt out of this SMS service. We may also contact you using the email address you have provided to us. Please ensure that we have your up-to-date details.

There may be occasions where authorised research facilities would like you to take part in research. Your contact details may be used to invite you to receive further information about such research opportunities.

Third party processors

To deliver the best possible service, we may share data (where required) with other hospitals, clinics, organizations and government agencies. In addition, we may use carefully selected third party service providers. When we use a third-party service provider to process data on our behalf then we will always have an appropriate agreement in place to ensure that they keep the data secure, that they do not use or share information other than in accordance with our instructions and that they are operating appropriately. Examples of functions that may be carried out by third parties include:

• Companies that provide IT services & support, including supportinge clinical systems; systems which manage patient facing services; data hosting service providers; systems which facilitate appointment bookings or electronic prescription services; document management services etc.
• Delivery service
• Payment providers (if for example you were paying for a prescription or laboratory investigations)

Further details regarding specific third-party processors can be supplied on request to the Data Protection Officer as below.

How do we maintain the confidentiality of your records?

We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with the extant laws.

• Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023
• Nigerian General Data Protection Regulations 2019

Information: To Share or Not to Share Review

Every member of staff who works for us has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential.

We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on and/or in accordance with the information sharing principle where “The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” This means that health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of their patients within the framework set out by this principle.

Our policy is to respect the privacy of our patients, their families and our staff and to maintain compliance with the Nigerian Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) and all Nigerian Data Protection Requirements. Our policy is to ensure all personal data related to our patients will be protected.

All employees and sub-contractors engaged by our practice are asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. We will, if required, sign a separate confidentiality agreement if the client deems it necessary. If a sub-contractor acts as a data processor for Plateaumed, an appropriate contract will be established for the processing of your information.

In certain circumstances you may have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing of data. Please contact the Data Protection Officer in writing if you wish to withdraw your consent. In some circumstances, we may need to store your data after your consent has been withdrawn to comply with a legislative requirement.

Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified. Sometimes your information may be requested to be used for research purposes – we will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose in an identifiable format. In some circumstances you can opt-out of our sharing any of your information for research purposes.

With your consent we would also like to use your information:

There are times that we may want to use your information to contact you or offer you services, not directly about your healthcare, in these instances we will always gain your consent to contact you. We would however like to use your name, contact details, and email address to inform you of other services that may benefit you. We will only do this with your consent. There may be occasions where authorised research facilities would like you to take part on innovations, research, improving services or identifying trends, you will be asked to opt into such programmes if you are happy to do so.

At any stage where we would like to use your data for anything other than the specified purposes and where there is no lawful requirement for us to share or process your data, we will ensure that you have the ability to consent and opt out prior to any data processing taking place. This information is not shared with third parties or used for any marketing and you can unsubscribe at any time via phone, email or by informing the DPO as below.

Objections/Complaints

Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by us, please contact the Company directly or the Data Protection Officer as above. If you are still unhappy following a review, you have a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

If you are happy for your data to be used for the purposes described in this privacy notice, then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared, then please contact the Practice Data Protection Officer.

If you would like to know more about your rights in respect of the personal data we hold about you, please contact the Data Protection Officer as below.

Data Protection Officer:

The Company’s Data Protection Officer is IPI Strategy Partners Limited. Any queries regarding Data Protection issues should be addressed to the Company at:

IPI Strategy Partners Limited
9 Adebola street, off Adeniran street
Surulere
Lagos, Nigeria

Changes:

It is important to point out that we may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time. If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our Privacy Notice, please contact the Data Protection Officer.