Fair processing notices - Adult social care's use of your NHS number

If you are receiving support from adult social care, the NHS may share your NHS number with adult social care. This is so the NHS and adult social care are using the same number to identify you while providing your care. By using the same number the NHS and adult social care can work together more closely to improve your care and support.

Your NHS number is accessed through an NHS service called the Personal Demographic Service (PDS). Adult social care sends basic information such as your name, address and date of birth to the PDS in order to find your NHS mumber. Once retrieved from the PDS the NHS Number is stored in the council’s adult social care case management system.

This data is retained in the adult social care system in line with the council’s record retention policies. These policies are in accordance with data protection legislation, sector specific legislation and records retention guidelines.

The council is a data controller with regard to your personal data and we are responsible for ensuring that all personal information that we hold, use or share about you is processed in accordance with the six principles of the General Data Protection Regulation and in compliance with the Data Protection Act 2018. Our entry on the Information commissioner’s register of data controllers is Z5110678.

Details of the register entry on the Information Commissioner's Office website

The NHS number has two uses, the first being as a unique identifier in the council’s adult social care case management system for the provision of direct care. The number is also used in an integrated care record system across a number of support services including GPs, hospitals, community health services, district nurses and social care workers.

The council will share information only to provide health and social care professionals directly involved in your care access to the most up-to-date information about you. It will do this by sharing appropriate information between health and social care services at the time of patient contact. Access to information is strictly controlled, based on the role of the professional. For example, social workers will only have access to information that is relevant to their care duties.

The council’s IT security and confidentiality policies ensure that your information is protected, and available only to staff directly involved in your care. These policies are available on request.

The addition of the NHS number to social care data will bring additional benefits:

• better coordinated and safer care across health and social care enabled through the sharing of real-time information
• better co-ordination of discharges from hospital into social care, as explained above
• more time to spend on planning and coordinating social care because health staff can identify and involve social care staff earlier in the process
• earlier intervention to maximise the opportunities or reablement services leading to greater independence for patients

You have the right to object to the processing of your NHS Number for the above purposes. This will not stop you from receiving care, but may limit how we are able to support you, for example by making it harder for the council to work alongside the NHS. If you are worried about the council having your NHS number, talk to us about your concerns, and we can discuss the options you might have to manage your information.

We may share data with our internal audit team to evaluate the effectiveness of the organisation’s risk management, control and governance processes.  We may also share your data with the council's fraud team to help to prevent and detect fraud.

If you object to the use of your NHS number or if you want to discuss any of the above in more detail, contact your named social worker if you have one, or contact the adult social care department on 0800 561 0015.