Community services
We collect information about you (your personal data) from our community services. This includes information about your referrals, assessments, diagnoses, activities (for example, taking a blood pressure test) and, in some cases, your answers to questionnaires.
We do this in order to assess the effectiveness of our care so that we can provide you with the best possible care and ensure that we can continually improve our services.
What we do with it
The data is securely sent to NHS Digital, which is the central organisation that receives the same data from all publicly-funded Community Services across England. NHS Digital removes all identifying details and combines the data we send with the data sent by other care providers, forming the Community Services Data Set (CSDS).
The CSDS data set is used to produce anonymised/pseudonymised reports that only show summary numbers of, for instance, patients referred to different types of services. It is impossible to identify any individual patient in the reports, but the reports do help us to improve the care we provide to you and other patients.
The benefits of the CSDS to you as a patient include:
- making sure Community Services are available to all patients in all areas by measuring the care that is being delivered
- better care, through monitoring progress to allow future services to be planned
- informing patients about the care offered at different hospitals
- more personalised and better organised care for patients through understanding what care is needed nationally, for example understanding how many patients who are discharged from hospitals then need looking after at home
Find more information about how NHS Digital uses your personal data including their lawful basis for processing, how long they hold it for and your rights.
Alternatively, you can call 0300 303 5678.