Privacy notice for consultants

This Privacy Notice sets out important details about information that Circle Health Group Ltd (Circle) and Clinicians responsible for your care, treatment and health assessments may collect and hold about you, how that information may be used and your legal rights. Please take time to read this Privacy Notice carefully and contact us if you have any questions about its content.

We will review this Privacy Notice periodically and we advise you to check back on our website for the latest version.

Who has information about me?

Circle Health Group Limited is our main operating company and is part of the Circle Health Holdings Limited group of companies. Some of our hospitals (Southend Private Hospital, Three Shires Hospital and Syon Clinic) and some of the services in some of our hospitals (the oncology service at Beardwood Hospital and some imaging services at Mount Alvernia Hospital and Three Shires Hospital) are owned by partner companies, each of which has a management contract with Circle Health Group Limited (formerly BMI Healthcare Limited) and forms part of the Circle Health Group. A partner company also owns the CT and MRI scanners at The Meriden Hospital; this service is managed by UME.

All these companies are registered at Circle Health Group, 1^st Floor, 30 Cannon Street, London EC4M 6XH and their full names and registered company numbers are as follows:

Circle Health Group Limited (formerly BMI Healthcare Limited) - 02164270
Three Shires Hospital LLP - OC398963
Southend Private Hospital Limited - 05155289
Syon Clinic Limited - 05706302
North West Cancer Clinic Limited - 05706220 - The Beardwood Hospital oncology service
BMI Imaging Clinic Limited - 05706274 - imaging service at Mount Alvernia Hospital
The Pavilion Clinic Limited - 06061941 - imaging service at Three Shires Hospital
The Meriden Hospital Advanced Imaging Centre Limited - 05607465 - MRI and CT service at The Meriden Hospital
Circle Hospital (Reading) Limited - 06995585
Circle Rehabilitation Services Limited - 10527747
Circle Clinical Services Limited - 07714059
CHG Management Services Limited - 05042771

Each of these companies may, to the extent relevant, collect, retain and use information about you and we refer to these collectively as 'Circle Health Group', 'Circle' or 'CHG' in this document.

External websites

We may from time to time include on our website's links to and from the websites of other organisations. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies and notices before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Where did you get this information from and what information does Circle Health Group hold about me?

We have information about you which you have supplied to us when applying for (and, if successful, holding) practising privileges, by sending information to us by post or by email, or by providing this information to us over the telephone. This includes your name and contact details (postal and email addresses and phone numbers) as well as details of any work permit, your qualifications, professional registrations and experience and a copy of your CV. We will also ask you to confirm whether you have any disciplinary actions or criminal convictions and if so, to provide details of these and to provide details of your insurer or medical defence organisation and certain appraisal documentation. We will also hold information about you and your suitability for the role which you have provided us during any interview or other discussions with us.

To the extent you provide such information to us, we may also hold more sensitive information about you, such as your current or previous physical or mental health, your sex life and/or sexual orientation, your religion, nationality, race and/or ethnicity and genetic or biometric data relating to you. We refer to this as 'more sensitive information' in this Privacy Notice. In particular, we require those applying for practising privileges with us also to provide details of hepatitis B vaccination and evidence of hepatitis B status and, where a practitioner is carrying out exposure prone procedures, also evidence of hepatitis C and HIV status.

Prior to awarding practising privileges, we carry out checks such as confirming your previous employment, qualifications and professional registrations and your right to work in the UK. This means we may obtain information about you, including on an on-going basis, from professional bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC) or General Dental Council (GDC) and on occasion, also from government agencies such as HMRC or the Home Office as well as from any educational establishments you advise you have a qualification from and from previous (and current) employers and other hospitals and clinics where you may work, particularly from your Responsible Officer. We will ask you to complete an application with either the Disclosure & Barring Service (which covers England and Wales) or Disclosure Scotland (which covers Scotland) to confirm whether or not you have any criminal convictions and the results of that application will be sent to us and to you. We will also obtain references from individuals whose details you provide to us.

Your blood test results (as noted above) will also be viewed by our occupational health service, with confirmation and advice provided to the management team at the relevant Circle Health Group hospital(s) to assure patient safety.

For connected Consultants where Circle acts as 'designated body', Circle will hold additional information obtained from you (such as full appraisal documentation).

In order for us to process your application and to maintain your practising privileges with Circle Health Group (and where applicable, act as 'designated body') we ask that you provide as much information to us as you can. You are of course free not to disclose information to us and you should only provide such information as you feel comfortable doing so. Please bear in mind, however, that if you are only willing to share limited information, we may not be able to take forward your application and this may lead to an application for practising privileges being unsuccessful or, if you are awarded practising privileges, such privileges being suspended, restricted or withdrawn. In relevant circumstances, should you not be forthcoming about a fitness to practice issue for example, we might also need to make a referral to the General Medical Council.

How will Circle Health Group use the information it holds about me?

We use information about you in connection with your application for practising privileges with Circle Health Group and, in the event you are awarded practising privileges, to maintain those practising privileges and to comply with our obligations as a 'designated body'. This includes:

Assessing your skills, qualifications and suitability for practising privileges with Circle Health Group
Carrying out background and reference checks
Communicating with you, both in relation to your practising privileges and in relation to patients you may see and/or treat (or may wish to see and/or treat) at the hospital
Maintaining records about those who work within our hospital
Investigating and where appropriate, sharing, concerns raised or otherwise identified about you or your practice. Where appropriate, this will include referrals to the GMC
Reviewing appraisal documentation, incidents and complaints relating to you or your practice
Involvement in your revalidation process with the GMC
Complying with legal or regulatory requirements

It is necessary for us to use information about you as described above in order to pursue our legitimate interest of considering whether or not you are suitable to be awarded (and if successful, to continue to hold) practising privileges with a Circle hospital(s). Such use is also necessary as part of the practising privileges arrangement that, for Consultants working within our hospitals, exists between Circle Health Group and you. In certain circumstances, such use may also be necessary for reasons of substantial public interest and/or in order for us to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.

We may use more sensitive information to advise if any reasonable adjustments need to be made so you can attend an interview and, should you be successful (conditional on checks and satisfactory references) to confirm your fitness to work and any reasonable adjustments that may need to be made to enable you to practise as a consultant at a Circle hospital. Given the nature of our business, we carry out a criminal record check in order to satisfy ourselves that there is nothing in your criminal convictions history that makes you unsuitable to work at a Circle hospital. The level of check will depend on the particular role and we have in place appropriate safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such information. We consider the use of such more sensitive information to be necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.

We may also use more sensitive information to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting and to ensure appropriate safeguards are taken to assure patient safety.

Using your Name and Specialty, we may provide patients with the opportunity to review services received from you. This can be done directly on our website or through a third party with whom we have necessary confidential agreements.

We may use your phone number and email address to contact you in relation to your application, your practising privileges and regarding patients you may wish to see at the hospital.

We may also use information about you for maintaining our business records and developing and improving our recruitment processes and monitoring outcomes where we believe there is a business need to do so and our use of information about you does not cause harm to you.

We may also use information about you where there is a legal or regulatory obligation on us to do so (such as the prevention of fraud) or in connection with legal proceedings.

We may also use information about you where you have provided your consent to us doing so.

Please see also the more detailed information in the sections below.

Will Circle Health Group share information about me with others?

Yes; we set out these reasons below and assure you that in each case, we share only such information as is appropriate.

Sharing information with our staff who are involved in the consultant recruitment process, including administrative staff, and if you are successful, also with our occupational health team

We will share information relating to you with those of our staff involved in the recruitment process, including administrative staff. Should you be successful (conditional on checks and satisfactory references), information about you may also be shared with our occupational health team (some of whom are not employed by Circle but work with us under contracts which contain strict confidentiality provisions).

Sharing information with previous and current employers, other hospitals and clinics where you may work, your Responsible Officer and educational establishments and professional bodies (including Royal Colleges and the GMC)

We may share information relating to you with previous (and current) employers, other hospitals and clinics where you may work, your Responsible Officer, educational establishments and/or professional bodies to verify information you tell us about your previous experience, qualifications and professional registrations and/or to investigate or share concerns that may exist about you or your practice. We may also share information about you in connection with the GMC's revalidation processes and to comply with legal obligations relating to the function of Responsible Officers.

Sharing information with third parties whose details you provide as referees or who are involved in your appraisal

We may share information relating to you with previous employers and individuals whose details you provide to us to request a reference on your suitability for the role you have applied for or who are involved in the appraisal process.

Sharing information with the Disclosure & Barring Service and Disclosure Scotland

Where we are required or entitled (in each case relevant to the role in question), we may share information relating to you with the Disclosure & Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland to confirm whether you have (and the details of) any criminal convictions.

Sharing information with third parties who are not involved in the recruitment process or any of our checks

We may share information about you with external organisations such as our lawyers, auditors, financial, tax and public relations advisors and NHS organisations. We may also share information about you with third party suppliers, which provide us with document scanning and storage facilities. We may also share information about you with those providing us with information technology systems as well as clinical and non-clinical software applications (and related services) and website hosting. In each case, we would share only such information as was relevant.

Sharing information with patients, staff and advisors

We may share information about you with patients, staff and their (and our) advisors to respond to questions, complaints or claims. In each case, we would share only such information as was relevant.

Sharing with regulators or because of a legal obligation

We may share information about you with our regulators, including the Care Quality Commission, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (which inspect our hospitals in England, Scotland and Wales respectively). Other regulators with whom we may share information about you include the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (which ensures medicines and medical devices used in the UK work and are acceptably safe), the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (which regulates and inspects all our clinics providing fertility services or which store eggs, sperm or embryos), NHS England (which leads the NHS in England) and the Department of Health (the government department responsible for health and adult social care policy).

Sometimes, we are required to disclose information about you because we are legally required to do so, including legal requirements relating to the Responsible Officer function. This may be because of a court order or because a regulatory body has statutory powers to access Consultants' records as part of their duties to investigate complaints, accidents or Consultants' fitness to practise. Before any disclosure will be made, we will satisfy ourselves that any disclosure sought is required by law or can be justified in the public interest. Information about you may also be shared with the police and other third parties where reasonably necessary for the prevention or detection of crime. On occasion, this may include the Home Office and HMRC.

Audits, surveys and initiatives

In common with other employers, we also look at the quality of our recruitment processes and, separately, at the numbers of consultants in different specialities and at different hospitals for trend purposes. We can assure you that your personal information remains under our control at all times and we ensure any information we provide outside of Circle Health Group will not contain any information in which any applicant can be identified, unless it is required by law. Any publishing of this data will be in anonymised statistical form.

One of the national programmes we participate in is run by the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) which runs a website enabling patients to compare privately-funded healthcare (both hospitals and consultants). We have a legal obligation to share some of your personal data with PHIN to allow it to publish certain hospital and consultant performance metrics.

Change of hospital ownership

If we were to sell or transfer a hospital or part of our business to another organisation, your records would also transfer to the new owner. Limited information may also be shared, where required, with legal and other professional advisors involved in that transaction.

The reason we would transfer your records is to minimise the disruption to any recruitment process and to ensure we and a new owner were able to comply with our legal obligations regarding the retention of such records, including the ongoing delivery of care to patients.

Where and for how long does Circle Health Group store information about me?

The information about you that we hold and use is held securely in the United Kingdom and stored in paper format and on our secure servers (or those of our third party information technology provider). However, where a referee, previous employer, educational establishment, professional body, patient or advisor is based overseas, we may transfer information about you to these, for the reasons described above. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

We retain your records for certain periods (depending on the particular type of record) under our retention of records policy. We retain your file (including your application documents) for a minimum of five years after you no longer work at a Circle hospital. This timeframe may be extended in the event of a complaint, legal proceedings or where we are required to do so by a regulatory body. These timeframes are to ensure that information is properly managed and is available whenever and wherever there is a justified need for that information, including to support our legitimate interests, and to meet legal requirements.

If you would like more detailed information on this, please contact our Head of Information Governance & Data Protection Officer (contact details below).

What rights do I have?

The law provides you with certain rights in relation to the information about you that we hold. You may exercise these at any time by contacting our Head of Information Governance & Data Protection Officer (contact details below) or as otherwise noted below.

There will not usually be a charge for handling a request to exercise your rights and if we cannot comply with your request, we will usually tell you why. Where your request is for a specific piece of information, we may confirm or deny whether we are processing this information- this will depend on the nature of your request.

Right of access

You have the right to access information held about you. This includes details of what information we hold about you and a copy of that information. The information will be provided free of charge and, unless there are grounds for extending the statutory deadline, the information will be provided to you within one month of receipt of your request. Please note we will generally also ask for confirmation of your identity and may need further information from you in order to locate the information, in which case the time period starts from the date we have that detail. Please note that in some cases we may not be able to comply fully with your request, such as where your request also involves information about someone else and it would not be fair to that other person to provide the information to you.