Health and social care: data strategy

Annex B – Your Health and Social Care Data Rights

We want to empower the people of Scotland to have greater ability to access and manage their own health and social care data, where it is safe and appropriate to do so.

We all have the right to privacy and for our personal data to be protected when using health and social care services. A breakdown of an individual’s rights with regards to health and social care data include:

• the right to ask for copies of your personal information
• the right to ask to rectify information that is inaccurate
• the right to ask to erase personal information in certain circumstances
• the right to ask to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances
• the right to object to processing in certain circumstances
• the right to ask for a transfer of the information from one organisation to another
• the right to request access to your health and care records
• the right to tell health and care professionals if you do not want your personal information to be shared in a particular way or with specific people.

This Strategy aims to make these rights easier to exercise by providing you with greater access and management of data about you. These rights are not absolute, and there are exceptions and conditions for application which mean health and social care organisations must balance your rights with their responsibility to protect data. Consent for use of health and care data about you will not always be required but will always be sought where it is appropriate to do so. Reasons for not requiring consent include accessing and sharing data for delivery of care in an emergency or carrying out specific tasks that are in the public interest as is laid down in law, such as research on rare diseases. You can read more about Public Task on the ICO website.

Greater detail on your health and social care data rights, including the legislation and guidance they arise from, can be found through NHS Inform, the Charter of Patients’ Rights and Responsibilities, information published by the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Care Inspectorate.