Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (the trust) is committed to making sure that services are as tailored as possible to meet the requirements of our patients. The trust recognises that with advancing technology, current and routine forms of communication may not be convenient or possible for some patients and/or parental guardians. The trust is adopting a digital first approach to communication, meaning we may communicate with you in new ways moving forward.
As the Controller of your personal data, we are responsible for how your information is used and as such we have a responsibility to ensure we protect this information at all times.
Purpose of processing
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust may use your personal and health information to:
- Provide direct care and treatment
- Communicate with you about your care
- Provide access to your health information
- Send appointment details, reminders, and updates
- Deliver patient documents and correspondence
Systems and Services we use
In order to support your communication needs, as well as improve sustainability and reduce our carbon footprint, the trust’s digital first approach is supported through the use of a number of platforms.
In addition to being contacted by email or SMS, we may also use the following solutions.
Gov.UK Notify
GOV.UK Notify is a service that lets public service teams in the UK send emails, text messages, and letters to users of their service.
Organisations sending notifications using GOV.UK Notify are the data controllers and GDS is the data processor. The trust as the data controller remains responsible for telling you about what we are doing with your personal data.
For further information relating to the Gov.UK Notify service.
NHS Notify
NHS England are responsible for the NHS Notify service, which centralises and standardises the way that NHS England services send communications to patients and the public about their health and care.
The NHS Notify service will be capable of being used by:
- NHS England
- any public body which exercises functions in connection with the provision of health services or of adult social care in England
- any person (other than a public body) who provides health services, or adult social care in England, pursuant to arrangements made with a public body exercising functions in connection with the provision of such services or care
- any person who undertakes health or adult social care research.
The purpose of the NHS Notify service is to:
- deliver a communication service that facilitates communication with patients, recipients of adult social care and the public on behalf of NHS organisations
- collect and analyse data required to support organisations in the use of the service
- enable the use of anonymised statistical data, including through analysis and linkage of data, to support service delivery management, monitoring and improvement, and to provide status reports to organisations and inform improved organisation communications.
The NHS Notify service will provide communications (including for the purposes of supporting accessibility) securely, simply and easily through a variety of digital channels including but not limited to NHS App, SMS and email and physical channels and including but not limited to letters, packages, leaflets and test kits either individually or as part of a defined cohort.
The trust remain responsible for:
- deciding who needs to be sent a communication
- the content of the communication and when it needs to be sent
- the delivery method (for example by NHS App, SMS text message, email, or by letter)
- having a legal basis to send communications to patients and the public about their health and care
For further information, please see the NHS Digital website.
PATHEKS (Patient Engagement Portal)
PATHEKS – Patient Portal is a Patient Engagement Portal (PEP) that will be used to integrate various Electronic Patient Records (EPR) with NHS APP. Patient portal will be used as a mechanism between the trust systems and the NHS App to transfer all the patient personal and clinical information required between the two systems.
It will enable patients to access their clinical appointments and other clinical information through the NHS App.
PATHEKS is used to manage and coordinate patient communications.
It enables us to:
- Manage contact details and preferences
- Send communications via NHS App, SMS, email, or post
- Ensure consistent and timely delivery of information from our EPR (Electronic Patient Record) system.
The NHS app
The NHS App acts as a platform that allows you to access of range of connecting services. These services are separate from the app itself but inform the data you can view within it. The organisations that control and process your data will depend on which services you access. Some of the services that connect to the NHS App are provided by NHS England however, some are provided locally by other health providers.
The NHS App can be used to communicate with patients about their health and care, sending reminders and providing information about different health consultations or appointments.
Information we use and share
Each of these systems process information in a slightly different way to support in the delivery of your direct care.
To support these services, we routinely process:
- Personal identifiers (such as name and NHS number)
- Contact details (address, email, phone number)
- Appointment and communication details
- Clinical information relevant to your care.
We share your information only where necessary with:
- NHS digital services (including NHS App and NHS Notify)
- Approved data processors (such as PATHEKS and GOV.UK Notify providers).
How we contact you and your preferences
We will contact you using the details you have provided to us.
This may include:
- NHS App notifications
- Text messages (SMS)
- Letters by post
We aim to use the most appropriate and efficient method, which may include digital communication.
Where possible, we will take into account your communication preferences. You can update your contact details or preferences by contacting us or within NHS App.
Please note:
- We do not use your information for marketing purposes
- Messages will contain only the minimum necessary information to protect your privacy.
Your data, your rights
Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust’s digital first approach does not restrict any of your rights under data protection laws. For further information on your individual rights under UK GDPR, please visit our main Privacy notice page.
Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs)
The trust routinely carries out Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) when introducing new systems or processes that may affect your privacy.
DPIAs help us identify and reduce risks to your personal information.
Relevant DPIAs include:
- NHS App integration
- PATHEKS Patient Engagement Portal
- NHS Notify communications
- GOV.UK Notify services.
You can request further information about DPIAs by contacting our Data Protection Officer.