Privacy Statement

Practice Name: Sundrive Medical Centre/
Shelton Medical Centre
Practice Address: 36 Sundrive Road, Dublin12/
3 Shelton Grove, Dublin12
Practice Phone Number: 014925947/
014555358
Data Controllers: Dr O’Rorke & Dr Dennis
Lead for Data Protection: Dr O'Rorke & Dr Dennis

Practice Privacy Statement

The Practice wants to ensure the highest standard of medical care for our patients.
We understand that a General Practice is a trusted community governed by an ethic
of privacy and confidentiality. Our approach is consistent with the Medical Council
guidelines and the privacy principles of the Data Protection Regulations. It is not
possible to undertake medical care without collecting and processing personal data
and data concerning health. In fact, to do so would be in breach of the Medical
Council’s ‘Guide to Professional Conduct and Ethics for Doctors’. This statement is
about advising you of our policies and practices on dealing with your medical
information.

Legal Basis for Processing Your Data

The Practice has voluntarily signed up for the ICGP Data Protection Guideline for
GPs. The processing of personal data in general practice is necessary in order to
protect the vital interests of the patient and for the provision of health care and public
health. You can access the Guideline at http://www.icgp.ie/data. In most
circumstances we hold your data until 8 years after your death or 8 years since your
last contact with the practice. There are exceptions to this rule and these are
described in the Guideline referenced above.

Managing Your Information

In order to provide for your care here we need to collect and keep information about
you and your health on our records.

We retain your information securely.

We will only ask for and keep information that is necessary. We will attempt to keep it
as accurate and up to-date as possible. We will explain the need for any information
we ask for if you are not sure why it is needed.

We ask you to inform us about any relevant changes that we should know about.
This would include such things as any new treatments or investigations being carried
out that we are not aware of. Please also inform us of change of address and phone
numbers.

All persons in the practice (not already covered by a professional confidentiality
code) sign a confidentiality agreement that explicitly makes clear their duties in
relation to personal health information and the consequences of breaching that duty.

Access to patient records is regulated to ensure that they are used only to the extent
necessary to enable the secretary or manager to perform their tasks for the proper
functioning of the practice. In this regard, patients should understand that practice
staff may have access to their records for:

Generating a sickness certificate for the patient. This is then checked and signed by
the GP.

Typing referral letters to hospital consultants or allied health professionals such as
physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists and dieticians.

Opening letters from hospitals and consultants. The letters could be appended to a
patient’s paper file or scanned into their electronic patient record.

Scanning clinical letters, radiology reports and any other documents not available in
electronic format.

Downloading laboratory results and Out of Hours Coop reports and performing
integration of these results into the electronic patient record.

Photocopying or printing documents for referral to consultants, attendance at an
antenatal clinic or when a patient is changing GP.

Checking for a patient if a hospital or consultant letter is back or if a laboratory or
radiology result is back, in order to schedule a conversation with the GP.

When a patient makes contact with a practice, checking if they are due for any
preventative services, such as vaccination, ante natal visit, contraceptive pill check,
cervical smear test, etc.

Handling, printing, photocopying and postage of medico legal and life assurance
reports, and of associated documents.

Sending and receiving information via Healthmail, secure clinical email.

And other activities related to the support of medical care appropriate for practice
support staff.

Disclosure of Information to Other Health and Social Care Professionals

We may need to pass some of this information to other health and social care
professionals in order to provide you with the treatment and services you need.
These other professionals are also legally bound to treat your information with the
same duty of care and confidentiality that we do.

Disclosures Required or Permitted Under Law

The law provides that in certain instances personal information (including health
information) can be disclosed, for example, in the case of infectious diseases.

Disclosure of information to Employers, Insurance Companies and Solicitors:

In general, work related Medical Certificates from your GP will only provide a
confirmation that you are unfit for work with an indication of when you will be fit to
resume work. Where it is considered necessary to provide additional information we
will discuss that with you. However, Department of Social Protection sickness certs
for work must include the medical reason you are unfit to work.

In the case of disclosures to insurance companies or requests made by solicitors for
your records we will only release the information with your signed consent.

Use of Information for Training, Teaching and Quality Assurance

It is usual for GPs to discuss patient case histories as part of their continuing medical
education or for the purpose of training GPs and/or medical students. In these
situations the identity of the patient concerned will not be revealed.

In other situations, however, it may be beneficial for other doctors within the practice
to be aware of patients with particular conditions and in such cases this practice
would only communicate the information necessary to provide the highest level of
care to the patient.

Our practice is involved in the training of GPs and is attached to a General Practice
Training Programme. As part of this programme GP Registrars and Interns will work
in the practice and may be involved in your care

Use of Information for Clinical Audit

It is usual for patient information to be used for clinical audit in order to improve
services and standards of practice. GPs on the specialist register of the Medical

Council are required to perform yearly clinical audits. Information used for such
purposes is done in an anonymised or pseudonymised manner with all personal
identifying information removed.

If it were proposed to use your information in a way where it would not be
anonymous or the Practice was involved in external research we would discuss this
further with you before we proceeded and seek your written informed consent.
Please remember that the quality of the patient service provided can only be
maintained and improved by training, teaching, audit and research.

Your Right of Access to Your Health Information

You have the right of access to all the personal information held about you by this
practice. If you wish to see your records, in most cases the quickest way is to
discuss this with your doctor who will review the information in the record with you.
You can make a formal written access request to the practice and receive a copy of
your medical records. These will be provided to you within thirty days, without cost.

Transferring to Another Practice

If you decide at any time and for whatever reason to transfer to another practice we
will facilitate that decision by making available to your new doctor a copy of your
records on receipt of your signed consent from your new doctor. For medico-legal
reasons we will also retain a copy of your records in this practice for an appropriate
period of time which may exceed eight years.

Other Rights

You have other rights under data protection regulations in relation to transfer of data
to a third country, the right to rectification or erasure, restriction of processing,
objection to processing and data portability. Further information on these rights in the
context of general practice is described in the Guideline available at
http://www.icgp.ie/data. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data
Protection Commissioner.

Questions

We hope this statement has explained any issues that may arise. If you have any
questions, please speak to the practice manager or your doctor.

Website Privacy Notice

This Website Privacy Notice governs the manner in which the Practice [the Data
Controller(s) are listed above] collects, uses, maintains and discloses information
collected from users (each, a “user”) of this website (“site”). Practice Sundrive
Medical Centre/ Shelton Medical Centre is employed by the Practice to be the Data
Processor of this information via this website (you can read their Privacy Notice
here). This Website Privacy Notice applies only to the site and all services offered
online by the site.

While every effort is made to ensure the site remains up to date, information on this
website is for use as a general guide only, and is subject to change at any time.
Please contact the practice if you require further information.

Data Collection

Each time any visitor uses the site, we may collect one or both of two different types
of information.

Non-individual specific statistics: The first type of information is statistical and
analytical information collected on a non-individual specific basis about visitors to our
website. We gather general information about how many visitors use the website,
how many visitors return to the website, what pages they visit etc. This information
lets us monitor traffic on the website so that we can manage its capacity, efficiency,
design and content. It helps us to understand website traffic patterns and to know, for
example, which parts of the website are the most popular/useful.

Personal information: The second type is information which is personal or particular
to a specific visitor. This information is collected by specific request so you will be

fully aware when you are providing this information to us. This might arise when you
order your prescription online, email us etc.

Web browser cookies

Our site may use “cookies” to enhance user experience. The user’s web browser
places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to
track information about them. The user may choose to set their web browser to
refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that
some parts of the site may not function properly.

How we use collected information

The Practice collects and uses users' personal information for the following
purposes:

To administer services: We will use the information submitted via our various online
service features to deliver the requested services where possible;

To send emails or SMS messages, where consent has been provided;

To personalise user experience: We may use information in the aggregate to
understand how our users as a group use the services and resources provided on
our site;

To improve our site: We continually strive to improve our website offerings based on
the information and feedback we receive from you;

To improve customer service: Your information helps us to more effectively respond
to your service requests and support needs.

The email address users provide will only be used to respond to their enquiries,
and/or other requests or questions.

How we protect your information

While we adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and
security measures to protect against unauthorised access to your personal
information, the Practice cannot guarantee the security of your personal information
transmitted via our site. Transmission of your personal information is at your own
risk. Once we receive your personal information, we will use appropriate security
measures to seek to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure.

Sharing your personal information

We do not sell, trade, or rent users’ personal identification information to others. We
may share generic aggregated demographic information not linked to any personal
identification information regarding visitors and users with our business partners,
trusted affiliates and advertisers for the purposes outlined above. We may use third
party service providers to help us operate our business and the site or administer
activities on our behalf, such as sending out newsletters or surveys. We may share
your information with these third parties for those limited purposes provided that you
have given us your permission.

Third party websites

Users may find content on our Site that link to the sites and services of our partners,
suppliers, advertisers, sponsors, licensors and other third parties. We do not control
the content or links that appear on these sites and are not responsible for the
practices employed by websites linked to or from our site. In addition, these sites or
services, including their content and links, may be constantly changing. These sites
and services may have their own privacy policies and customer service policies.
Browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link
to our site, is subject to that website’s own terms and policies.

 

Changes to this Privacy Notice

Sundrive Medical Centre/ Shelton Medical Centre has the discretion to update this
Privacy Notice at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the

bottom of this page. We encourage users to frequently check this page for any
changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal
information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to
review this Privacy Notice periodically and become aware of modifications.

Last Updated: June 2026