For this country to enjoy the provision of health and care services which are the best in the world, helping its population to experience:
To be the urgent healthcare provider and partner of choice for the NHS, with a range of services which will allow them to provide better clinically led, evidenced based, innovative and sustainable services for patients
We believe that in delivering our care we need to:
Vocare acknowledges that anyone who comes into contact with children and young people has a duty to safeguard and promote their welfare and should know what to do if they have any concerns.
Vocare has a clear, concise and comprehensive Safeguarding Children Policy which has been approved by your local children's safeguarding leads. The underlying principle is to enable Vocare staff, following their statutory duty, to carry out their duty in relation to suspected child abuse or neglect and to acknowledge that the overriding principle behind this is that the child's safety and welfare are paramount.
Vocare will protect children by following national child protection guidance within their own activities and in their dealings with other organisations, and has thus made arrangements to safeguard children under Section 11 Children Act 2004. Vocare has identified the Organisational Medical Director as the nominated safeguarding doctor.
The policy and procedure are underpinned by key pieces of legislation and statutory guidance and do not replace the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) guidance which should be consulted as a reference and advisory resource when appropriate. This information is available on clinical commissioning group and Local Authority websites.
Vocare will work with partner organisations to protect children and participate in reviews established in 'Working together to safeguard children' (2013). Vocare will therefore co-operate in the management of the LSCB and will consequently share responsibility for the effective discharge of its functions.
Vocare has agreed systems, standards and protocols regarding sharing information regarding a child and their family to partner organisations with reference to 'Statutory guidance on making arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children', by applying the guidance provided by HMG in 'Information sharing, guidance for practitioners and managers' (2008), and in the publication 'Further guidance on legal issues' (2008).
The Chief Executives of the commissioning groups have responsibility and overall accountability for ensuring that any contribution to the safeguarding and promoting of children's welfare is discharged effectively through health service providers.
Vocare will ensure that all staff fulfil their mandatory training requirements regarding safeguarding.
Dr Jim Heptinstall
Medical Director
January 2021
Maintaining Data Privacy and Data Protection is a priority for Vocare Ltd.
This Privacy Policy sets out the legal basis under the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018 on which any personal data that we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your Personal Data and how we will treat it.
Any questions relating to Data Privacy with Vocare Ltd or this Policy should be sent by email to , or by writing to Assurance Department, Vocare Ltd , Vocare House, Balliol Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE12 8EW
Alternatively, you can call the Data Protection Officer on 020 3866 6486
Vocare Ltd provides NHS 111, GP Out of Hours and Urgent Treatment or Care services.
We may collect and process the following data from you:
If you have provided us with the personal data of another person, there is a clear requirement imposed by Vocare Ltd for you to confirm that he/she consents to the processing of his/her personal data and that you have informed him/her of our identity as a Data Controller and the nature of the processing taking place.
Records will be retained as evidence of this consent.
We use information held about you in the following ways:
Performance of a contract – We use information held about you to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered between you and us; and to notify you about changes to our services.
Legitimate Interests – We use information held about you to provide you with information, products and/or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you if relevant to the products or services currently being supplied as part of a contract with Vocare Ltd, or in relation to a previous contract with Vocare Ltd, whereby you are happy to continue to receive such information;
Consent (Direct Marketing) – We use information held about you to provide you with information on products and/or services that you request from us, or which we feel may interest you where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes. Where consent has been provided to Vocare Ltd, it is a recognised right of the Data Subject that this consent can also be withdrawn.
Should you wish to withdraw consent, please email or write to Assurance Department, Vocare, Vocare House, Balliol Business Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE12 8EW
Alternatively, you can call the Data Protection Officer on 020 3866 6486
Consent (Website) – to ensure that content from our Website is presented in the most effective manner for you and your device, please read our cookie policy;
We will not share your data with third parties for other marketing purposes.
Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted to this page on our website.
You have the right to ask us to cease processing your personal data for marketing purposes. We will seek consent (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your data to any third party for such purposes. You can also exercise your right to prevent such processing by contacting us at
GDPR gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised at any time. Vocare Ltd operates both a Data Subjects Rights procedure and a Subject Access Rights Procedure to ensure that all rights exercised by data subjects relating to personal data are managed appropriately.
From time to time, our website may contain links to and from our strategic partner(s), partner network(s), strategic sponsor(s), advertiser(s) and affiliate(s). 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.
We take appropriate measures to ensure that any information collected from you is kept secure. Vocare Ltd holds UKAS accredited certification to ISO 27001:2013 and is subject to both internal and external audits to ensure that information security is upheld.
Vocare Ltd operates a clear Records Retention Policy and associated Retention Schedule to ensure personal data is kept only for so long as is necessary for the purpose for which such information is used.
We retain your records in accordance with UK legislation for the specific service provided.
If any of your personal data changes, or if you have any questions about how we use data which relates to you, please contact us by email at . We normally update your personal data within seven (7) working days of any new or updated personal data being provided to us, to ensure that the personal data we hold about you is as accurate and up to date as possible.
As part of our GDPR compliance obligations, we are duty bound to check when personal data may be shared with third parties to ensure that they apply the same or greater controls in terms of data protection. The use of non-disclosure agreements form part of our third-party data sharing controls.
Your personal health information may be given to other people who need to know relevant information about your health – for example the local ambulance service, your local hospital, your own GP.
Vocare Ltd will not share your personal health information with people such as relatives, carers or friends without your permission. However, there are exceptions:
In these cases, the person can see your health information:
Sometimes the law allows Vocare Ltd to share your personal health information without your permission, for example, to investigate a serious crime or to protect a child.
Sometimes the law requires us to pass on information: for example, notification of births and deaths. This is only provided after formal permission has been given by a qualified health professional.
We share information in line with the legislation from the Health and Social Care Act 2015 and we process/share your information under the Data Protection Act 2018 legislation and the new GDPR legislation.
Vocare Ltd has risk assessed where personal information may be transferred outside the EEA. As part of our own due diligence we have identified that personal data held for and by Vocare Ltd resides in the EU. Vocare Ltd will continue to monitor this considering any 3rd party provider changes in the future.
When you contact Vocare Ltd as a patient, we collect information about you and keep records about the service we provide. We may also record information about you if you contact us for any other reason.
We are the 'data controller' and process your personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations.
NHS health records may be electronic, telephony, on paper or a mixture of all and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Your records are backed up securely in line with Vocare Ltd.'s Data Protection standards. We ensure that the information we hold is kept in secure locations, is protected by appropriate security and access is restricted to authorised personnel.
When we are using more sensitive types of personal information, including health information, our legal basis is usually that the use is necessary:
On rare occasions we will rely on your explicit consent as our legal basis for using your personal information such as for patient surveys. When we do this, we will explain what it means, and the rights that are available, to you. If consent is required, all patients have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.
We are also required to record details of your ethnicity and other information to help us monitor the equality of the services we provide. To provide you with urgent (non-emergency) medical help and advice through our services, we will collect information about you to help us identify you and provide you with appropriate medical help and advice. We will record information about your condition and the advice we have provided. This information will be recorded on a computer system.
To enable us to meet the needs of patients with complex health or emotional needs or who cannot manage their healthcare themselves, a patient's GP may pass our service some specific information to enable us to provide the most appropriate medical help and advice. The GP should involve the patient in the decision to provide us with this information.
If you make a complaint or an enquiry about the service we have provided, or have contact with us on another matter, we will keep a record of all the relevant details in a file for reference purposes.
The health care professional involved in your treatment or care may ask us for information about your use of our services or the treatment you received. We will be careful about sharing information in these circumstances and will only do so once we are satisfied that they need this information in order to provide care to you.
If you ring our service in order to provide you with appropriate care, we may need to share some health information about you with your GP and additionally with other health or social care providers.
If you do not wish information about you to be shared, we will give you the opportunity to say so, however this may impact on the services and support that can be provided to you.
All calls that are recorded are for the purposes of patient care, staff training and incident management.
Your information may be used to:
When information is needed to manage the wider health service, careful measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified. Your name, address and other information that identifies you is removed.
Vocare Ltd uses a small number of delivery partners (or data processors*) to carry out specific business functions on behalf of Vocare's services which involve the processing of personal data.
We also make sure external data processors that support us are legally and contractually bound to operate and prove security arrangements are in place where data that could or does identify a person are processed by the Data Protection Act 2018
Vocare Ltd will only use an approved data processor where:–
Vocare Ltd takes all reasonable steps to ensure our data processors continue to remain compliant with technical and organisational security measures.
* A data processor is a person or organisation who processes personal data on behalf of a data controller, rather than on their own behalf.
Vocare Ltd has a legal duty of confidence to their patients and the GDPR Act 2018 further defines how we can collect and handle personal information. Vocare Ltd also has an additional set of guidelines, known as the Caldicott Principles, which apply to the use of patient information.
Vocare Ltd has appointed a Caldicott Guardian to ensure patient information is handled in accordance with legal obligations.
We have appointed our Executive Medical Director as Caldicott Guardian in acknowledgement of how seriously we take the protection of your right to confidentiality. Our Executive Medical Director is a senior member of our Board who understands the requirements for protecting the confidentiality of patient information as well as enabling appropriate information-sharing. We will seek your consent before we release information that identifies you to any third party for any other reason than those set out in this guidance. Vocare's commitment is that we will only use records about you in ways which respect your rights and promote your health and wellbeing.
Vocare aims to offer patients timely and equitable access to its services, in line with the NHS Constitution 2013 to support the delivery of high quality, effective and efficient patient care and the achievement of the organisations core objectives and statutory obligations.
Vocare will offer patients timely, equitable and transparent access to our services.
Patient safety is our paramount priority and all staff are expected to make decisions in the best interests of patients based on their clinical judgment at the time.
Andy Gregory
Managing Director
Vocare
January 2021
The management of Vocare wishes to pursue a policy which promotes health, safety and welfare throughout the organisation by offering a proactive and committed approach to their responsibilities, and in doing so, ensuring a safe and health risk free place of work. We are committed to a culture conducive to maintaining high standards of health, safety and welfare management for our employees, associates and all other persons who may be affected by our undertaking. We will provide working conditions which comply with all relevant statutory requirements, and officially approved codes of practice.
Vocare is committed to:-
Vocare recognises, without detraction from its responsibilities as an employer that Vocare executive management have a duty within their areas of responsibility to take all necessary steps to implement the Vocare Health and Safety Policy, and any supplementary Health and Safety arrangements or procedures provided for the safe operation of their undertaking and will provide competent technical advice on health and safety matters to assist in complying with the requirements of all Health and Safety legislation which is relevant to the Vocare undertaking.
It is Vocare policy that all levels of management and staff will offer full support to achieving the organisations goal of a safe and risk free environment, and be active in maintaining the culture and attitude which enhances the promotion of health and safety activities.
Employees are reminded of their general duty under section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, to take reasonable care of the health and safety at work of themselves and others who may be affected by their acts or omissions and are expected to cooperate with any person discharging a duty relating to health and safety matters or function. Failure by individuals to comply with the requirements of this policy, or interfere with arrangements or safeguards introduced for their health, safety or welfare, may lead to disciplinary action.
No Health and Safety Policy can be successful unless it actively involves employees. Vocare will seek support from employees by the appointment of Safety Representatives, which include sufficient facilities to carry out this function and will offer conformity to related Safety Representative legislative requirements.
This policy and its arrangements demonstrate the organisations commitment to providing a safe environment which is without risk to health and offering good standards of welfare facilities. The executive management will endeavour to ensure a fully committed approach to complying with the statements made in this document and will review its effectiveness whenever necessary or appropriate.
A copy of this general statement will be issued to all employees, associates and contractors undertaking work on behalf of Vocare. This document will be reviewed periodically for legislative conformity and, where necessary, modified in relation to such changes.
Policy approved by: Andy Gregory
Managing Director
January 2021
Vocare keeps records about the healthcare and treatment patients receive. This helps to ensure that patients receive the best possible care from us.
Everyone working for the NHS and bodies associated with this such as Vocare must comply with the Common Law Duty of Confidence. Information you provide to the organisation in confidence will only be used for the purposes explained to you and to which you consented, unless there are other circumstances covered by the law. Vocare complies with the NHS Confidentiality Code of Conduct. All our staff are required to protect your information, inform you of how your information will be used, and allow you to decide if and how your information can be shared. All our staff are trained in information governance.
The organisation holds information about you in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Your information will be used to
With your consent we will share your personal information with other organisations for healthcare purposes only. This may be with your general practitioner, district nursing, health visitors and school nurses and other relevant primary care agencies as well as with local hospitals and local ambulance services.
We may need to share information from your health records with other non-NHS organisations from which you are also receiving care, such as Social Services. However, we will not disclose any health information to third parties without your explicit consent unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the health or safety of others is at risk or where the law requires it.
We may also be asked by other statutory bodies to share basic information about you, such as your name and address, but not sensitive information from your health records. This would normally be to assist them to carry out their statutory duties. In these circumstances, where it is not practical to obtain your explicit consent, we are informing you through this notice, which is referred to as a Fair Processing Notice, under the Data Protection Act.
These non-NHS organisations may include, but are not restricted to:
We may use your details to contact you with regards to our anonymous patient satisfaction surveys relating to services you have used provided by Vocare. This is to improve the way we deliver healthcare to you and to other patients.
At any time you have the right to refuse/withdraw consent to information sharing. The possible consequences will be fully explained to you and could include delays in receiving care.
Patients may request sight of their own records by contacting the Vocare Assurance Department
To learn more about how we use your information, please speak to the health professionals concerned with your care. Further information may be provided by the Vocare Assurance Department.
Registration Number: ZA164302
Registration Expires: 31st March 2021
Data Controller: Vocare
Address:
Vocare house
Balliol Business Park
Newcastle Upon Tyne
Tyne & Wear
NE12 8EW
Do you require someone to accompany you when you see the doctor?
Do you require someone to accompany you? This person will act as a guide or companion whose purpose is to ensure that the examination is carried out in an appropriate way.
Vocare is committed to providing a safe, comfortable environment where patients and staff can be confident that best practice is being followed at all times and the safety of everyone is of the highest importance.
All patients are entitled to have a chaperone present for any consultation, examination or procedure if you would like one.
Wherever possible we would ask you to make this request when you book your appointment so that arrangements can be made and your appointment is not delayed in any way. Where this is not possible we will try to provide a formal chaperone at the time of request.
Your healthcare professional may also require a chaperone to be present for certain consultations in accordance with our chaperone policy.
If you would like to see a copy of our chaperone policy or have any questions or comments regarding this please contact the receptionist.
Thank you.
Dr Jim Heptinstall
Medical Director
January 2021
Totally plc Modern Slavery Statement 2019
Fraud against the NHS means that the money intended for patient care, and funded by the taxpayer, ends up in the pockets of those who did not legitimately earn it. It means fewer resources are available to be spent on frontline health services such as patient care, health care facilities, doctors, nurses and other staff.
NHS Protect is a "Prescribed Person" under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 (PIDA) and exists to tackle fraud (including bribery, corruption or wider economic crime) anywhere it is found in the NHS in England and Wales. With your assistance, we can do this better.
Anyone who wishes to give information about fraud in the NHS can call the NHS Fraud and Corruption Reporting Line, powered by Crimestoppers, on 0800 028 40 60 anonymously at any time to report concerns of fraud within the NHS.
As well as the anonymous phone number, information can be given in confidence online if preferred, through NHS Protect's online form at www.reportnhsfraud.nhs.uk
Information Security and Data Protection are pivotal to Vocare's business in delivering innovative, high quality healthcare services to our patients, and as such the Introduction of GDPR, which comes into force on May 25th 2018, is a welcome opportunity to review and refresh such activity within our organisation.
Vocare is committed to the highest standards of data protection and information security, and we operate an Information Security Management System (ISMS) which adheres to the highest recognised standards, including ISO27001.
Our GDPR preparation has included a comprehensive review of all internal processes, procedures and associated documentation to ensure full readiness.
Vocare will be compliant with all applicable GDPR regulations, and will work closely and collaboratively with all customers, partners and peers to facilitate compliance with these requirements as widely as possible.
We are also committed to ongoing review and careful observation on all matters within the scope of GDPR, so that a process of continual re-examination, training, risk management and improvement is embedded both within our organisation and employee culture.
Any questions relating to GDPR and Vocare can be referred in the first instance to