Your data and privacy

We aim to provide the highest quality care. To do this, we routinely collect information about you and the care you receive from us.

Like other hospitals across England, there has been a recent change to how we share and use this data.

When an ambulance brings you to our Emergency Department (A&E), the information we collect, including your NHS number, date of birth, and time of arrival to the hospital, is securely matched with the same patient information collected by the ambulance trust.

Following your episode of care, the ambulance trust will then receive details on your outcome. This information will help them understand the patient journey and further improve the care they provide in the future.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust is part of the One Health and Care NHS shared care record.

Please visit the Black Country Integrated Care Board website to learn what the shared care record is about, how it could benefit you, who will be able to look at your information and what they will see, the legal basis for sharing data, and how to ask questions.

We are required by law to protect the public funds we administer. We may share information with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud. The Cabinet Office is responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to determine the extent of the match. This is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency which requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

We participate in the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative: a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud – see guidance Taking part in the National Fraud Initiative. We take privacy very seriously: please be assured that we will always manage your data securely and responsibly.

The processing of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under data protection legislation or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). For further information on how we will use your personal data, and your rights, see National Fraud Initiative privacy notice. For more information on the reasons why particular information is matched, see Code of Data Matching Practice for the National Fraud Initiative.

For further information on data matching at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust please contact Bradley Vaughan, local Counter Fraud Specialist, by emailing bradley.vaughan@rsmuk.com. More detail on how the NFI has assisted the NHS and other public sector organisations can also be found at National Fraud Initiative case studies.