Destruction of Personal Information

Personal Information must be destroyed once it is no longer required to be held and the retention is not required by law. The information must be destroyed in accordance with the process below.

The destruction process depends upon the type of document which contains the Personal Information.

If it is an original document:

Original copies of documents should not be destroyed. They should be returned to the relevant person (e.g. the patient).

If it is a paper document (not an original):

• If the information is contained in a paper document, it should be either:

  • Returned to the individual concerned; or

  • shredded securely; or

  • placed in the document destruction bin.

If it is an electronic document:

If the information is contained in an electronic document, that document should be deleted from South Terrace Urology systems. If the document was received by email, the email should also be deleted.

Please note you will need to contact the Practice Manager to arrange for permanent deletion as employees' deleting rights are limited, meaning files are 'still there' and can be restored.

When disposing of any electronic device including computers, servers but also printers and scanners, secure disposal must be arranged (as data may still be on tapes, drives and drums) and documentation of the secure disposal stored. The Practice Manager should be notified prior to the disposal of any devices or hardware.