Important changes to community services in Hounslow
From 1 July 2024, all adult and children’s community services in the London Borough of Hounslow currently provided by Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust (HRCH) will move to West London NHS Trust.
The transfer should not affect where you access care.
Services provided in the London Borough of Richmond are not affected by these changes.
Why are Hounslow community services transferring?
NHS North West London Integrated Care Board (ICB) and HRCH have agreed to end their contractual arrangement, leading to a change in provider for community services in Hounslow from July 2024
The decision to transfer these services supports the ICB’s ongoing commitment to ensuring health and care equality across all boroughs within North West London.
Who is the new NHS provider?
West London NHS Trust is one of the most diverse providers of mental health, community and social care in the UK.
West London NHS Trust provides care and treatment for more than 800,000 people living in the London boroughs of Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham and Hounslow, delivering services in the community (at home, in GP surgeries and care homes), hospital, specialist clinics and forensic (secure) units
For more information about West London NHS Trust, visit their website: www.westlondon.nhs.uk
Will I continue to see the same healthcare professional?
HRCH staff affected by the changes will transfer to West London NHS Trust on 1 July 2024. This means that after the transfer it is likely you will continue to see the same member of staff as before.
West London NHS Trust will provide patients with more information after services have transferred over from HRCH.
Data protection and confidentiality
Under the new contract, the services which are transferring from HRCH to West London will continue to decide how your information is used.
To enable a safe and secure transition of services and to allow West London NHS Trust to offer you continuity of care, both HRCH and West London NHS Trust are entering into a service level agreement.
This agreement, which will include IT services, some key clinical teams and patient databases will enable both organisations to process your information over the next few months, to provide your direct care.
Please note that the staff who you currently work with, will continue to access your information.
Sharing patient data will not be permitted to the wider West London NHS Trust unless necessary to provide you with direct care.
Both trusts will process your information in accordance with UK data protection laws so that they can fulfil their responsibilities.
The legal grounds for processing data are articles 6(1)(e) (public task) and 9(2)(h) (medical purposes) of the UK GDPR.
You will be notified by your clinician when a full secure transfer of your data to West London will occur.
What are my rights as a patient?
The UK data protection laws also give you certain rights in the way your information is processed.
This includes the right to access information held about you and the right to change or restrict the use of any information which is held about you if you think something is factually incorrect.
You also have the right to object to us processing and storing your data, however the ‘right to be forgotten’ and to erase your data does not apply to health information.
If you wish to talk to us about any of these rights, please contact the information governance teams:
HRCH: hrch.informationgovernance@nhs.net
West London NHS Trust: IG@westlondon.nhs.uk
If you have any concerns or complaints about how your information is being used, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office – www.ico.gov.uk
Our priority is to ensure that everything is in place for a smooth transfer of services on 1 July 2024.
This will mean that patients, service users and carers see no difference in the NHS care and support that they receive.