As part of our Patient First strategy to offer digital services, to further improve the care we provide to our patients at the Trust, a number of specialties at Kingston Hospital will be introducing a new digital consent application by Concentric.

The new service is patient centred, supporting patient decision making about their treatment, whilst continuing to ensure informed consent.

The Trust expects the following benefits from implementing digital consent:

  • Better patient experience and understanding of the decision-making process, with the option for clinicians to add links to additional information and resources, and the time and space to discuss at home with your friends and family.
  • Digital consent is a greener option, as it allows consent to be given digitally reducing paper use.
  • Digital consent will allow us to create bespoke consent forms for you and your care.
  • Digital consent is stored securely on your electronic patient record, instantly creating a traceable electronic record of consent.

Data is entered into the Concentric digital consent application by a doctor or other appropriately qualified Healthcare Professional to share information with patients about proposed treatments or procedures. They modify the consent information to meet the needs of the individual patient and then either share it with the patient immediately or send it to them to via e-mail or SMS to review later.

After reviewing the information provided, the patient can document their consent to the proposed treatment or ask their Healthcare professional for further information.

You may receive genuine communication from your clinician via Concentric, either as an email from the email address notifications@concentric.health, or as an SMS from a mobile contact named ‘Concentric’

You will be able to access your digital consent via Concentric on any modern web-enabled device. This includes full functionality across all screen sizes (i.e. mobiles, tablets, laptops and desktop computers).

Whilst the majority of the functionality will work on older browsers such as Internet Explorer, Concentric do not recommend using these browsers.

Concentric uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP) for all hosting and data processing, within a data centre in the UK. GCP is compliant with all healthcare information governance requirements.

Once the consent episode is completed, a pdf version of the consent form is automatically transferred into the Trust’s electronic patient record systems.

All data is protected following industry best practice with regard to access controls and encryption.

Patients are sent an email with a unique link and enter their date of birth in order to verify their identity.

All data is stored using leading encryption methods and is transferred securely.

GDPR defines different types of data (See this link).

Concentric uses ‘Personal data’ which is data that can be used to directly identify someone and ‘Special category data’ which is sensitive data that usually requires more protection.

The following personal data is processed: title, given name, family name, date of birth, gender, patient identification number (e.g. NHS number). This data is required for clinical safety purposes, as it needs to be displayed on-screen during all clinical interactions. It is best practice to share consent information with patients, and therefore an email address and mobile phone number is stored to allow communication of the consent process.

The following special category data, i.e. data relating to health, is also processed: name of treatment, indication and purpose of treatment, alternatives and risks discussed, and name and job title of clinicians who have been involved in providing care. This information is required as it is documented on the consent form.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), organisations can only process this data if there is a lawful basis for doing so. Where Concentric is used, the Kingston Hospital Foundation Trust is the data controller, and Concentric is the data processor for the Trust.

The legal basis for processing is that of ‘direct care’. Healthcare organisations have a requirement to receive and record procedural consent as part of providing care. The contract between the healthcare organisation and Concentric to deliver a digital consent platform provides Concentric’s ‘direct care’ legal basis for processing.

The data will only ever be used by the Kingston Hospital to manage the consent process as part of your treatment. It will not be used for any other purposes, such as research or population health management, unless we contact you and specifically ask for permission to do so.

Concentric Health Ltd.Registration number: 10733991.Address: Tramshed Tech, Pendyris Street, Cardiff, CF11 6BH

You can find out more information on the Concentric website.