Your information rights
You have the right under data protection legislation to access and control the information we hold about you, although there are also exemptions from those rights. Below is further detail about your information rights and who you can contact if you have a question.
Accessing your data
You're entitled to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you. To do this, you can email foi@gmc-uk.org. We will usually respond within one month, but if the request is complex or involves large amounts of data, this may take us up to three months to respond.
There is usually no charge for making a request. But we have the right to request a fee if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.
In some cases, we don't have to provide a copy of the data because an exemption applies. This is likely to be because:
- the data is also the personal data of another person and it would not be reasonable to disclose it to you without their consent.
- disclosing the data would prejudice our regulatory functions, for example by making it difficult for us to conduct a fair fitness to practise investigation.
- disclosing your data would impair research being conducted by or on behalf of the GMC.
Controlling how we use your data
You have the right under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) to control how we use your data, by asking us to delete it or limit how we use it.
But there are some exemptions you should be aware of. We don’t have to comply with a request to delete or stop using your personal data if, for example:
- we are legally required to use your personal data in a particular way.
- we are using your data to carry out our statutory functions, because there are strong public interest and patient safety grounds for us to process personal data which we need to conduct our role.
- we are processing your data for research purposes and deleting the data would impair our research aims.
If we are unable to provide you with information because an exemption applies, we will tell you why this is the case.
To make an information rights request, you can email dpo@gmc-uk.org.