The content of this page forms part of the terms and conditions of registration, a summary of which is printed on the reverse of the GenesisCare registration form. We ask you to sign the registration form prior to treatment at any GenesisCare treatment centre.

Signing the registration form confirms that you undertake ultimate responsibility for your treatment charges, whether you are insured, sponsored or self-funding, and that you agree we can use information about you within the limitations of relevant data protection legislation.

You should sign and return the registration form in advance of attendance or at the time of your initial registration.

When you arrive at one of our treatment centres we would like to ensure that you have no concerns about:

• The arrangements made for settling your account
• The way we will handle information about you, both to support your treatment and to settle your account

We urge you to consider such matters now, before you attend one of our centres. This document is provided in advance of any treatment that you may receive at GenesisCare and please ask us if there is something that you would like explained further; prior to signing the registration form.

Any private medical insurance or sponsorship arrangement will be between you and your insurer or sponsor.

A patient is under the care and control of his or her consultant who may also involve other doctors in the patient’s treatment if appropriate

GenesisCare staff provide care and treatment under your consultants’ instructions.

Your consultant is an independent practitioner and is not employed by GenesisCare and will normally invoice you separately for his or her services. GenesisCare will not be liable for any act or omission of any consultant (or the company or partnership that employs or engages the consultants). Your consultant shall be responsible for the care he/she gives you.

Your consultant is responsible for arranging consent for your treatment and this will be completed as part of your consultation with them.

A patient is responsible for ensuring that they give us accurate and timely information about their health so that appropriate care can be delivered throughout.

For the purposes of this document “centre” shall mean any treatment centre owned by GenesisCare. Unless otherwise stated, the contract is between the centre providing the services and the patient.

The contract shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law and the English Courts shall have non-exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute arising out of the contract.

Separate contracts will usually exist between the patient and the consultant(s) and where applicable between the patient and his/her sponsor or insurer.

The patient’s representative’s or guarantor’s signature confirms acceptance of the terms and conditions of registration contained in the “Registration Form” and this booklet.

The patient is liable for all personal expenses and any charges not settled by an insurer or sponsor. If there are delays in settlement, there may be penalties, for example the charging of interest for which the patient will be liable.

Interest may be charged at the rate of 8% per annum, calculated from the invoice date, on all accounts where credit has not been granted and there are delays in payment.

Any further collection costs incurred by the centre (including fees billed by collection agencies and solicitors) will be added to the final amount payable

Patients with UK medical insurance

You agree to pay for your treatment. Whilst you will remain responsible for the payment of your treatment, where you have private medical insurance we will, where possible, process the insurance claim for your treatment with your insurer, provided you have given us and your insurer all the information we and your insurer need to do so. It is the patient or their representative’s responsibility to ensure cover is adequate to pay for treatment. The patient/representative must contact their insurance company prior to treatment in order to check cover and the terms of the policy.

The authorisations team and centre will process insurance claims directly with approved insurers on the patient’s behalf, if the patient has provided claim details. It is the patient’s/representative’s responsibility to verify with the insurer that the condition to be treated and proposed treatment plan is covered by the insurance. The authorisations team and centre are not responsible for this verification, but will aim to assist wherever possible.

Where we process your insurance claim and your insurer pays us direct, the rate agreed between GenesisCare and your insurer will apply to your treatment. If you pay for your treatment and subsequently seek reimbursement from an insurer, we will invoice the respective insurer at the agreed rates. Once funds have been received from the insurer for the complete treatment episode, a refund will be provided to the patient for any payment that has been received for the same treatment episode.

Insufficient documentation will prevent direct settlement and will result in the account being treated as self-funding. Any shortfalls in benefit are the patient’s or their representative’s responsibility. All insured patients will be asked to complete a credit card mandate form. No payment will be taken until the finance team have received notification of any shortfall amount. Patients will be contacted before any payments are taken and will also be sent a statement confirming the shortfall balance. A statement should also be sent to patients by the insurer.

In all circumstances, responsibility for payment of centre accounts rests ultimately with the patient. Should any sponsorship or guarantee fail, or insurance claim be declined in whole or in part, the patient will be required to pay the outstanding balance in full. In this instance an invoice would be raised and posted to the patient’s home address along with details of how to make payment.

Most private medical insurance companies require claims to be authorised before a patient may be treated at a private facility.

If confirmation of cover cannot be obtained by the time of registration, you will be asked to either self-fund or defer treatment until authorisation has been received.

Private medical insurance does sometimes have exclusions, this may be due to a previous medical condition or to a general exclusion within your policy. It is always wise to check for any exclusion or benefit limits before commencement of treatment.

Please bring all appropriate registration documents, pre-authorisation statements or a claim form with you, as directed by your insurer. Again we strongly recommend that you obtain clarification of the cover provided under your policy.

Some insurance policies contain a six-week clause, which permits private medical attention only if you cannot be seen by an NHS hospital within six weeks; it is imperative that the patient discusses this with their consultant and insurance company before the planned treatment date.

The claim form must be completed by the patient or their representative and forwarded to the consultant or GP arranging treatment.

GenesisCare has direct settlement arrangements with many UK insurance companies. While we will invoice an insurance company directly on behalf of a patient, it remains the responsibility of the patient to ensure that claims are processed promptly. Should the insurer decline or delay payment for any part of the treatment, we will invoice the patient for immediate settlement. In this instance an invoice would be raised and posted to the patient’s home address along with details of how to make payment.

GenesisCare has agreements with a limited number of insurances that offer international cover. If no agreement is in place, the patient is required to pay in full and claim back monies from their insurer at a later date.

If a company, employer or other third party agrees to settle the account, they will need to provide a letter of guarantee along with a deposit.

We accept direct settlement arrangements only with third parties with whom we have a prior arrangement. If such an agreement is not in place, the patient will be asked to settle their account in advance of their initial appointment with us and seek to recover the sum from their sponsor.

Letters of guarantee must be addressed to the centre and must be patient, treatment and date specific including relevant reference numbers.

The letter will need to specify any charges that are not included and any special requests for the format of the account.

Packaged accounts are offered to self-pay patients undertaking radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatment.

The following items are excluded from a self-pay packaged account;

• Ambulance charges
• Telephone or personal expenses
• Take home drugs that are excluded from the self-pay package
• Specialist medication
• Additional procedure(s) or treatment not specifically included within the agreed package
• Consultant fees unless specified

Please read the details of your particular agreement. Ensure you understand what’s not included in the package price.

If in doubt please ask a member of the authorisations department. Any charges not included in the package price will attract additional costs that you will be required to settle.

The claim form must be completed by the patient or their representative and forwarded to the consultant or GP arranging treatment.

GenesisCare has direct settlement arrangements with many UK insurance companies. While we will invoice an insurance company directly on behalf of a patient, it remains the responsibility of the patient to ensure that claims are processed promptly. Should the insurer decline or delay payment for any part of the treatment, we will invoice the patient for immediate settlement. In this instance an invoice would be raised and posted to the patient’s home address along with details of how to make payment.

The claim form must be completed by the patient or their representative and forwarded to the consultant or GP arranging treatment.

GenesisCare has direct settlement arrangements with many UK insurance companies. While we will invoice an insurance company directly on behalf of a patient, it remains the responsibility of the patient to ensure that claims are processed promptly. Should the insurer decline or delay payment for any part of the treatment, we will invoice the patient for immediate settlement. In this instance an invoice would be raised and posted to the patient’s home address along with details of how to make payment.

We accept most major credit or debit cards, with the exception of American Express.

Cheques

Cheques are accepted if they are drawn on a UK bank. Cheques must be paid in and cleared 3 days in advance of the initial appointment.

Cash

Cash is only accepted up to the amount of £500.

Bank transfer

Banks can usually generate same day transfers from current accounts on instruction from the account signatory. Please make sure the details include the patient’s full name and GenesisCare medical record number, if you have one.

Payment should be made payable to our bank, details of which are available upon request.

If you are an NHS patient, the costs of your treatment are paid by the NHS.

GenesisCare regrets that patients arriving for treatment will not be registered if they arrive without satisfactory insurance or sponsorship documentation or any acceptable method of pre-payment. On such an occasion, staff will contact the patient’s consultant to discuss the situation.

Your signature on the registration form confirms you have read and understood the Privacy and Data Protection notice displayed there. These Terms and Conditions provide a summary of how we use your personal data and a full Patient Privacy Notice is available on our website or you can ask a member of staff to print out a copy for you.

The Data Protection Act 2018 and Common Law Duty of Confidentiality set out the rules for the processing of personal data and confidential information relating to your health.  Your right to privacy and confidentiality are of paramount importance to us and we are committed to compliance with privacy laws and medical and ethical confidentiality guidelines. In the usual course of our business, we may use third parties to process your data on our behalf. When we do so, we will ensure any processing is subject to contractual restrictions covering confidentiality and security in addition to the obligations imposed by the data protection legislation.

If you have any queries about your data please let us know.  Our Data Protection Officer details can be found in the ‘Further help’ section, below.

It is of vital importance that all patients are properly identified as individuals. This allows us to collate your various visits and treatment in the same discrete medical record. To be absolutely sure that you have been correctly identified we ask for the following information about you:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• NHS number
• Address
• Phone number

The consultants and other health professionals looking after you keep records about your health and any treatment and care you receive. Your record may be in a paper format, electronic, or a mixture of both. The record will include:

• Details about you such as date of birth, address, contact details, emergency contacts, etc. which you have provided
•  Contacts we have had with you, such as appointments or treatment, which may be online or in person
• Letters and reports about your health treatment and medication
• Results of investigations, such as diagnostic images and laboratory tests
• Relevant information from referring or other relevant health professionals or those who care for you and know you well    

• Full name
• Date of birth
• NHS number
• Address
• Phone number

We will use the personal information we collect about you:

• To register you as a patient on our systems and provide you with health and care
• To offer you related services (e.g. to provide you with a taxi or ancillary health support)
• To update other individuals about your care and treatment where there is a need to know
• To audit our services to
  (a) make sure our services can meet patient needs in the future and
  (b) review the care we provide to ensure it is of the highest standard
• To resolve queries, complaints or incidents
• To comply with our legal or statutory obligations
• For medical training and education
• For medical research, service development and clinical trials (we will ask for your consent)
• For account settlement (we may refer to your insurer or sponsor)
• To provide marketing information in accordance with the preferences you have expressed
  and:
• We will ask if we can use your contact information to leave voicemail messages or to send emails and/or non-routine texts (you can change your mind at any time)

We use CCTV at some treatment locations for security and safety purposes only and areas monitored by CCTV are signposted.

If photographs are taken for marketing purposes a separate consent form will be given to you for your signature.

We record phone calls for training and monitoring purposes.

We do not give the names and addresses of patients to other organisations, except under the circumstances described in this booklet and our website Privacy Notice.

We share your data with:

• Relevant healthcare professionals and staff where you are being treated and in the wider GenesisCare community where there is a need to know, for example with specialist doctors and other clinicians, your G.P. and GenesisCare staff
• Diagnostic centres and laboratories
• Where applicable, the NHS Trust which has referred you
• Where applicable, your insurance company.

In many cases we pseudonymise or anonymise your information before we share it with others.  We will not disclose your information to third parties without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as at the request of a law court or to prevent fraud or a serious crime.

We share information on a need to know basis and strict guidelines are in place to ensure the information remains secure.

We will normally share information about the progress of your treatment with the person you name as your emergency contact unless you have specifically instructed us otherwise. Please make sure any specific wishes you have in relation to disclosure are documented during registration.

We make best efforts to ensure that information provided over the telephone is restricted to those you list as emergency contacts. Sometimes this means refusing to disclose information about you to someone who feels they should know about your treatment and progress. Please make your family and friends aware of this.

GenesisCare UK is part of a global organisation and may process, or engage others to process, personal information outside the UK. Any transfer of your personal information will be compliant with applicable data protection law and required assessments. If you would like further information regarding the steps we take to safeguard your personal information when making international transfers you can refer to the privacy notice for patients on the GenesisCare website or you can contact the DPO using the details in the Further Help section, below.

We have a legal obligation to carry out clinical audits and your records may be reviewed by statutory inspectors of our service or by our staff carrying out the audits so that we can monitor the quality of care provided, measure performance and ensure that our services can meet patient needs in the future. Wherever possible we use anonymised information.

Full information can be found in the privacy notice for patients on the GenesisCare website.
In brief:

• Anonymous statistical information may be passed to organisations with a legitimate interest, including universities and research institutions
• We may share fully anonymised treatment and image details for education, audit and research (which may be published in medical journals)
• We may be required to share data where there is a lawful or statutory requirement, for example with the Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN) or with a NHS Trust where treatment is funded by the NHS; the Trust may share the data with NHS England
• If you have been diagnosed with cancer GenesisCare will provide information about you and your cancer to the National Cancer Registration Service (NCRS). If you wish to request that your details are not included on the Register or have your information removed you should contact the NCRS directly by email to ndrsoptout@nhs.net
• Your information can be used to monitor and improve health and outcomes, to support preventative medicine and medical research, to develop technological innovations
• To find a cure for serious illnesses for the population or a group of patients and to help evaluate treatments and services. This may involve engaging staff in considering how they improve patient care. You will be asked on registration if you agree to this. Your treatment and care will not be affected if you do not wish to consent and you can change your mind at any time

GenesisCare is a registered data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office and entry details of the registration can be viewed at: www.ico.org.uk.  A controller must have a lawful basis for using (processing) data and this will vary according to the circumstances.  We have provided full details in the Patient Privacy Notice on our website.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation/Data Protection Act 2018 strict principles govern our use of data and our duty to ensure it is kept safe and secure.  We have appropriate security measures to protect your personal information and everyone working for GenesisCare is subject to the common law duty of confidentiality. Anyone who receives data from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.  We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

GenesisCare UK is part of a global organisation and may process, or engage others to process, personal information outside the UK. Any transfer of your personal information will be compliant with applicable data protection law and required assessments. If you would like further information regarding the steps we take to safeguard your personal information when making international transfers you can refer to the privacy notice for patients on the GenesisCare website or you can contact the DPO using the details in the Further Help section, below.

Under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 you have rights in relation to your data, including the right of access, and these are explained in full in the Patient Privacy Notice on our website. To make a request to exercise a right, please speak with the healthcare professional who is involved in your care or a manager where you are being treated.

• You can discuss your queries with any member of staff who will direct you to an appropriate person.
• If you have any questions relating to data protection, please contact the Data Protection Officer at GenesisCare, 69 Alma Rd, Windsor SL4 3HD. Telephone 07841 207263 or by email to dpo@genesiscare.co.uk
• You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, at casework@ico.org.uk, or at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or telephone 0303 123 1113 (local rate call). Website: https://ico.org.uk/

Information provided to your insurer in order to settle your account will become part of the data held by them (and other companies in the same group) in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Your insurer may arrange for processing of your data outside the European Economic Area.

If you have any concerns about this, or about any third party your insurer may share your data with, please contact your insurer.

If an insurer or other organisation has indicated that they will meet your expenses, they may choose to use non-medical information to send you details of products or services. If you do not wish to receive such information, please write directly to the insurer or other organisation.

Medical information will be kept confidential. Unless you have provided your explicit consent, it will be disclosed only to those involved in your treatment or care, to their agents and if applicable, to any person or organisation or their agents who may be responsible for meeting your treatment expenses.

We will also need to share your demographic and account information with a third party who has taken responsibility for payment of your bill. In the event that a bill is unpaid, then we may need to share data with other professionals such as solicitors or collection agents.

If your permanent address is outside the EU, or your treatment is continuing outside of the EU, we may send details of your treatment to individuals based outside of the EU specifically to promote your ongoing care.

This would normally be the doctor who referred you to us for treatment. If you wish, we can give you the documents so that you have physical control over this information.

Medical information will be kept confidential. Unless you have provided your explicit consent, it will be disclosed only to those involved in your treatment or care, to their agents and if applicable, to any person or organisation or their agents who may be responsible for meeting your treatment expenses.

We will also need to share your demographic and account information with a third party who has taken responsibility for payment of your bill. In the event that a bill is unpaid, then we may need to share data with other professionals such as solicitors or collection agents.

This section applies to all patients

Your contract with GenesisCare:

By signing the registration form you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. If there is any conflict between these terms and the Registration Form, these terms will take precedence. GenesisCare may update these terms from time to time, including, for example:

• Where we reasonably consider it will make them easier to understand
• Because of changes in the law, codes of practice or the way in which we are regulated
• To cover a development or change in the services that we provide

However, changes will only apply to any new episode of treatment or new treatment package that you receive and you will be asked to agree to any new terms before they become effective for you.

Note that any new terms will not apply to any treatment package which is part-way through when the terms are changed.

Notices and contact details: It is important that you keep us updated of any changes in your contact details.

Changes in applicable law: You acknowledge and accept that applicable law may change and prevent GenesisCare from providing certain treatment. If GenesisCare becomes aware that such a change has occurred and the change has an affect on your treatment, GenesisCare will contact you to inform you of this and its consequences. For the avoidance of doubt, applicable law includes all laws, regulations, guidelines and professional obligations applicable to the provision of treatment or the performance of services for you.

If there is any problem with the services we provide, please contact us and tell us as soon as possible, and we will investigate the problem under our complaints procedure and try to put things right as soon as we can. Please ask any member of staff at a centre for a copy of the leaflets that explain our complaints procedure.

You have legal rights in relation to services not carried out with reasonable care and skill. Nothing in these terms will affect these legal rights.

Assignment: GenesisCare may transfer and assign your contract to any person who acquires all or substantially all of the assets of GenesisCare or to any other member of the GenesisCare group of companies.

Third party rights: Except for you or GenesisCare, no person will have any rights under or in connection with these terms.

If you should have any concerns or question relating to the content of this booklet, please do not hesitate to contact the Patient Administration team at your treatment centre.