evidence: The staff caring for you do not need your consent to record information about your care and treatment. This is because there are important medical and legal reasons why it is necessary for health and care records to be kept. The law requires all organisations to make information readily available to you that explains this. This will include the legal reasons for keeping health and care records, how and why information will be used, who might be able to access information, and your rights in relation to those records. In most circumstances health and care staff will rely upon consent as the basis for accessing and using confidential patient information. This should not be confused with an individual right in Data Protection law. Consent can be implied or explicit. [...] If it is not practicable to seek consent for purposes beyond individual care, approval for sharing for medical research or health service planning can be sought from the Health Research Authority or the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002. This is often known as 'section 251 support'. Section 251 enables the common law duty of confidentiality to be lifted for a period of time, subject to review, so that confidential patient information can be used without breaching the duty of confidentiality. Refer to HRA guidance for further information.