Garstang Dental Referral Practice takes great care to protect the personal data we hold and aims to meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR], the guidelines on the Information Commissioner’s website as well as our professional guidelines and requirements.
This privacy notice describes the type of personal information we hold, why we hold it and what we do with it. If you provide information when using this website, it will only be used in the ways described in this Privacy Notice.
The purpose of collecting and storing personal data about you is to ensure we can:
- Contact you if you make an enquiry through our website
- Contact a patient you refer to us, via our website and inform you of the outcome of the referral
Portman Dental Care, as Practice Owners, are responsible for keeping secure the information about you that the Practice holds relating to the provision of your care at Garstang Dental Referral Practice. They are registered as “data controllers” with the ICO. Those at the Practice who have access to your information include dentists and other dental professionals (dental nurses, dental technicians) involved with your care and treatment and the reception staff responsible for the administration of the Practice. These team members have been provided with training about data protection and how to keep information about you secure.
In addition, the dentist(s) providing treatment may also hold your personal information such as within letters written. Each individual dentist is personally responsible for securely storing any information they process about you and is registered as a “data controller” with the ICO.
Information that the Practice processes
We may process (obtain, use, store, secure, disclose or destroy) the following information about you:
- Personal details such as your name, date of birth, gender, address, telephone number, email address that is submitted by you when you complete the website enquiry form or when your dentist submits a referral via our online referral form
- Personal details such as your title, name, gender, practice address, practice telephone number and email address that you submit when you refer a patient via our website enquiry form
- Information about your dental and general health, medical and dental history that is submitted by you when you complete the website enquiry form or when your dentist submits a referral via our online referral form
The legal basis on which we process this information is contractual for the provision of healthcare.
How the Practice uses your information
- To contact you to respond to your enquiry or following a referral to us from your general dental practitioner
- To inform you about our clinical findings and treatment options discussed as well as any treatment provided following a referred patient being seen by one of our clinicians
- To monitor the referrals received and to help plan our service provision
- To inform you of Practice updates, service changes and educational events available at our Practice.
When the Practice needs to share your information
Your information is normally used only by those working at the Practice. In certain circumstances or if required by law, we may need to disclose your information to a third party not connected with your health care including HMRC or other law enforcement or government agencies.
How the Practice keeps your information safe
The Practice stores your personal information securely either in a manual filing system or on our Practice computer system. Your information cannot be accessed by those who do not work at the Practice. Only those working at the Practice have access to your information and understand their legal responsibility to maintain confidentiality and follow Practice procedures to ensure this.
We take precautions to ensure security of the Practice premises, the Practice filing systems and computers. We use high-quality specialist dental software to record and use your personal information safely and effectively. Our computer system has a secure audit trail and we back-up information routinely.
We use cloud computing facilities for storing some of your information. The Practice has a rigorous agreement with our provider to ensure that we meet the obligations described in this policy and that we keep your information securely.
The Practice keeps your records for a minimum of 10 years after the date of your last visit to the Practice or until you reach the age of 25 years, whichever is the longer if you have a consultation or receive treatment from one or more of our clinicians. In some cases, we keep records longer than 10 years. This is subject to an individual assessment of the records and is based on the complexity of the treatment that has been provided. If a referral is not taken up at the time of referral, we keep the information on file for 18 months then destroy it in line with our record retention policy.
Access to your information and other rights
You have a right to access the information that we hold about you and to receive a copy. You should submit your request to the Practice in writing or by email. We do not usually charge you for copies of your information. If we pass on a charge, we will explain the reasons.
You can also request us to:
- Correct any information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. If we have disclosed that information to a third party, we will let them know about the change
- Erase information we hold although you should be aware that, for legal reasons, we may be unable to erase certain information (for example, information about your dental treatment)
- Stop using your information – for example, sending you reminders for appointments or information about our service
- Supply your information electronically to another dentist.
If you do not agree
If you do not wish us to use your personal information as described, you should discuss the matter with your treating dentist. If you object to the way that we collect and use your information, we may not be able to continue to provide your dental care.
If you have any concerns about how we use your information and you do not feel able to discuss it with your dentist or anyone at the Practice, you should contact The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745).
This Privacy Notice will be reviewed annually or sooner to reflect any changes in regulations.
Last updated May 2019
