Your privacy
Compliant data protection
Privacy notice
We will keep your records safely.
This practice complies with the Data Protection Act (1998) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. This means that we will ensure that your information is processed fairly and lawfully.
What personal information do we need to hold?
• Your past and current medical and dental condition; personal details such as your age, address, telephone number and your general medical practitioner
• Radiographs, clinical photographs and study models
• Information about the treatment that we have provided or propose and its cost
• Notes of conversations or incidents that might occur for which a record needs to be kept
• Records of consent to treatment
• Any correspondence relating to you with other health care professionals, for example in the hospital or community services.
Why do we hold this information?
We need to keep accurate personal data about patients in order to provide you with safe and appropriate dental care. This is our legal obligation
Retaining information
We are required to retain your dental records, X- rays and study models while you are a patient of this practice and after you cease to be a patient, for at least ten years or until age 25, whichever is the longer.
Security
Your information is held in the practice’s computer system and/or in a secure manual filing system. The information is only accessible to authorised personnel. Personal information will not be removed from this practice without the patient’s authorised consent.
Your personal information is carefully protected by the staff at this practice. All access to information is held securely and can only be accessed by regularly changed passwords. Data is encrypted and computer terminals are closed if unattended.
Legitimate Interest
We rely on the legal basis of legitimate interest in order to send you reminders of appointments through text, email, letter or phone call. From time to time, we will use your information to let you know about any promotional offers which may be interest to you.
Who is the Data Controller?
We have an Information Governance Lead, Stuart Gibson, who is responsible for deciding how data is processed safely and in accordance with the GDPR.
We may need to disclose your information
In order to provide proper and safe dental care to:
• Your general medical practitioner• The hospital or community dental services
• Other health professionals caring for you
• The Inland Revenue
• Private dental schemes of which you are a member.
Disclosure will take place on a ‘need-to-know’ basis, so that only those individuals/organisations who need to know in order to provide care to you and for the proper administration of Government (whose personnel are covered by strict confidentiality rules) will be given the information. Only information that the recipient needs to know will be disclosed.
In very limited circumstances or when required by law or a court order, personal data may have to be disclosed to a third party not connected with your health care. In all other situations, disclosure that is not covered by this Code of Practice will only occur when we have your specific consent. Where possible you will be informed of these requests for disclosure.
Your rights of access, correction and erasure
It is important that the information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if any of your information changes. Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:
- Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. We must produce this information to you as soon as reasonably practicable.
- Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
- Request erasure of your personal information. However, we are legally obliged to retain your information for at least ten years.
- Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. This includes marketing.
- Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
- Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact the Data Controller in writing. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive.