Privacy Notice

Purpose of Privacy Notice

The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the GDPR). This legislation will replace current data privacy law, giving more rights to you as an individual and more obligations to organisations holding your personal data.

One of the rights is a right to be informed, which means I have to give you even more information than I do now about the way in which I use, share and store your personal information.

This means that I will be publishing a new Privacy Notice so you can access this information, along with information about the increased rights you have in relation to the information I hold on you and the legal basis on which I am using it.

This new Privacy Notice comes into effect and will be published on my website on 25 May 2018.

 

Who am I?

Hannah Palfreyman is the data controller (c/o The Ashleigh Clinic, 26 Stoneygate Road, Leicester. LE2 2AD). This means I decide how your personal data is processed and for what purposes.

Whose information does this privacy notice apply to?

This privacy notice applies to information I collect from:

  • patients;

  • prospective patients;

  • former patients;

  • visitors to my website;

What is personal data?

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller's possession or likely to come into such possession. Examples of personal data I may hold about you include your contact and appointment details.

Special category data is a sub-category of personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a person, data concerning health or data concerning a person's sex life or sexual orientation. Examples of special category data I may hold about you include your patient notes.

 

How do I process your personal data?

I comply with our obligations under the GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data. I use your personal data for the purposes set out below. Your personal data is kept in your personal file. This is kept in paper format and stored in a lockable filing cabinet.

 

Sections 1 - 15 apply to my patients, prospective patients, former patients and visitors to my clinic

1. I use your name, address, telephone number and email address to make and rearrange appointments. I am unable to send or receive encrypted emails so you should be aware that any emails I send or receive may not be protected in transit. I will also monitor any emails sent to me, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to me are within the bounds of the law.

2. I use your name, address, telephone number and email address, only if I have your explicit consent, to send you marketing materials. I am unable to send or receive encrypted emails so you should be aware that any emails I send or receive may not be protected in transit. I will also monitor any emails sent to me, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to me are within the bounds of the law.

3. Some patients and prospective patients return pre- 1st appointment questionnaires or tell me about their medical conditions and medication by email or online enquiry forms. I am unable to send or receive encrypted emails so you should be aware that any emails I send or receive may not be protected in transit. I will also monitor any emails sent to me, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to me are within the bounds of the law.

4. I keep a permanent attendance register which records all appointments for patients attending my clinic to keep a record of when you were treated for tax purposes and to secure potential evidence in the event of a criminal prosecution, civil litigation, insurance claim or complaint to my regulatory body, the British Acupuncture Council.

5. I may use your date of birth to help identify patients with the same name to avoid mistakes being made as to safe and appropriate treatment, for identification purposes if referring a patient to another health practitioner, and for identification purposes if writing to a registered medical practitioner so that they correctly identify the patient.

6. I use your presenting complaint and symptoms reported by you for the purposes of making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

7. I use any relevant medical and family history you have told me for making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

8. I use your GP's name and address in the event that I need to contact your GP including in an emergency and because it is a mandatory requirement in the British Acupuncture Code of Professional Conduct.

9. I use my clinical findings about your health and well being for making a full traditional diagnosis, and formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

10. I keep a record of and refer to that record of any treatment given and details of progress of your case, including reviews of treatment planning to enable me to: review the full traditional diagnosis, treatment strategy and planning; and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint. 

11. I record and use any information and advice that I have given, especially when referring patients to any other health professional, to help you to receive the most appropriate treatment and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.

12. I record any decisions made in conjunction with you to help you to receive the most appropriate treatment and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint. 

13. I keep accident records for any patients, visitors or staff who are involved in accidents at my clinic in accordance with UK Health and Safety legislation including the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) to comply with the law and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint. 

14. In the event of an adverse incident occurring to any of my patients I report the matter to the British Acupuncture Council and to my insurance company to enable the insurance company to deal with any potential claims and to help the British Acupuncture Council to develop its safe practice guidelines, as well as providing research data and information for the BAcC's insurers and other interested parties. 

15. Where relevant I maintain records of the patient's consent to treatment, or the consent of their parent/guardian/next-of-kin in order to be able to prove that the patient (and/or parent/guardian/next of kin) has given informed consent to treatment to secure evidence in the event of a civil claim, criminal prosecution, insurance claim or complaint.

 

Section 16 applies to those who complain about my services

16. When I receive a complaint from a person I make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint. This file will be in paper format and stored in a lockable filing cabinet.

I will only use the personal information I collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service I provide. I usually have to disclose the complainant's identity to whoever the complaint is about. If a complainant doesn't want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, I will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis. I may need to provide personal information collected and processed in relation to complaints to the British Acupuncture Council or my insurance company.

I will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with my retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the 'need to know' principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to me I will only use the information supplied to me to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service I provide.

 

Sections 17 - 19 apply to my website users

17. I use website cookies to improve user experience of my website. My website uses a "Hit Counter" cookie that counts the website visitors. This cookie does not collect personal information. This cookie does not collect any information except the visit count on the website.

18. My website search is powered by Google Adwords Express. Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help me improve my website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by me or any third party.

19. I use a third party service, Tsohost, to host my website. This site is hosted at Tsohost, which is run by Paragon Internet Group t/a/ Tsohost. I use a standard Tsohost service to collect anonymous information about users' activity on the site, for example the number of users viewing pages on the site, to monitor and report on the effectiveness of the site and help me improve it. For more information about how Tsohost processes data, please see www.tsohost.com/legal/privacy-policy

 

Sharing your personal data

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential, and will be shared:

  • with named third parties with your explicit consent;

  • with the relevant authority such as the police or a court, if necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which I am subject e.g. a court order;

  • with your doctor or the police if necessary to protect yours or another person's life;

  • with the police or a local authority for the purpose of safeguarding children or vulnerable adults; or

  • with my regulatory body, the British Acupuncture Council, or my insurance company in the event of a complaint or insurance claim being brought against me; or

  • my solicitor in the event of any investigation or legal proceedings being brought against me.

For further details about the situations when information about you might be shared please see the Information Commissioner's website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/personal-information/sharing-my-info/

 

Your personal data

I collect and use your personal data because I have legitimate interests. Without this data, I would be unable to carry out my job safely and effectively.

I keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary.

Emails received from potential patients will be deleted after their first appointment or after a two week period. Emails from patients will be printed and added to your personal file. The email will then be deleted. Emails are sent, received and stored in a password protected account.

Text messages are sent, received and stored in a password protected mobile phone. I send text messages from this mobile phone to confirm appointments.

Your personal data is kept in your personal file. This is kept in paper format and is stored in a lockable filing cabinet. Your appointments are recorded in your personal file and in my paper diary. If your personal file is transported to another location, it is stored in a lockable case. This case is never left unattended.

I keep patient files/records for a minimum period of 7 years in accordance with the British Acupuncture Code of Professional Conduct https://www.acupuncture.org.uk/public-content/effective-practice/bacc-professional-codes.html

Patient files/records will be kept for a minimum period of 7 years following the last occasion on which treatment was given. In the case of treatment to minors, your records will be kept for at least 7 years after you reach the age of 18. This is in case of any legal claims/complaints and for safeguarding purposes. After this period you may ask me to delete your personal data if you wish. Your personal data will be destroyed by shredding.

To keep data up-to-date there will be a review of your personal data every six months or sooner if considered necessary. This does not apply to patients who are no longer having treatment. If a patient returns to treatment after a period of absence, a data review will be conducted at this time.

If I am seriously ill / pass away, your personal data will be transferred to Elaine Palfreyman c/o The Ashleigh Clinic, 26 Stoneygate Road, Leicester. LE2 2AD.

At any time you may request that changes are made to your contact details.

 

 Your rights and your personal data

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have certain rights with respect to your personal data as set out below.

  • The right to request a copy of your personal data which I hold about you.

  • The right to request that I correct any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date.

  • The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for me to retain such data.

  • The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time. This right does not apply where I am processing information using a lawful purpose other than consent. 

  • The right to request that I provide you with your personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability), (where applicable) [This right only applies where the processing is based on consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract with you and in either case we are processing the data by automated means].

  • The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing.

  • The right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable) [This right only applies where processing is based on legitimate interests (or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority); direct marketing and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics].

  • The right to be informed if your data is lost. We shall also inform the Information Commissioner's Office in accordance with the time limits in the GDPR.

  • The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.

For further details about these rights please see the Information Commissioner's website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/

 

The Ashleigh Clinic

I am not employed by The Ashleigh Clinic but rent a room within the clinic. By contacting or visiting the clinic for your treatments you will also be subject to The Ashleigh Clinic's Privacy Notice. The clinic operates on online booking system for the treatment rooms which I use to reserve the room for your appointment. The information provided to the clinic is your first name and date and time of your appointment, e.g. Sam has an appointment on the 1st April 2018 at 4pm. This information is used at the clinic for health and safety reasons and in case of an emergency e.g. if there is a fire, the clinic need to know who is in the building so everyone can be accounted for. To access patient names, this system is password protected. No other details are held by the clinic.

The Ashleigh Clinic does not have access to your personal file.

The Ashleigh Clinic's Privacy Notice is available upon request.

 

Further processing

If I wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then I will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, I will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

 

Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries of complaints please in the first instance contact me at

Hannah Palfreyman

c/o The Ashleigh Clinic

26 Stoneygate Road

Leicester

LE2 2AD

Tel: 07530 316266

Email: info@acupuncture-practitioner.co.uk

You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.

END OF PRIVACY NOTICE