DATA PROTECTION PRIVACY NOTICE FOR PATIENTS

Patient Privacy Notice

We are an independent dental practice providing a range of dental treatments on a private basis. Our practice team consists of employed and self-employed individuals. We work together to ensure our patient’s privacy is respected and their data is protected.

This privacy notice outlines how we handle patient information according to the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA18).

Collecting Your Personal Data

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly, such as when you contact the practice, engage with our website or during your appointment.

Occasionally, however, we may receive patient information from other sources such as:

• • Another dental professional that has treated you
  • GP or hospital
  • Carer, family member or partner
  • Insurance or dental plan provider
  • The NHS, a regulator or other authority, such as the Police.
  • Your solicitor

We may receive data from third parties, including analytics providers such as Google located outside the UK, and advertising networks such as Facebook located outside the UK providers of technical, payment and delivery services.

The Types of Personal Information We Collect and Process

The document below sets out the main types of patient information we process, the reasons why and the lawful basis for doing so.

Download here

Providing you with private dental treatment means the practice and your treating clinician must collect and process your data. Refusal to provide personal data connected to these lawful bases may directly impact our ability to treat you, and we may be unable to continue your treatment at the practice.

Withdrawing Consent

The above table shows where we rely on your consent to process your data. You can request to withdraw your consent for these purposes by contacting the practice using the contact details found at the top of this notice.

How We Store Your Data
Your information is securely stored in paper and digital formats. We use online and cloud-based digital storage. Where data is stored outside of the UK, we ensure the correct legal protections are in place to ensure compliance with international data transfer rules.

How long do we keep your Personal Data
We will only retain your data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including to satisfy any medical, legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
When deciding the correct time to keep the data, we look at the amount, nature and sensitivity, potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, and necessary ongoing purposes of the processing.

Sharing Your Personal Data

Your information is typically used internally by staff employed by the practice and self-employed dentists working at the practice and responsible for your treatment.

There may be instances where we need to share it – for example:

• Your GP
• The hospital or community dental services or other health professionals caring for you
• Private dental plans (if applicable) of which you are a member.
• Dental labs
• Finance companies concerning your payment plan
• The General Dental Council and other healthcare regulators
• Any professionals advising us or you, such as any lawyers and insurance companies
• Our IT system providers
• Your next of kin, such as in an emergency
• Pharmacists
• Social services
• Translators or interpreters, such as if you need help using our products and services
• Debt recovery services providers, such as when we seek to recover any debts from you
• Any third party who buys us

We will only disclose your information on a need-to-know basis and limit any information we share to what is necessary for the given purpose.
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.

International Transfer of Personal Data

Where we transfer your data to third parties outside of the UK, we will ensure that certain safeguards are in place to provide a similar degree of security for your data. As such:

• We may transfer your data to countries that the UK has approved as providing an adequate level of protection for personal data; or
• If we use US-based providers that are part of a UK-approved legal privacy framework, we may transfer data to them, as they have appropriate safeguards in place; or
• Where we use certain service providers who are established outside of the UK, we may use specific contractual clauses approved by the European Commission, giving personal data the same protection it has in Europe.

If none of the above safeguards is available, we may request your explicit consent to the specific transfer. You will have the right to withdraw this consent at any time.

Knowing Your Information Rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including

Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

Depending on the nature of the request, we may need to ask you to provide further information to verify your identity and/or better understand your request.

Knowing Your Information Rights

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this notice.
If you are dissatisfied with our response or prefer to lodge your complaint with them directly, you can do using the details below.

The ICO’s address: