Data protection privacy notice for patients
In providing your dental care and treatment, we will ask for information about you and your health. Occasionally, we may receive information from other providers who have been involved in providing your care. This privacy notice describes the type of personal information we hold, why we hold it and what we do with it.
Information that we collect
We may collect the following information about you:
Personal details such as your name, date of birth, national insurance number, NHS number, address, telephone number and email address
Information about your dental and general health, including
Clinical records made by dentists and other dental professionals involved with your care and treatment
X-rays, clinical photographs, digital scans of your mouth and teeth, and study models
Medical and dental histories
Treatment plans and consent
Notes of conversations with you about your care
Dates of your appointments
Details of any complaints you have made and how these complaints were dealt with
Correspondence with other health professionals or institutions
Details of the fees we have charged, the amounts you have paid and some payment details
Lorinda Pietersen – practice owner is responsible for keeping secure the information about you that we hold.
Our data protection office, Wiltus Botha, ensures that the practice complies with data protection requirements to ensure that we collect, use, store and dispose of your information responsibly.
Those at the practice who have access to your information include orthodontists/dentists, therapistsand other dental professionals involved with your care and treatment, and the reception staff responsible for the management and administration of the practice.
How we use your information
To provide you with the dental care and treatment that you need, we require up-to-date and accurate information about you.
We will share your information with the NHS and/or your private dental plan provider in connection with your dental treatment.
We will seek your preference for how we contact you about your dental care. Our usual methods are telephone, letter or email. SMS text messages to remind you about your appointments only.
Patient information for research or educational purposes:
We may wish to use your information for dental research or dental education. If so, we will discuss this with you and seek written consent from you. Depending on the purpose and if possible, we will anonymise your information. If this is not possible, we will inform you and discuss your options.
Sharing information
Your information is normally used only by those working at the practice but there may be instances where we need to share it – for example, with:
Your doctor
The hospital or community dental services or other health professionals caring for you
NHS payment authorities
The Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies, where you are claiming exemption or remission from NHS charges
Private dental schemes of which you are a member.
We will only disclose your information on a need-to-know basis and will limit any information that we share to the minimum necessary.
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.
Keeping your information safe
We store your personal information securely on our practice computer system and in a manual filing 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. They 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 informationsafely and effectively. Our computer system has a secure audit trail and we back-up information routinely.
We keep your records for 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.
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.
How the NHS and care services use your information
Bishops Stortford Orthodontic Practice is one of many organisations working in the health and care system to improve care for patients and the public.
Whenever you use a health or care service, such as attending Accident & Emergency or using Community Care services, important information about you is collected in a patient record for that service. Collecting this information helps to ensure you get the best possible care and treatment.
The information collected about you when you use these services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance to help with:
improving the quality and standards of care provided
research into the development of new treatments
preventing illness and diseases
monitoring safety
planning services
This may only take place when there is a clear legal basis to use this information. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations. Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this where allowed by law.
Most of the time, anonymised data is used for research and planning so that you cannot be identified in which case your confidential patient information isn’t needed.
You have a choice about whether you want your confidential patient information to be used in this way. If you are happy with this use of information you do not need to do anything. If you do choose to opt out your confidential patient information will still be used to support your individual care.
To find out more or to register your choice to opt-out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.On this web page you will:
See what is meant by confidential patient information
Find examples of when confidential patient information is used for individual care and examples of when it is used for purposes beyond individual care
Find out more about the benefits of sharing data
Understand more about who uses the data
Find out how your data is protected
Be able to access the system to view, set or change your opt-out setting
Find the contact telephone number if you want to know any more or to set/change your opt-out by phone
See the situations where the opt-out will not apply
You can also find out more about how patient information is used at:
https://www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients/ (which covers health and care research); and
https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/what-you-need-know (which covers how and why patient information is used, the safeguards and how decisions are made)
You can change your mind about your choice at any time.
Data being used or shared for purposes beyond individual care does not include your data being shared with insurance companies or used for marketing purposes and data would only be used in this way with your specific agreement.
Health and care organisations have until 2020 to put systems and processes in place so they can be compliant with the national data opt-out and apply your choice to any confidential patient information they use or share for purposes beyond your individual care. Our organisation ‘is currently’ compliant with the national data opt-out policy.
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 orthodontist/therapist. If you object to the way that we collect and use your information, we may not be able to continue to provide your dental/orthodontic 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), text phone 01625 545860.
web: https://ico.org.uk/ email: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/
Date: 06.11.2019
Review date: November 2020