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Privacy notice

Peter Warwick Acupuncture Clinic

 

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 organisations have to give you even more information than they do now about the way in which they 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?

 

Peter Warwick Acupuncture clinic is the data controller.
59 Wallace Crescent
Carshalton
SM5 3SU
Tel: 020 8647 4135
Mobile: 0780 6469 272

 

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

 

What is personal data?

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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 natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural 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?

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I comply with my 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.

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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 me is within the bounds of the law.

 

2.    I keep a permanent attendance register which records all appointments for patients attending my clinic for tax purposes.

 

3.    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.

 

4.    I use your presenting complaint and symptoms reported by you for the purposes of making a full Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

 

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

 

6.    I use your GP’s name and address in case 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.

 

7.    I use my clinical findings about your health and wellbeing for making a full TCM diagnosis, and formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

 

8.    I keep a record of and refer to that record of any treatment given and details of progress of your case to enable me to review the full TCM diagnosis and treatment strategy.

 

9.    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.

 

10.    I record any decisions made in conjunction with you to help you to receive the most appropriate treatment.

 

11.    I keep accident records for any patients or visitors 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.

 

12.    In the event of an adverse incident occurring to any of my patients, I report the matter to the British Acupuncture Council and 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.

 

13.    Where relevant, I maintain records of the patient’s consent to treatment, or the consent of their 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

 

14.    I keep patient notes to secure evidence in the event of a civil claim, criminal prosecution, insurance claim or complaint.

 

15.    If I were to receive a complaint from a person, I would create a file containing the details of the complaint. This would contain the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in that complaint.

I would only use the personal information collected to process the complaint and to check on the level of service I provide. I would have to disclose the complainant’s identity. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, I would 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 would keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with my retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint would be retained for two years from closure. It would be retained in a secure environment and access to it would be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

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

 

Sharing your personal data

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Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential, and will only 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 may be 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.

 

How long is your personal data kept?

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

I keep patient records for a 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

After a 7-year period has elapsed since the last visit of a patient, notes will be destroyed. Should I be unable to carry out this procedure for reasons of poor health or death, the patient in question will be contacted for permission to either destroy their records, or return them to the patient for their safe disposal.

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)

  • 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 be informed if your data is lost. I 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/

 

Contact Details

 

To exercise all relevant rights and queries, please, in the first instance, contact me at:

 

59 Wallace Crescent
Carshalton
SM5 3SU
Tel: 020 8647 4135
Mobile: 0780 6469 272
Email: pwacue@gmail.com

 

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.

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