Privacy policy.

PRIVACY NOTICE 

(Why we collect your personal data and what we do with it) 

When you supply your personal details to this clinic they are stored and processed for 4 reasons (some of the the relevant terms used in the General Data Protection Regulation – ie the law are used here): 

1. We need to collect personal information about your health in order to provide you with the best possible treatment. Your requesting treatment and our agreement to provide that care constitutes a contract. You can, of course, refuse to provide the information, but if you were to do that we would not be able to provide treatment. 

2. We have a “Legitimate Interest” in collecting that information, because without it we couldn’t do our job effectively, legally and safely. 

3. We also think that it is important that we can contact you in order to confirm your appointments with us or to update you on matters related to your medical care. This again constitutes “Legitimate Interest”, but this time it is your legitimate interest. 

4. We may occasionally send you general health information in the form of articles, advice or newsletters, and to do this we may use a third party application, like MailChimp to process your name and email address. You may withdraw your consent to receive this at any time – just let us know by any convenient method. 

We have a legal obligation to retain your records for a minimum of 7 years after your most recent appointment (or age 25, if this is longer), but after this period you can ask us to delete your records if you wish. Otherwise, we will retain your records for up to 8 years (or age 26, if this is longer) in order that we can provide you with the best possible care should you need to see us at some future date. 

Your records are stored: 

  • on paper, in locked filing cabinets and locked archives. Only authorised persons who have signed a non-disclosure agreement have access to the keys.

  • electronically (“in the cloud”), using a specialist appointment booking service, Acuity, iCloud storage, Yahoo mail and a cloud based accountancy software, Quickbooks . These providers have given us their assurances that they are fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations. Access to this data is password protected, and the passwords are changed regularly. Only authorised persons who have signed a non-disclosure agreement have access to the passwords.

  • on our office computers. These are password-protected and backed up regularly. Only authorised persons who have signed a non-disclosure agreement have access to the passwords.

We will never share your data with anyone who does not need access without your written consent. Only the following people/ agencies will have routine access to your data: 

  • Your practitioner(s) in order that they can provide you with treatment

  • Support staff, because they may organise diaries, notes and coordinate appointments and reminders, process payments and deal with telephone enquiries. All support staff will have signed a non-disclosure agreement

  • Other administrative staff, such as our Accountants, who will not have access to your medical notes, just your essential contact details and information used for billing and financial record keeping

From time to time, we may have to employ consultants to perform tasks which might give them access to your personal data (but not your medical notes). We will ensure that they are fully aware that they must treat that information as confidential, and we will ensure that they sign a non-disclosure agreement. 

You have the right to see what personal data of yours we hold, and you can also ask us to correct any factual errors. Provided the legal minimum period has elapsed, you can also ask us to erase your records. 

We want you to be absolutely confident that we are treating your personal data responsibly, and that we are doing everything we can to make sure that the only people who can access that data have a genuine need to do so. 

Of course, if you feel that we are mishandling your personal data in some way, you have the right to complain. Complaints need to be sent to what is referred to in the jargon as the “Data Controller”. Here are the details you need for that: 

Sarah Byfield

sarah@healingpartners.co.uk

07971870978

Midsummer House, Top House Court, Kirk Smeaton, Pontefract, WF8 3LA 

If you are not satisfied with our response, then you have the right to raise the matter with the Information Commissioner’s Office.