Privacy Notice - Enerqi 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 we have to give you
even more information than we do now about the way in which we use, share and
store your personal information.
This means that we 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 we hold on you and the legal basis on which we
are using it.
This new privacy notice comes into effect and will be published on our website
on 25 May 2018.
Who are we?
Lyndsey Isaacs is the data controller for Enerqi Acupuncture Clinic, The
Green, Croxley Green, Herts WD3. This means we 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 we collect from:
· Patients
· prospective patients;
· former patients;
· visitors to our 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 we 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 we may hold about you include your patient notes.
How do we process your personal data?
We 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. We use your personal data for
the purposes set out below.
Sections 1 – 15 apply to our patients, prospective patients, former patients
and visitors to our clinic.
1. We use your name, address, telephone number and email address to make
and rearrange appointments. We are unable to send or receive encrypted emails
so you should be aware that any emails we send or receive may not be protected
in transit. We will also monitor any emails sent to us, including file
attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have
a responsibility to ensure that any email you send us is within the bounds of
the law.
2. We use your name, address, telephone number and email address, only
if we have your explicit consent, to send you marketing materials. We are
unable to send or receive encrypted emails so you should be aware that any
emails we send or receive may not be protected in transit. We will also
monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or
malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure
that any email you send us is within the bounds of the law.
3. We keep a permanent attendance register which records all
appointments for patients attending our 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.
4. We 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.
5. We use your presenting complaint and symptoms reported by you for the
purposes of making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment
strategy and treatment planning.
6. We use any relevant medical and family history you have told us for
making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and
treatment planning.
7. We use your GP’s name and address in the event that we need to
contact your GP including in an emergency and because it is a mandatory
requirement in the British Acupuncture Code of Professional Conduct.
8. We use our clinical findings about your health and wellbeing for
making a full traditional diagnosis, and formulating treatment strategy and
treatment planning.
9. We 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 us 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.
10. We record and use any information and advice that we 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.
11. We 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.
12. We keep accident records for any patients, visitors or staff who are
involved in accidents at our 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.
13. In the event of an adverse incident occurring to any of our patients we
report the matter to the British Acupuncture Council and our 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.
14. Where relevant we 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 to secure evidence in the event of a civil claim,
criminal prosecution, insurance claim or complaint
15. We store and transport your records by paper.
Section 16 applies to those who complain about our services.
16. When we receive a complaint from a person we 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.
We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint
and to check on the level of service we provide. We 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, we will try
to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an
anonymous basis. We may need to provide personal information collected and
processed in relation to complaints to the British Acupuncture Council or our
insurance company.
We will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with
our 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 us we will only use the
information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues
and to check on the level of service we provide.
We store and transport your records on paper.
Sections 17– 20 apply to our website users
17. When someone visits our website we use a third party service, Google
Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor
behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of
visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed
in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow
Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our
website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through
our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we
collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.
18. We use website cookies to improve user experience of our website by
enabling our website to 'remember' users, either for the duration of their
visit - using a 'session cookie' - or for repeat visits - using a 'persistent
cookie'.
19. Our website search is powered by Web Healer queries and results
are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search
functionality. No user-specific data is collected by us or any third party.
20. We store and transport your records on paper.
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 we are 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 a
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/
How long do we keep your personal data?
We keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary.
We 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
We will store your paper records, diary and address book in a locked,
fireproof filing cabinet.
We will destroy your paper records by either burning, finely shredding or
disposed of by using a reputable and GDPR compliant confidential waste
disposal company.
When a tablet or mobile telephone is scrapped all data records will be wiped.
If I should fall ill or die all your data records will kept secure or disposed
of by my colleague Debra Katz Wagemaker, debra@house-of-health.co.uk
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 we hold about
you.
· The right to request that we 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 us to retain such data.
· The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time. This
right does not apply where we are processing information using a lawful
purpose other than consent.
· The right to request that we 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 the 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/
Further processing
If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this
Privacy Notice, then we 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, we 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 us at Lyndsey Isaacs, Enerqi Acupuncture Clinic, The Green,
Croxley Green, WD3 3HX. lyndseyisaacs@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.
