PATIENT PRIVACY NOTICE
Executive summary
1. As your treating clinician and therefore custodian of personal information relating to your psychological treatment, I must treat that information in accordance with all applicable law and guidance. This Privacy Notice provides you with a detailed overview of how I will manage your data, from the point at which it is gathered and onwards. I will use that information for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, providing you with care and treatment, sharing it with other healthcare professionals and seeking feedback on your patient experience. This Privacy Notice will give you all the details you need on how I will use your information, and how I will comply with the law in doing so.
2. In addition, you have a number of rights as a data subject. You can, for instance, seek access to your healthcare information, object to me using your information in particular ways and request rectification of any information which is inaccurate, or deletion of information which is no longer required (subject to certain exceptions). This Privacy Notice also sets out your rights in respect of your personal information and how to exercise them.
3. For ease of reference, this Privacy Notice is broken into separate sections below with headings which will help you to navigate through the document.
Introduction
1. This Privacy Notice sets out details of the information that I, as a clinician responsible for your treatment (and including my secretary) may collect from you and how that information may be used. Please take your time to read this Privacy Notice carefully.
About me
2. In this Privacy Notice I use “I” or “mine” or “my” to refer to me as the clinician who is using your personal information.
3. In the event that you have any queries, comments or concerns in respect of the manner in which I have used, or potentially will use, your personal information I would be happy to discuss this further. You can call my secretary, Sarah Bryant, on 07756 537290 and request a call back from me.
Your personal data
4. I will provide your treatment from a Spire Healthcare Hospital or other independent provider and, in due course, it may be necessary for Spire or other independent provider to also process your personal data. I will do so in accordance with the law, the principles of this Privacy Notice and to the extent that it is necessary to do so. This could be where Spire or other independent provider needs to arrange other healthcare services as part of your treatment, or support other aspects of the treatment which I provide to you. In that case, Spire or other independent provider will become a joint Data Controller in respect of your personal information and you will be provided with a copy of their Privacy Notice which sets out how they will manage that information.
6. Your personal information will be handled in accordance with the principles set out within this Privacy Notice. This means that whenever I use your personal data, I will only do so as set out in this Privacy Notice. From time to time, I may process your personal information at a non-Spire or other independent provider site, as may my medical secretary.
What personal information do I collect and use from patients?
7. I will use “special categories of personal information” (previously known as "sensitive personal data") about you, such as information relating to your physical and mental health.
8. If you provide personal information to me about other individuals (including medical or financial information) you should inform the individual about the contents of this Privacy Notice. I will also process such information in accordance with this Privacy Notice.
9. In addition, you should note that in the event you amend data which I already hold about you then I will update our systems to reflect the amendments. Our systems will continue to store historical data.
Personal information
10. As one of my patients / clients, the personal information I hold about you may include the following:
a) Name
b) Contact details, such as postal address, email address and telephone number (including mobile number)
c) Financial information and insurance policy details
d) Occupation
e) Emergency contact details, including next of kin
f) Background referral details
Special Categories Personal Information
11. As one of my patients / clients, I will hold information relating to your psychological treatment which is known as a special category of personal data under the law, meaning that it must be handled even more sensitively.
This may include the following:
a) Details of your current or former physical or mental health, including information about any healthcare you have received from other healthcare providers such as GPs, dentists or hospitals (private and/or NHS), which may include details of clinic and hospital visits, as well as medicines administered. I will provide further details below on the manner in which I handle such information.
b) Details of services you have received from me
c) Details of your nationality, race and/or ethnicity
d) Details of your religion
e) Data concerning your sex life and/or sexual orientation
12. The confidentiality of your medical and psychological information is important to me, and I make every effort to prevent unauthorised access to and use of information relating to your current or former physical and mental health (or indeed any of your personal information more generally). In doing so, I will comply with UK data protection law, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and all applicable confidentiality guidelines issued by professional bodies.
13. From 25 May 2018, the current Data Protection Act will be replaced by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and a new Data Protection Act. All uses of your information will comply with the GDPR and the new Data Protection Act from that date onwards
How do I collect your information?
14. I may collect personal information from a number of different sources including, but not limited to:
a) GPs
b) Dentists
c) Other hospitals, both NHS and private, including Spire or other independent providers
d) Mental health providers
e) Commissioners of healthcare services
f) Other clinicians (including their medical secretaries)
Directly from you
15. Information may be collected directly from you when:
a) You enter into a contract with me, or Spire, or another independent provider for the provision of healthcare services
b) You use those services
c) You complete enquiry forms on the Spire website, the Psynergy website or the website of another independent provider
d) You submit a query to me including by email
e) You correspond with me by letter, email or telephone
From other healthcare organisations
16. My patients / clients will usually receive healthcare from other organisations, and so in order to provide you with the best treatment possible I may be in receipt of personal information about you from them. These may include:
a) Medical records letters and records from your GP
b) Medical letters and records from other clinicians (including their medical secretaries)
c) Medical letters and records from other private healthcare organisations
17. Medical records include information about your diagnosis, clinic and hospital visits and medicines administered.
From third parties
18. As detailed in the previous section, it is often necessary to seek information from other healthcare organisations. I may also collect information about you from third parties when:
a) You are referred to me for the provision of services including healthcare services
b) I liaise with your employer, learning institution, health professional or other treatment or benefit provider
c) I liaise with your family
d) I liaise with your insurance policy provider
e) I deal with experts (including medical experts) and other service providers about services you have received or are receiving from me
f) I deal with NHS health service bodies about services you have received or are receiving from us
g) I liaise with debt collection agencies
h) I liaise with HMRC
How will I communicate with you?
19. I may communicate with you in a range of ways, including by telephone, SMS, email, and/or post. If I contact you using the telephone number(s) which you have provided (landline and/or mobile), and you are not available which results in the call being directed to a voicemail and/or answering service, I may leave a voice message on your voicemail and/or answering service as appropriate, and including only sufficient basic details to enable you to identify who the call is from, very limited detail as to the reason for the call and how to call me back.
20. However:
a) to ensure that I provide you with timely updates and reminders in relation to your healthcare (including basic administration information and appointment information (including reminders)), I may communicate with you by SMS and/or unencrypted email (where you have provided me with your SMS or email address) In each case where you have expressed a preference in the patient registration form to be contacted by SMS and/or email.
b) to provide you with your clinical information and/or invoicing information, I may communicate with you by email (which will be encrypted) where you have provided me with your email address and have expressed a preference in the patient registration form to be contacted by email. The first time I send you any important encrypted email that I am not also sending by post or which requires action to be taken, I will, or my secretary will, endeavour to contact you separately to ensure that you are able to access the encrypted email you are sent.
21. Please note that although providing your mobile number and email address and stating a preference to be communicated by a particular method will be taken as an affirmative confirmation that you are happy for us to contact you in that manner, I am not relying on your consent to process your personal data in order to correspond with you about your treatment. As set out further below, processing your personal data for those purposes is justified on the basis that it is necessary to provide you with healthcare service.
What are the purposes for which your information is used?
22. I may 'process' your information for a number of different purposes, which is essentially the language used by the law to mean using your data. Each time I use your data I must have a legal justification to do so. The particular justification will depend on the purpose of the proposed use of your data. When the information that I process is classed as a “special category of personal information”, I must have a specific additional legal justification in order to use it as proposed.
23. Generally I will rely on the following legal justifications, or ‘grounds':
a) Taking steps at your request so that you can enter into a contract with me to receive psychological services from me.
b) For the purposes of providing you with healthcare pursuant to a contract between you and I. I will rely on this for activities such as supporting your psychological treatment or care and supporting other healthcare professionals involved in your care as appropriate.
c) I have an appropriate business need to process your personal information and such business need does not cause harm to you. I will rely on this for activities such as quality assurance, maintaining my business records, monitoring outcomes and responding to any complaints.
d) I have a legal or regulatory obligation to use such personal information.
e) I need to use such personal information to establish, exercise or defend my legal rights.
f) You have provided your consent to my use of your personal information.
24. Note that failure to provide your information further to a contractual requirement with me may mean that I am unable to set you up as a patient / client or facilitate the provision of your healthcare.
25. I provide further detail on these grounds in the sections below.
Appropriate business needs
26. One legal ground for processing personal data is where I do so in pursuit of legitimate interests and those interests are not overridden by your privacy rights. Where I refer to use for my appropriate business needs, I am relying on this legal ground.
The right to object to other uses of your personal data
27. You have a range of rights in respect of your personal data, as set out in detail in sections. This includes the right to object to me using your personal information in a particular way (such as sharing that information with third parties), and I must stop using it in that way unless specific exceptions apply. This includes, for example, if it is necessary to defend a legal claim brought against me, or it is otherwise necessary for the purposes of your ongoing treatment.
You will find details of my legal grounds for each of our processing purposes below. I have set out individually those purposes for which I will use your personal information, and under each one I set out the legal justifications, or grounds, which allow me to do so. You will note that I have set out a legal ground, as well as an 'additional' legal ground for special categories of personal information. This is because I have to demonstrate additional legal grounds where using information which relates to a person's healthcare, as I will be the majority of the times I use your personal information.
Purpose 1: To set you up as my patient, including regulatory checks
28. As is common with most business, I have to carry out necessary checks in order for you to become a patient. These include standard background checks, which I cannot perform without using your personal information.
29. Legal ground: Taking the necessary steps so that you can enter into a contract with me for the delivery of healthcare.
30. Additional legal ground for special categories of personal information: The use is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, and it is also in my legitimate interests to do so.
Purpose 2: To provide you with healthcare and related services
31. Clearly, the reason you come to me is to provide you with healthcare and so I have to use your personal information for that purpose.
32. Legal grounds:
a) Providing you with healthcare and related services
b) Fulfilling my contract with you for the delivery of healthcare
33. Additional legal grounds for special categories of personal information:
a) I need to use the data in order to provide healthcare services to you
b) The use is necessary to protect your vital interests where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent
Purpose 3: For account settlement purposes
34. I will use your personal information in order to ensure that your account and billing is fully accurate and up-to-date
35. Legal grounds:
a) My providing your healthcare and other related services
b) Fulfilling my contract with you for the delivery of healthcare
c) My having an appropriate business need to use your information which does not overly prejudice you
d) Your consent
Purpose 4: For clinical audit
36. I may process your personal data for the purposes of local clinical audit – i.e. an audit carried out by myself or my direct team for the purposes of assessing outcomes for patients and identifying improvements which could be made for the future. I am able to do so on the basis of my legitimate interest and the public interest in statistical and scientific research, and with appropriate safeguards in place. You are, however, entitled to object to my using your personal data for this purpose, and as a result of which I would need to stop doing so. If you would like to raise such an objection then please contact me using the details provided in paragraph 3 above.
Purpose 5: Communicating with you and resolving any queries or complaints that you might have.
37. From time to time, patients may raise queries, or even complaints, with me and Spire/other independent provider and I take those communications very seriously. It is important that I am able to resolve such matters fully and properly and so I, as well as Spire/other independent provider will need to use your personal information in order to do so.
38. Legal grounds:
a) Providing you with healthcare and other related services
b) Having an appropriate business need to use your information which does not overly prejudice you
39. Additional legal grounds for special categories of personal information:
a) The use is necessary for the provision of healthcare or treatment pursuant to a contract with a health professional
b) The use is necessary in order for me to establish, exercise or defend my legal rights
Purpose 6: Communicating with any other individual that you ask us to update about your care and updating other healthcare professionals about your care.
40. In addition, other healthcare professionals or organisations may need to know about your treatment in order for them to provide you with safe and effective care, and so I may need to share your personal information with them. Further details on the third parties who may need access to your information is set out at section [TBC] below.
41. Legal grounds:
a) Providing you with healthcare and other related services
b) I have a legitimate interest in ensuring that other healthcare professionals who are routinely involved in your care have a full picture of your treatment
42 Additional legal ground for special categories of personal information:
a) I need to use the data in order to provide healthcare services to you
b) The use is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest under UK law
c) The use is necessary in order for me to establish, exercise or defend my legal rights
Purpose 7: Complying with our legal or regulatory obligations, and defending or exercising our legal rights
43. As a provider of healthcare, I am subject to a wide range of legal and regulatory responsibilities which is not possible to list fully here. I may be required by law or by regulators to provide personal information, and in which case I will have a legal responsibility to do so. From time to time, clinicians are unfortunately also the subject of legal actions or complaints. In order to fully investigate and respond to those actions, it is necessary to access your personal information (although only to the extent that it is necessary and relevant to the subject-matter).
44. Legal grounds:
a) The use is necessary in order for us to comply with our legal obligations
45. Additional legal grounds for special categories of personal information:
a) I need to use the data in order for others to provide informed healthcare services to you
b) The use is necessary for reasons of the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems
c) The use is necessary for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
Purpose 8: Managing my business operations such as maintaining accounting records, analysis of financial results, internal audit requirements, receiving professional advice (e.g. tax or legal advice)
46 In order to do this, I will not need to use your special categories of personal information and so I have not identified the additional ground to use your i information for this purpose.
47 Legal grounds:
a) My having an appropriate business need to use your information which does not overly prejudice you
Disclosures to third parties:
a) A doctor or any other healthcare professional involved in your treatment
b) Other members of support staff involved in the delivery of your care, like receptionists and secretaries / practice managers
c) Anyone that you ask me to communicate with or provide as an emergency contact, for example your next of kin or carer
d) NHS organisations
e) Other private sector healthcare providers
f) Your GP
g) Other clinicians (including their medical secretaries)
h) Third parties who assist in the administration of your healthcare, such as insurance companies
i) Government bodies, including the Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and HMRC
j) Our regulators
k) The police and other third parties where reasonably necessary for the prevention or detection of crime
l) Our insurers
m) I may also use your personal information to provide you with information about products or services which may be of interest to you where you have provided your consent for me to do so
49 I may communicate with these third parties in a variety of ways including, but not limited to, email, post, fax and telephone.
How long do I keep your personal information for?
50 I will only keep your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the relevant purposes set out in this Privacy Notice and in order to comply with my legal and regulatory obligations
51 Psynergy Consulting will hold information about you for as long as you receive services from us and for 6 years following the date of our last contact with you.
Your rights
53 There will not usually be a charge for handling a request to exercise your rights.
54 If I cannot comply with your request to exercise your rights I will usually tell you why.
55 There are some special rules about how these rights apply to health information as set out in legislation including the Data Protection Act (current and future), the General Data Protection Regulation as well as any secondary legislation which regulates the use of personal information.
56 If you make a large number of requests, or it is clear that it is not reasonable for me to comply with a request, then we do not have to respond. Alternatively, I can charge for responding.
Your rights include:
The right to access your personal information
57 You are usually entitled to a copy of the personal information I hold about you and details about how I use it.
58 Your information will usually be provided to you in writing, unless otherwise requested. If you have made the request electronically (e.g. by email) the information will be provided to you by electronic means where possible.
59 Please note that in some cases I may not be able to fully comply with your request, for example if your request involves the personal data of another person and it would not be fair to that person to provide it to you.
60 You are entitled to the following under data protection law.
1. Under Article 15(1) of the GDPR I must usually confirm whether I have personal information about you. If I do hold personal information about you I usually need to explain to you:
i. The purposes for which I use your personal information
ii. The types of personal information I hold about you
iii. Who your personal information has been or will be shared with, including in particular organisations based outside the EEA.
iv. If your personal information leaves the EU, how I will make sure that it is protected
v. Where possible, the length of time I expect to hold your personal information. If that is not possible, the criteria I use to determine how long I hold your information for
vi. If the personal data I hold about you was not provided by you, details of the source of the information
vii. Whether I make any decisions about you solely by computer and if so details of how those decision are made and the impact they may have on you
viii. Your right to ask me to amend or delete your personal information
ix. Your right to ask me to restrict how your personal information is used or to object to my use of your personal information
x. Your right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office
2. I also need to provide you with a copy of your personal data, provided specific exceptions and exemptions do not apply.
The right to rectification
61 I take reasonable steps to ensure that the information I hold about you is accurate and complete. However, if you do not believe this is the case, you can ask me to update or amend it.
The right to erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten)
62 I may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to ensure that it remains accurate, and the most up-to-date version can always be found on the Psynergy website (www.psynergy.co.uk). In the event that there are any material changes to the manner in which your personal information is to be used then I will provide you with an updated copy of this Privacy Notice.
63 In some circumstances, you have the right to request that I delete the personal information I hold about you. However, there are exceptions to this right and in certain circumstances I can refuse to delete the information in question. In particular, for example, I do not have to comply with your request if it is necessary to keep your information in order to perform tasks which are in the public interest, including public health, or for the purposes of establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.
The right to restriction of processing
64 In some circumstances, I must "pause" our use of your personal data if you ask me to do so, although I do not have to comply with all requests to restrict my use of your personal information. In particular, for example, I do not have to comply with your request if it is necessary to keep your information in order to perform tasks which are in the public interest, including public health, or for the purposes of establishing, exercise or defending legal claims.
The right to data portability
65 In some circumstances, I must transfer personal information that you have provided to you or (if this is technically feasible) another individual or organisation of your choice. The information must be transferred in an electronic format.
The right to withdraw consent
66 In some cases I may need your consent in order for my use of your personal information to comply with data protection legislation. Where we do this, you have the right to withdraw your consent to further use of your personal information. You can do this by contacting me using the details provided at section 3 above.
The right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office
67 You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office if you are unhappy with the way that I have dealt with a request from you to exercise any of these rights, or if you think I have not complied with our legal obligations
68 More information can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website: https://ico.org.uk/
69 Making a complaint will not affect any other legal rights or remedies that you have.
Updates to this Privacy Notice
70 I may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to ensure that it remains accurate. In the event that these changes result in any material difference to the manner in which I process your personal data then I will provide you with an updated copy of the Policy.
71 This Privacy Notice was last updated on 20th May 2018
Double-click to edit text, or drag to move.