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?

Bea Masters is the data controller (Bea Masters Acupuncture, 21 Victoria Street, St Albans, AL1 3JJ). 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; referring medical practitioners

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. Contact details for appointment arrangements (items 1-5 below) are stored electronically on my secure PC, password protected phone, the Cliniko booking system and on clinic paper diaries.

Patient records (items 6-15 below) are stored in paper files securely at my home. Sections 1 – 15 apply to our patients, prospective patients and former patients

1. We use your name, address, telephone number and email address to make and rearrange appointments (both electronically on my secured PC, Cliniko system and on paper, stored securely at my home). 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. Some patients and prospective patients return pre- 1st appointment questionnaires or tell us about their medical conditions and medication by email. 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.

4. We keep a permanent attendance register (on a password protected spreadsheet) 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. We use any relevant medical and family history you have told us for making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

8. 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.

9. We use our clinical findings about your health and wellbeing for making a full traditional diagnosis, and formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. In the event of an adverse incident occurring to any of our patients we report the matter to the British Acupuncture Council and the 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.

15. 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.

Sections 16 – 17 apply to our website users

16. 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.

17. We use a third party service, (123-reg.com), to host our website. This site is hosted at (name of website host), which is run by (123-reg). We use a standard 123-reg service to collect anonymous information about users' activity on the site, for example the number of users viewing pages on the site, to monitor and report on the effectiveness of the site and help us improve it. For more information about how 123-reg processes data, please see: https://www.123-reg.co.uk/terms/privacy.shtml?utm_source=Sign-Up.to&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=40641-261774-FINAL+-+GDPR+update.

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 keep a spreadsheet attendance register for 15 years in case of any legal claims/complaints. Electronic data is deleted at this point and paper records shredded. If I am ill or die, I have entrusted my clinical records to be transferred to another local acupuncturist. 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.

However, the government guidance may also cover information that I would usually collect and hold onto as part of ordinary dealings with you (for example, your name, date of birth and phone number). Where this is the case, this information only will continue to be held after 21 days and I will use it as I usually would, unless and until you tell me not to. Your information will always be stored and used in compliance with the relevant data protection legislation. The use of your information is covered by the General Data Protection Regulations Article 6 (1) (c) - a legal obligation which this clinic is subject to. The legal obligation to which I am subject, means that I am mandated by law, by a set of new regulations from the government, to co-operate with the NHS Test and Trace service, in order to help maintain a safe operating environment and to help fight any local outbreak of coronavirus.

By law, you have a number of rights as a data subject, such as the right to be informed, the right to access information held about you and the right to rectification of any inaccurate data that I hold about you. You have the right to request that I erase personal data about you that I hold (although this is not an absolute right). You have the right to request that I restrict processing of personal data about you that I hold in certain circumstances. You have the right to object to processing of personal data about you on grounds relating to your particular situation (also again this right is not absolute).

Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance contact us at Bea Masters Acupuncture, 21 Victoria Street, AL1 3JJ, bea@beamasters.co.uk, 01727 751587. 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.