For Patients
Introduction
OneWelbeck Group (OWG) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. You will have been informed on patient registration, which of our group companies is your specific data controller (your Specified Data Controller). A data controller is responsible for deciding how the personal information about you is held and used. You may have more than one of our group companies as Your Specified Data Controller. You can see a list of all companies in the OWG that process personal data by clicking here. This Privacy Notice governs all use of data by all companies in the OWG.
Unless otherwise stated, where this document refers to we/us, this means the OWG.
This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you before, during and after we have provided you with our services, in accordance with all existing UK data protection laws. It applies to all Patients. If you wish to contact us about anything contained in this notice, please email us at DPO@OneWelbeck.com.
We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice. It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information. We may update this notice at any time.
Data protection principles
We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:
- Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
- Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
- Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
- Accurate and kept up to date.
- Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
- Kept securely.
If you have questions
If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please email DPO@OneWelbeck.com.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority, if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Changes to this privacy notice
We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information. Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
What kind of information will we hold about you?
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
We will collect, store, and use the following categories of general personal information about you, as you would expect:
- Basic details (full name, dob, next of kin, address, etc…)
- Contact details (phone number, mobile phone number, email address etc…)
- Patient Payment details (Debit card, credit card, billing address etc…)
- Full Name, Address and Payment details of third party that is going to pay if not patient
- Patient GP
- Patient feedback
- CCTV footage and other information obtained through electronic means
There are also “special categories” of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection – for example, information about your health is classed as sensitive personal data. We may collect, store and use the following sensitive personal information about your health:
- Personal health and medical information (reports, notes, results, vitals etc…), family history, previous and current prescriptions and disability information
- Historical medical images and reports (x-ray, US, MR, CT etc…) and other diagnostic information (eeg, ecg, pathology etc…)
- Historic appointment & activity records (outpatient and day case)
How is your personal information collected?
We collect personal information about you through the registration process and throughout your treatment with us directly from you and from other healthcare providers involved in your care (such as your consultant, GP and facilities where you have previously been treated). We may also collect certain information from companies such as insurance companies or credit reference agencies.
We may also use technologies, such as tracking pixels to collect information from emails we send you. This helps us to focus our marketing to your requirements and provide more relevant emails to you. It also helps us to identify if you are not engaged with our marketing emails.
If you choose to download and use our app from the App Store or Google Play Store, any information you choose to submit through the will also be linked directly to your patient profile.
How do we keep your information safe?
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. We aim to comply with the Information Security Standards ISO/IEC 27001: 2015 and ISO/IEC 27002: 2015 and the standards set out in the NHS Information Governance Toolkit.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and the Information Commissioner’s Office of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.
How long do we keep your information?
We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. We have in place a Records Management and Retention Policy. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. Generally, for health data, we are required to keep this for at least 8 years but if you would like specific information about this, please contact us.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.
Why do we use personal information about you?
We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to provide healthcare services to you.
- Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:
- Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests).
- Where it is needed in the public interest.
How will we use your personal information?
We need all the categories of information in the list above (see The kind of information we hold about you) primarily to allow us to provide you with our services and to enable us to comply with legal obligations. In some cases we may use your personal information to pursue legitimate interests of our own or those of third parties, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. The situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below.
- To enable us to provide healthcare services
- To enable us to collect payment
- To fulfil our obligations as a healthcare provider
- To provide safe services
- To maintain complete medical records
- To bill for services
- To meet our regulatory obligations
- To conduct audits
- To improve our systems and services
- To support marketing activities
- To enable building security
- To enable us to comply with our legal obligations (for example, fraud prevention)
Where we use your more sensitive personal data (such as health data), we are required to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. Generally, we will be processing your health data because the law allows us to provide healthcare services and treatment.
Less commonly, we may process your sensitive personal data where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.
How will we use automated decision making?
Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention. We do not currently conduct automated decision making. If this position changes, we will notify you and inform you of your specific rights in connection with it.
Do we need your consent?
We do not need your specific consent where we use your personal information as justified above. In limited circumstances, we may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain data for a specific purpose (for example, we may ask if you are willing to accept email marketing from us). If we seek your consent, we will provide you with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent. You should be aware that it is not a condition of your contract with us that you agree to any request for consent from us. Your consent or decision to opt in is entirely voluntary. Should you decide not to consent or opt in or should you change your mind at any time, you do not need to give a reason and your medical care and legal rights will not be affected. If you consent to receive marketing emails from us and later change your mind, you can click on the “unsubscribe” link in any marketing email.
What if you choose not to provide personal information?
If you choose not to provide certain information when requested, or if you object to a particular type of processing that we carry out, we may not be able to provide services to you, or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (such as to ensure your safety).
3rd party data processors and data controllers
We may have to share your data with third parties where we have a lawful justification for doing so. Such a lawful justification may include: that the sharing is necessary for the provision of healthcare services, that we have your consent to do so or that we have a legal or regulatory obligation to fulfil.
Third parties with whom we may share your data include any of the following:
(i) our third-party service providers (data “processors” who support our services and only process your personal information on our instructions and subject to specific contractual obligations) – for example:
Patient administration system – to process data about your appointments
Payment processing system – to process data about your payments for the services
Our app provider – to process data on our app
Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) – to allow imaging/radiology reporting
(ii) other third party data “controllers” (who will have their own privacy notices that will apply to their use of your data), for example:
- Your consultant, GP or referrer – to provide coordinated care
- Other healthcare providers – to deliver your care
- Our private pharmacy concierge service – for delivery of
pharmaceuticals to you
- Our patient payment solutions company – for provision of finance
services (if you opt in)
- Regulatory bodies – to meet our regulatory requirements
- The payor of your care (e.g. insurance company, embassy, etc.) – Your
payor will, if they have not already done so, be able to confirm the
information they will be requesting from us to support the payment
process. In addition, please note that we may need to refer details
of any serious complaint to your insurance company as they have a
legitimate interest in receiving this information to enable them to
monitor the service we provide
- Our billing provider – to enable us to process your payments
- We may also provide your contact details to payment shortfall
collections services/external debt collections agencies in order for
them to assist us to settle any outstanding balances on your account
(iii) another entity in the OneWelbeck Group (which may act as a data processor or data controller or a joint data controller). Your personal information might be shared for our general business administration, efficiency and accuracy purposes or in order that we can provide co-ordinated healthcare services to you. You can see a list of all companies in the OWG that process personal data by clicking here. This Privacy Notice governs all use of data by other companies in the OWG.
All third parties are under an obligation to treat your information confidentially, to have in place appropriate security measures and to treat your data in accordance with the law.
Sharing with 3rd parties in the course of business
We may need to disclose your data to third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
Transfers of data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)
In the ordinary course of the provision of our services we do not expect to transfer any of your personal data outside the EEA. In the event that we need to transfer your personal information outside the EEA, we will only do so lawfully and you can expect a similar degree of protection to your personal information as you would expect in the UK. We can provide more information about this if you would like us to in the event that any transfer of data is contemplated.
3rd party data processors and data controllers
We may have to share your data with third parties where we have a lawful justification for doing so. Such a lawful justification may include: that the sharing is necessary for the provision of healthcare services, that we have your consent to do so or that we have a legal or regulatory obligation to fulfil.
Third parties with whom we may share your data include any of the following:
(i) our third-party service providers (data “processors” who support our services and only process your personal information on our instructions and subject to specific contractual obligations) – for example:
Patient administration system – to process data about your appointments
Payment processing system – to process data about your payments for the services
Our app provider – to process data on our app
Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) – to allow imaging/radiology reporting
(ii) other third party data “controllers” (who will have their own privacy notices that will apply to their use of your data), for example:
- Your consultant, GP or referrer – to provide coordinated care
- Other healthcare providers – to deliver your care
- Our private pharmacy concierge service – for delivery of pharmaceuticals to you
- Our patient payment solutions company – for provision of finance services (if you opt in)
- Regulatory bodies – to meet our regulatory requirements
- The payor of your care (e.g. insurance company, embassy, etc.) – Your payor will, if they have not already done so, be able to confirm the information they will be requesting from us to support the payment process. In addition, please note that we may need to refer details of any serious complaint to your insurance company as they have a legitimate interest in receiving this information to enable them to monitor the service we provide
- Our billing provider – to enable us to process your payments
- We may also provide your contact details to payment shortfall collections services/external debt collections agencies in order for them to assist us to settle any outstanding balances on your account
(iii) another entity in the OneWelbeck Group (which may act as a data processor or data controller or a joint data controller). Your personal information might be shared for our general business administration, efficiency and accuracy purposes or in order that we can provide co-ordinated healthcare services to you. You can see a list of all companies in the OWG that process personal data by clicking here. This Privacy Notice governs all use of data by other companies in the OWG.
All third parties are under an obligation to treat your information confidentially, to have in place appropriate security measures and to treat your data in accordance with the law.
Sharing with 3rd parties in the course of business
We may need to disclose your data to third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.
Transfers of data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)
In the ordinary course of the provision of our services we do not expect to transfer any of your personal data outside the EEA. In the event that we need to transfer your personal information outside the EEA, we will only do so lawfully and you can expect a similar degree of protection to your personal information as you would expect in the UK. We can provide more information about this if you would like us to in the event that any transfer of data is contemplated.
Your rights of access, correction, erasure and restriction
Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:
- Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
- Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
- Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
- Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
- Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
- Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, request the restriction of processing or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact us at DPO@OneWelbeck.com.
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.
Right to withdraw consent
In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact us at DPO@OneWelbeck.com. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.