Privacy Statement
GDPR - Introduction
When running a business, it’s important to respect your patients’/customers’ privacy rights and follow data protection laws. The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other local data protection laws guard how this kind of personal information is collected and used,and protect the privacy rights of the public. Under these laws, patients/customers are entitled to certain information, including when, why, how, by whom, and for what purpose personal information is collected, used, and shared.
Information I Collect
To aid your treatment or as part of purchasing something from my business you will normally provide me with certain information, such as your name, email address, postal address and medical information. I will store your information appropriately.
Why I Need Your Information and How I Use It
I rely on a number of legal bases to collect, use, and share your information, including:
where it is necessary for the purposes of the provision of health care as needed to provide my services, such as when I use your information to fulfil your podiatry assessment and treatment, or to provide customer support
Information Sharing and Disclosure
Information about my patients/customers is important to my business. I share your personal information for very limited reasons and in limited circumstances, as follows:
- Medical professionals. With your consent I will share information with medical professionals such as your GP or consultant to allow continuity of care.
- Service providers. I engage certain trusted third parties to perform functions and provide services to my business, such as external reception services. I will share your personal information with these third parties, but only to the extent necessary to perform these services.
Data Retention
- I retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to provide you with my services and as described in my Privacy Policy. However, I may also be required to retain this information to comply with my legal and regulatory obligations, to resolve disputes, and to enforce my agreements. The retention of podiatry records is normally a minimum of 8 years, after the last appointment. For customers who are not patients but may have bought products from my business I will keep any data you may have provided for a minimum of 6 years in line with tax legislation.
Your Rights
You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information. While some of these rights apply generally, certain rights apply only in certain limited cases. I describe these rights below:
- Access. You have the right to access and receive a copy of the personal information I hold about you by contacting me using the contact information below.
- Change, restrict, delete. You may also have rights to change, restrict my use of, or delete your personal information. In the case of health records these are normally exempt from change and deletion requests.
- Object. You can object to (i) my processing of some of your information based on my legitimate interests and (ii) receiving marketing messages from me after providing your express consent to receive them. In such cases, I will delete your personal information unless I have compelling and legitimate grounds to continue using that information or if it is needed for legal reasons.
- Complain. If you wish to raise a concern about my use of your information (and without prejudice to any other rights you may have), you have the right to do so with the Information Commissioner www.ico.org.uk
How to Contact Me
For purposes of the GDPR, I, Susan Hutcheson, am the data controller of your personal information. If you have any questions or concerns, you may contact me.