Privacy Notice for Patients

 
This privacy policy sets out how Bath Dental Clinic uses and protects any information you give us.

In providing your dental care, we will ask for information about you and your health. We may also receive information from other providers who have been involved in providing your care.

The practice only keeps relevant information about patients for the purpose of their care.

About us:

We are The Bath Dental Clinic Limited operating at Bath Dental Clinic, Catharine Cottage, 21 Catharine Place, Bath, BA1 2PS

Paul HR Wilson is responsible for the security of information about you that we store. Those at the practice who have access to your information include dentists and other dental care professionals involved with your care and treatment, and the reception staff responsible for the management and administration of the practice.

Our Data Protection Officer is Kate Kerr and she can be contacted by email at reception@bathdentalclinic.co.uk

Information we collect:

We may collect the following information about you:

  • Personal details such as your name, date of birth, National Insurance number, NHS number, address, telephone number, email address and occupation.

  • Information about your dental and general health, including clinical records made by dentists and other dental care professionals involved with your care and treatment

  • X-rays, clinical photographs, digital scans of your mouth and teeth, and study models

  • Medical and dental histories

  • Treatment plans and consent

  • Notes of conversations with you about your care

  • Dates of your appointments

  • Details of any complaints you have made and how these complaints were dealt with

  • Correspondence with other health professionals or institutions

  • Details of the fees we have charged, the amounts you have paid and some payment details

In order to provide you with the best possible care, the largest part of the information we hold about you is kept in our secure central computer system, which holds all of our patient records and business information. We hold a small amount of your information in manual records at the practice, for example study models. We are responsible for keeping the information about you in a secure way.

At the practice, dentists and other dental care professionals involved with your care and treatment, and the reception staff responsible for the management and administration of the practice, have variable access to your information according to their role. 

How we use your information:

  • To provide you with the dental care and treatment that you need, we require up-to-date and accurate information about you.

  • We will share your information with (if applicable) your private dental plan provider in connection with your dental treatment.

  • We will seek your preference for how we contact you about your dental care. Our usual methods are SMS, email or letter.

  • We may contact you to conduct patient surveys or to find out if you are happy with the treatment you received for quality control purposes.

  • If one of our dentists wishes to use your information for dental research or dental education, they will discuss this with you and seek your consent. If any information is used for dental research or dental education, we will anonymise your information.

Sharing information:

Your information is normally used only by those working at the practice but there may be instances where we need to share it – for example, with:

  • Your Doctor

  • The hospital or community dental services or other health professionals caring for you

  • Dental Laboratories

  • Private dental schemes (if applicable) of which you are a member.

 We also share your information with third parties in order to deliver the following services for you;

  • Managing your new enquires from our website

  • Sending reminders for your dental appointments

  • Providing troubleshooting and support services for our IT system

We will only disclose your information on a need-to-know basis and we will limit any information that we share to the minimum necessary.

 In certain circumstances, or if required by law, we may need to disclose your information to a third party not connected with your health care, including HMRC or other law enforcement or Government agencies.

Some of your information may be transferred out of the European Economic Area (EEA), primarily for creating medical devices such as crowns. Where information is transferred outside of the EEA, we require that appropriate safeguards are in place. We use contracts that require the recipient to protect your Personal Data to the same standards as it would be within the EEA.

How will we keep your information safe:

We store your personal information securely on our central computer system but we may occasionally hold some of your personal information in a manual filing system on the practice premises. In neither case can your information be accessed by those who do not work for Bath Dental Clinic.

In particular, only authorised team members have access to your information (on a need-to-know basis). They understand their legal responsibility to maintain confidentiality and follow practice procedures and our protocols to ensure this.

We ensure security of the practice, the practice filing systems and practice computers against unauthorised persons and they are protected against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. The ways we do this include;

  • Password protection

  • Locked cabinets/rooms

  • Practice security systems (Alarm on premises)

  • Back-up facilities

  • Secure servers

  • Virus protection

We use high-quality specialist dental software to record and use your personal information safely and effectively. This computer system has a secure audit trail and the information stored on it is backed up daily.

We keep your records for 11 years after the date of your last visit to the Practice or until you reach the age of 25 years, whichever is the longer. 

Your rights:

You have a right to access the information that we hold about you and to receive a copy. You should submit your request to the practice in writing or by email.

You have a right to correct any information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. Please speak to your dentist to request a change of information.

You have the right to request that we delete your personal information, However, for legal reasons we may not be able to delete certain information such as your dental treatment.

You have the right to request us to restrict the processing of your personal information. An example of this is sending you appointment reminders. Please speak to the receptionist to make this request.

You also have the right to data portability; this can include supplying your information to another dentist. Please speak to your dentist to make this request. 

Other websites:

Our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

If you do not agree:

If you do not wish us to use your personal information as described, you should discuss the matter with your dentist. If you would prefer to discuss your concerns with our Data Protection Officer, please contact Katie Kerr via email at reception@bathdentalclinic.co.uk

If you have any concerns about how we use your information and you do not feel able to discuss it with your dentist or anyone at the practice, you should contact The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745).

  

Date: 08/04/2023

Review Date: 08/04/2024