Privacy Policy

Please read this privacy notice carefully as it explains how we comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The notice was published on 25th May 2018 and may be revised from time to time; we will let you know when this happens.

Introduction

In order that we can provide your care and support services, we need to collect and use information about you (“personal information”). Personal information is anything about you from which you can be identified, but it doesn’t include information from which your identity has been removed (i.e. anonymous data).

As a ‘controller’ of your personal information, we are legally responsible for making sure that your personal information is:

· Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;

· Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used for any other purpose;

· Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and only used for those purposes;

· Accurate and up to date;

· Kept only as long as we need it for the purposes we have told you about;

· Kept securely.

In this notice, a “public body” is any organisation that delivers, commissions or reviews a public service, including local authorities, councils, unitary authorities, clinical commissioning groups, health and social care trusts, the Ombudsman and regulatory bodies.

In this notice, a “health or social care professional” is any person that provides direct services, acts as a consultant or is involved in the commissioning of your healthcare or social care services, including your GP, dentist, pharmacist, nurses and health visitors, clinical psychologists, dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, hospital staff and social workers.

‘Lawful basis for processing’ your information

The GDPR says that we must have a ‘lawful basis’ for collecting and using your personal information. We rely on the following grounds within the GDPR for this lawful basis:

· Article 6(1)(b) – processing is necessary for the performance of our contracts to provide individuals with care and support services;

· Article 6(1)(c) – processing is necessary for us to demonstrate compliance with our regulatory framework and the law;

· Article 9(2)(h) – processing is necessary for the provision of social care or the management of social care systems and services.

Other lawful grounds for processing your data could apply in certain situations, such as where sharing your personal information is essential in order to protect you from harm (“vital interests”).

The information we collect about you

In order to set up and provide your service, we need to collect personal information from you or from other sources, such as your family or health and social care professionals. Without this information, we may be unable to create a suitable care plan and provide safe and effective care:

· Your name, date of birth and contact details;

· Details of people we may need to contact in an emergency (including their names, relationship to you and contact details);

· Any medical or practical information that is relevant to the provision of your care (including physical or mental conditions, care needs and allergies);

· Assessments of your care needs;

· Your likes, dislikes and lifestyle preferences in so far as they are relevant to the delivery of your service. This may include information about your religion, racial or ethnic origin, health, sexual life or sexuality;

· Information about your Attorney or Deputy (if applicable);

· Financial assessments (where we need these);

· Payment card or direct debit details (if you pay us for some or all of your services using one of these methods);

· Photographs of you (if we need these to manage any risks to your safety, e.g. that you might go missing). In the course of delivering your service, we will also produce records of the care delivered to you.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

· Prepare, review and update a suitable care plan, describing the care and support you have requested we supply to you;

· Deliver your care service in a safe and effective way;

· Communicate with you, your representatives and relevant health or social care professionals about your needs and the service we provide to you;

· Make reasonable adjustments, when required, to meet your individual needs and to ensure we have suitable facilities to ensure your safety;

· Invoice you for the care and support services in accordance with our terms and conditions (if you pay for your own service);

· Carry out quality assurance procedures, review our service and improve our customer experience.

Sharing your personal information

We will not share your information with others unless we have a lawful reason for doing so.

We may share your personal information with appropriate health or social care professionals (including your GP and pharmacist) and any other individuals you nominate when we prepare your care plan. This enables us to make sure the care support we provide to you is suitable and safe.

We will also share your information with certain data processors in order to properly deliver your service. For example, our care management software is hosted by a separate company. However, by law, the data processors we use can only use your information for the purpose we have asked them to and will not share your information with anyone else or use it to do anything other than allow us to provide your service properly. They must also keep your data safe and secure.

Although we seek to avoid using agency staff to deliver our services, we may need to do so on occasion to ensure continuity of service, and this may require us to share your personal information with an agency or their staff in order that they can deliver your service safely and effectively.

We may also share information about you where not doing so could mean you come to serious harm, for example where the emergency services need information in order to save your life.

We may also share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by law. This includes information required by public bodies to evidence our compliance with the applicable regulatory framework. We are also required to share personal information with external health or social care professionals, including public bodies and local safeguarding groups (in some circumstances) to ensure your safety.

We will not share your personal information with any other third party without first asking your permission and will never sell your personal information to anyone.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How long your personal information will be kept

We will hold the personal information we hold about you for as long as we continue to provide a service to you and for three years after your service ends, at which time we will destroy your records securely.

Your rights

Under the GDPR, you have a number of important rights. In summary, those include rights to:

· Fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information;

· Access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information (which is provided in this privacy notice);

· Require us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you;

· Require the erasure (i.e. deletion) of personal information concerning you, in certain situations (although you should be aware that if you ask us to delete any of your personal information that we need in order to comply with our legal or contractual obligations, we may no longer be able to provide you with a service);

· Receive any personal information that you have provided to us in a format that would allow you to pass it on to a third party in certain situations;

· Object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing (although as we have explained, we will not use your data for that purpose);

· Object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you;

· Object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information;

· Otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;

· Claim compensation for damages caused by our breach of any data protection laws.

You will find further information on each of these rights on the Information Commissioner’s website (www.ico.org.uk).

How to contact us

If you wish to exercise any of the above rights or have any other complaints or queries about this notice and our use of your personal information, you can contact us as follows:

Email:                      Info@directcareservice.co.uk

Telephone:            01506 243222

By post:                  Direct Care Service

                                 20 Whitburn

                                 Bathgate

                                 EH48 1HH

Your right to complain

If you have a complaint about the way we process your personal information, we would ask you to contact us using the details in the above

We hope that we can resolve any concern you raise, but if you want to do so, you also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority in any European Union (or EEA) state where you work or live. In the UK, the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner, who may be contacted at www.ico.org.uk/concerns or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (e.g. audio, large print or braille), please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).