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PRIVACY POLICY
At Eastgate Dental & Cosmetic Centre, we will keep your records secure. By registering at the practice as a private patient, you are agreeing to follow the policy below.
In providing your dental care and treatment, we will ask for information about you and your health. Occasionally, we may receive information from other providers who have been involved in providing your care. This privacy notice describes the type of personal information we hold, why we hold it, and what we do with it.
We are Eastgate Dental and Cosmetic Centre Bristol operating at Level 1, Eastgate Oriental City, Eastgate Road, Bristol, Somerset, BS5 6XX.
As practice owners, Steven Ho and Simon Ho are responsible for keeping your information secure. Those at the practice who have access to your information include dentists and other dental professionals involved with your care and treatment, and the reception staff responsible for the management and administration of the practice.
WHAT INFORMATION DO WE HOLD?
We can only keep and use your information for specific reasons set out in the law. If we want to keep and use information about your health, we can only do so in particular circumstances. Below, we describe the information we hold and why, and the lawful basis for collecting and using it.
Contact details
We hold personal information about you including your name, date of birth, national insurance number, NHS number, address, telephone number, and email address. This information allows us to fulfil our contract with you to provide appointments. We will also use the information to send you reminders and recall appointments as we have a legitimate interest to ensure your continuing care and to make you aware of our services.
Dental records
We hold information about your dental and general health, including:
- Clinical records made by dentists and other dental 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 you and other health professionals or institutions
We collect and use this information to allow us to fulfil our contract with you to discuss your treatment options and provide dental care that meets your needs. We also use this information for the legitimate interest of ensuring the quality of the treatment we provide.
Financial information
We hold information about the fees we have charged, the amounts you have paid and some payment details. This information forms part of our contractual obligation to you to provide dental care and allows us to meet legal financial requirements.
HOW DO 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 the Private Practice Plan Dental Providers in connection with your dental treatment. We will seek your preference for how we contact you about your dental care. Our usual methods are telephone, SMS, email, or letter. We may use your contact details to inform you of products and services available at our practice and for marketing purposes.
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
• Specialist dental or medical services to which we may refer you
• NHS payment authorities
• The Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies, where you are claiming exemption or remission from NHS charges
• Dental laboratories
• Debt collection agencies
• Private dental schemes of which you are a member
We will only disclose your information on a need-to-know basis and will limit any information that we share to the minimum necessary. We will let you know in advance if we send your medical information to another medical provider,and we will give you the details of that provider at that time.
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.
KEEPING YOUR INFORMATION SAFE
We store your personal information securely on our practice computer system and in a manual filing system. Your information cannot be accessed by those who do not work at the practice; only those working at the practice have access to your information. They understand their legal responsibility to maintain confidentiality and follow practice procedures to ensure this.
We take precautions to ensure the security of the practice premises, the practice filing systems, and computers. We use high-quality specialist dental software to record and use your personal information safely and effectively. Our computer system has a secure audit trail and we back-up information routinely. We use cloud computing facilities for storing some of your information. The practice has a rigorous agreement with our provider to ensure that we meet the obligations described in this policy and that we keep your information secure.
We keep your records for 15 years after the date of your last visit to the Practice or until you reach the age of 25 years, whichever is longer. At your request, we will delete non-essential information (for example some contact details) before the end of this period.
ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION & OTHER RIGHTS
You have a right to access the information that we hold about you and to receive a copy. We do not usually charge you for copies of your information; if we pass on a charge, we will explain the reasons.
You can also request us to:
• Correct any information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. If we have disclosed that information to a third party, we will let them know about the change.
• Erase some of the information we hold. For legal reasons, we may be unable to erase certain information (for example, information about your dental treatment). However, if requested, we can delete some contact details and other non-clinical information.
• Stop using your information – for example, sending you reminders for appointments or information about our service. Even if you have given us consent to send you marketing information, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
• Stop using information if you believe the information is inaccurate or if you believe we are using your information illegally.
• Supply your information electronically to another dentist.
If we are relying on your consent to use your personal information for a particular purpose, you may withdraw your consent at any time, and we will stop using your information for that purpose.
All requests should be made by email to our practice manager Simon Ho on info@eastgatedentalbristol.co.uk
If you do not wish us to use your personal information as described, you should discuss the matter with your dentist. If you object to the way that we collect and use your information, we may not be able to continue to provide your dental care. If you have any concerns about how we use your information and you do not feel able to discuss it with your dentist or the practice manager, you should contact:
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745).
Last modified: 12 September 2023
PRIVACY NOTICE FOR CHILDREN
The practice keeps records of your name, address, date of birth, details of any health problems, details of your dental treatment and details about your family. We keep this information so that we can provide you with the best dental care. Your personal information is kept confidential and securely.
We only use your personal information so we can give you the best dental care and for sending reminders to you.
We only pass your personal information to another dentist, doctor or hospital if you have a problem that requires their special skills, and you need to go and see them. We will not give your information to anyone else unless the law allows us to, or we must provide it for legal reasons.
If you leave the practice, we will stop using your information, but we will keep it confidentially and securely until you are 25 years old (or 26 years old if you were 17 when your last treatment ended), or for 11 years after the completion of treatment, whichever is longer.
We will then review if and when we can delete it. You can always ask for a copy of the information we hold for you; we can transfer it to another dentist or doctor at your request and you can ask us to stop using your personal information to send letters or contact you in other ways if you are no longer a patient at the practice.
When you reach 18 years of age the Privacy Notice about how we process your personal information will change to the adult version (information above).
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