We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and other organisations in the event you have a complaint. Please see the section on ‘Your rights’ for more information.

Introduction:

In order that we can provide care services to the people we support we collect and use certain personal information about you. Personal information means any information about you from which you can be identified, but it does not include information where your identity has been removed (anonymous data).

As the ‘controller’ of personal information, we are responsible for how that data is managed. The UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”), which applies in the United Kingdom, sets out our obligations to you and your rights in respect of how we manage your personal information.

As the ‘controller’ of your personal information, we will ensure that the personal information we hold about you is:

1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
2. Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
4. Accurate and kept up to date.
5. Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
6. Kept securely.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or would like further explanation as to how your personal information is managed, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Please note when we refer to:

• A “public body” we mean any organisation in the United Kingdom which delivers, commissions or reviews a public service and includes (but is not limited to) the Ombudsman, local authorities, councils, unitary authorities, clinical commissioning groups, health and social care trusts, the National Health Service as well as their arm’s length bodies and regulators.
• A “social or health care professional” we mean any person who provides direct services, acts as consultant or is involved in the commission of your healthcare or social care services, including (but not limited to) your General Practitioner (GP), dental staff, pharmacists, nurses and health visitors, clinical psychologists, dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, hospital staff, social workers and other care and support related professionals.

Information we collect:

When you enquire about our services and while providing care and support services to you, we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

• Your name, home address, date of birth and contact details together with emergency contact details (i.e., name, relationship and home and mobile numbers)
• Your allergies and any medical, physical, or mental conditions and in particular your care needs.
• Your likes, dislikes, and lifestyle preferences to provide you with suitable care.
• Credit or direct debit details (if you pay for any of our services using one of these methods).

Information collected from other sources:

We also obtain personal information from other sources such as:

• Your allergies and any medical, physical, or mental conditions and in particular your care and support needs, from any appropriate external social or health care professionals (including your GP)
• Your name, home address, date of birth, contact details, needs assessments and financial assessments from any appropriate external social or health care professionals (including any relevant public body regardless of whether you are publicly funded)
• Your likes, dislikes, and lifestyle preferences to provide you with suitable care, from your family, friends, and any other person you have nominated as your representative.
• Your Attorney or Deputy (if applicable)

How we use your personal information:

• We use your personal information to:
  prepare, review, and update a suitable care plan, describing the nature and level of care and support services which you have requested we supply to you.
• To communicate with you, your representatives and any appropriate external social or health care professionals about your individual needs and personalise the service delivered 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
• Conduct quality assurance procedures, review our service and improve our customer experience. Feedback can, of course, be provided anonymously.

Who we share your personal information with:

• We regularly share your medical information with appropriate external social or health care professionals (including your GP and pharmacist) and any individuals you have nominated as your representative. This data sharing enables us to establish the type of care and support you need. It also allows us to design the right care package to suit your individual circumstances, including if (in future) you decide to receive care from an alternative provider.
• We will 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 social or health care professionals, including public bodies and local safeguarding groups (in some circumstances) to ensure your safety.
• We will not share, sell, or trade your personal information with any other third party.

Information that must be provided by you and why:

• The provision of your medical, physical, or mental condition is necessary to enable us to create a care plan and to provide you with suitable care and support services. Without this information, we will not be able to assess your care needs or provide any care services to you.
• The provision of your name and home address is required so that we can arrange a care worker to attend your home to deliver the services and so that we can invoice you for the fees. We will inform you if you are not required to provide this information to us.

How long your personal information will be kept:

• We will hold the personal information kept within your client file for eight years after your service ceases. At this point, it will be reviewed, and a decision made to retain or destroy. A record of the decision will be kept and if it is to be destroyed, it will be treated as confidential waste and shredded.
• We will hold the personal information kept within our feedback procedure for three years so that we can identify trends and patterns in our service.

The personal information we hold:

We rely on the following grounds to collect and use your personal information within the UK GDPR:

1. Article 6(1)(b) – Processing is necessary for the performance of our contracts to provide individuals with care and support services.
2. Article 6(1)(c) – Processing is necessary for us to demonstrate compliance with our regulatory framework and the law.
3. Article 9(2)(h) – Processing is necessary for the provision of social care or the management of social care systems and services as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data and special category data (such as your health).
4. We also rely on Article 6(1)(f) of UK GDPR to process your personal information in pursuit of our legitimate interest, which include corporate due diligence, service development and innovation. This will ensure that the service you receive remains appropriate and takes into consideration any advances in the care and support we provide.

Your rights:

Under UK GDPR you have several important rights. In summary, these rights include:

1. Fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information.
2. Access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address.
3. Require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold.
4. Require the erasure (i.e., deletion) of personal information concerning you, in certain situations. Please note that if you ask us to delete any of your personal information which we believe is necessary for us to comply with our contractual or legal obligations, we may no longer be able to provide care and support services to you.
5. Receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations.
6. Object at any time to processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing.
7. Object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you.
8. Object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information.
9. Otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
10. Claim compensation for damages caused by our breach of any data protection laws.

For further information on each of these rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

How to contact us:

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please:

Email, call or write to us with:

• Enough information to identify you (e.g., your name and address)
• Proof of identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill)
• The information to which your request relates, including any account or reference numbers, if you have them.

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 business 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. If you want detailed information on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit https://www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

National data opt-out:

At this time, we do not share any data for planning or research purposes for which the national data opt-out would apply. We review all confidential patient information we process on an annual basis to see if this is used for research and planning purposes. If it is, then individuals can decide to stop their information being shared for this purpose. You can find out more information at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/.

How to complain:

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. The UK GDPR also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In the UK, the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy notice:

This privacy notice was published on 25th May 2018 and last updated on 29th October 2024. We may change this privacy notice from time to time, when we do, we will inform you by letter.

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us.