This notice is to explain why I collect your personal data, and what I do with it, and to ensure I am working in accordance with the newly revised General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Terms from the act are indicated in bold below.
When you supply your personal details to me, when we communicate by email, and when I take notes in the clinic, this information is stored and processed for 3 reasons in line with GDPR:
1. I need to collect personal information about your health in order to provide you with the best possible treatment. Your requesting treatment and our agreement to provide that care constitutes in law an (unwritten) contract.
2. I have a legitimate interest in collecting that information, because without it I couldn’t practice acupuncture effectively and safely.
3. I keep records of your contact information because I think that it is important that I can contact you in order to confirm your appointments with me or to update you on matters related to your medical care. This again constitutes a legitimate interest, but this time it is your legitimate interest.
I have a professional obligation to retain your records for 7 years after your most recent appointment (or 7 years after you have reached age 25, if this is longer), but after this period you can ask me to delete your records if you wish, but in most cases I will delete records before ten years has elapsed.
Your clinical records are stored only on paper, in individual paper files, and in a secure cabinet. Your emails are stored in an online file within my email program which is password protected. I also keep a file on my password protected computer at home which stores receipts which I provide for people who request them. These receipts record dates of acupuncture appointments and names and addresses of clients. I am the only person who has access to your records, invoice files and emails. I will never share your information with anyone who does not have a legal right of access without your written consent.
You have the right to see what personal data of yours I hold, and you can also ask me to correct any factual errors. I am legally required to respond to any request from a client to see their personal data within a timescale of 30 days. However, I would ensure that I responded as soon as I possibly could to any reasonable request for access to personal records.
In the event that anything should happen to me which would render me unable to oversee your data, then, and only in this event, I have entrusted the handling of your data to my partner Clare Stephenson, who is also an acupuncturist.
I want you to be absolutely confident that I am treating your personal data responsibly, and that I will do everything I can to make sure that the only people who can access that data have a genuine need to do so. In the case of my practice this would most likely apply in the situation of me needing to make a referral to another health professional.
Of course, if you feel that I am mishandling your personal data in some way, you have the right to complain. Please first raise your concern with me, as I hope very much I will be able deal with any concerns you might have. However, you can also raise a concern directly with the Information Commissioner’s Office onhttps://ico.org.uk/concerns/
John Wheeler FBAcC Traditional Acupuncture