Cherry Dental complies with the 2018 Data Protection Act. Our procedures for ensuring that our patients’ personal information is stored and processed lawfully and fairly are described in this policy.
To ensure that we provide the highest standard of care and patient service, we need to hold some personal information about you. This personal data comprises:
•Your past and present medical and dental condition;
•Personal details such as your date of birth, your physical and e-mail address, your telephone number and your NHS number;
•Radiographs, clinical photographs and study models;
•Detailed information about the dental treatment we have provided or have proposed to provide, and its cost;
•Notes of conversations between yourself and any member of our staff;
•Records of consent to treatment;
•Any correspondence relating to you with other healthcare professionals, i.e. hospital or community services.
Comprehensive and accurate information is one of the tools we use to provide you with the highest quality of dental care and to ensure that our communication runs smoothly and all proposed treatments are appropriate and safe to use in any individual case.
We will process your personal data in the following ways:
1.Retaining information
We will retain your personal information whilst you are a practice patient and for at least 11 years after you cease to be our patient, or, for children, until the age of 25 – whichever is the longer.
2. Security of information
Any personal information that we hold for our patient is safely stored on the practice computer system and/or in our manual filing system. The information is not accessible to the public and only authorised members of staff have access to it. Our computer system is password protected, has secure audit trails and we do back-ups regularly. Our processes are audited regularly to ensure compliance with this policy.
3. Disclosure of information
In order to provide proper and safe dental care, we may need to disclose some of your personal information to the following:
•Your general medical practitioner
•The hospital or community services
•Other health professionals caring for you
•Inland Revenue
•Private dental schemes of which you are a member.
Disclosure will take place on a ‘need to know’ basis so that only those individuals/organisations who need to obtain information from us in order to provide care to you and for the proper administration of Government will be given the information. The only information that will be disclosed is the information requested by the individual/organisation. In very limited circumstances, or when required by law or a court order, personal data may have to be disclosed to a third party that is not a healthcare provider. In all other occasions, your personal information could be disclosed only when you have provided us with a specific consent.
4. Access to information
You have the right of access to the data we hold about you and to receive a copy. We need you to provide us with a written request in order to be granted access. Access to computer records and manual records (including radiographs) may incur a charge of £50.00. We may ask you for proof of identity before we comply with your request. We will provide you with a copy of the record and, if so required, with an explanation of the record, within 40 days of the request and payment of the applicable fee.
If you do not wish to have your personal information disclosed or used in any way described in this policy, please discuss this with the Practice manager or Miss Maria C. You have the right to object to the disclosure of information but this may affect our ability to provide the highest quality of dental care.
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The information that the ‘cookies’ remember for you is never personal and cannot damage your device. They only store your preferences and help you navigate between pages and improving your experience.
Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting (‘first party cookies’) or they may be set by other websites who run content on the page you are viewing (‘third party cookies’).
By accepting cookies or using any part of the site beyond the home page, you consent to the use of cookies. We will use a cookie to remember your preference. Please be aware that disabling cookies may prevent you from using all the features in our websites – such as booking appointment online.
The communication with our patients is of paramount importance to us. Protecting and safeguarding it enables us to effectively use all information gathered from you and apply it in order to carry out the best treatment for you.
All our employees have a contractual obligation not to disclose any sensitive information about the practise or its patients, details of which can be found in our Data Protection Policy.
Additionally, all communication with our patients via e-mail is strictly protected. All completed queries are safely stored in the patient’s file, which is password protected and are subsequently deleted from our e-mail inbox folder.
Pending queries are forwarded to a Patients’ queries folder, which is again password protected to ensure their safety. Once completed, they are deleted from our e-mail inbox folder.
The communication with our patients is of paramount importance to us. Protecting and safeguarding it enables us to effectively use all information gathered from you and apply it in order to carry out the best treatment for you.
All our employees have a contractual obligation not to disclose any sensitive information about the practise or its patients, details of which can be found in our Data Protection Policy.
Additionally, all communication with our patients via e-mail is strictly protected. All completed queries are safely stored in the patient’s file, which is password protected and are subsequently deleted from our e-mail inbox folder.
Pending queries are forwarded to a Patients’ queries folder, which is again password protected to ensure their safety. Once completed, they are deleted from our e-mail inbox folder.
Thank you for taking the time to read through our policies. We look forward to building a positive, honest, caring relationship with you and will always aim to act in your best interests in providing an excellent service.
