Privacy Policy

1.  Introduction

 

This is Secareserve Ltd’s Privacy Notice.

As part of the services we offer, we are required to process personal data about our staff, our service users and, in some instances, the friends or relatives of our service users and staff. “Processing” can mean collecting, recording, organising, storing, sharing or destroying data.

We are committed to being transparent about why we need your personal data and what we do with it. This information is set out in this privacy notice. It also explains your rights when it comes to your data.

If you have any concerns or questions please contact us.

2.  Service Users

What data do we have?

So that we can provide a safe and professional service, we need to keep certain records about you. We may process the following types of data:

• Your basic details and contact information e.g. your name, address, date of birth and next of kin;
• Your financial details e.g. details of how you pay us for your care or your funding arrangements.

We also record the following data which is classified as “special category”:

• Health and social care data about you, which might include both your physical and mental health data.
• We may also record data about your race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion.

Why do we have this data?

We need this data so that we can provide high-quality care and support. By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

We process your data because:

• We have a legal obligation to do so – generally under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 or Mental Capacity Act 2005.
• We have legitimate interests such as generating invoices

We process your special category data because

• It is necessary due to social security and social protection law (generally this would be in safeguarding instances);
• It is necessary for us to provide and manage social care services;
• We are required to provide data to our regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as part of our public interest obligations.

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Common law duty of confidentiality

In our use of health and care information, we satisfy the common law duty of confidentiality because:

• You have provided us with your consent (either implicitly to provide you with care, or explicitly for other uses)
• We have a legal requirement to collect, share and use the data
• The public interest to collect, share and use the data overrides the public interest served by protecting the duty of confidentiality (for example sharing information with the police to support the detection or prevention of serious crime).

Where do we process your data?

So that we can provide you with high quality care and support we need specific data. This is collected from or shared with:

1. You or your legal representative(s);
2. Third parties.

We do this face to face, via phone, via email, via our website, via post, via application forms, and via apps.

Third parties are organisations we might lawfully share your data with. These include:

• Other parts of the health and care system such as local hospitals, the GP, the pharmacy, social workers, clinical commissioning groups, and other health and care professionals;
• The Local Authority;
• Your family or friends – with your permission;
• Organisations we have a legal obligation to share information with i.e. for safeguarding, the CQC;
• The police or other law enforcement agencies if we have to by law or court order.

3.  National Data Opt-Out

We are applying the national data opt-out because we are using confidential patient information for purposes beyond individual care.

The information collected about you when you use health and care services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance to help with:

• improving the quality and standards of care provided
• research into the development of new treatments
• preventing illness and diseases
• monitoring safety
• planning services

This may only take place when there is a clear legal basis to use this information. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations. Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this when allowed by law.

Most of the time, the data used for research and planning is anonymised, so that you cannot be identified and your confidential patient information is not accessed.

You have a choice about whether you want your confidential patient information to be used in this way. If you are happy with this use of information you do not need to do anything. If you do choose to opt out your confidential patient information will still be used to support your individual care.

To find out more or to register your choice to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.

You can change your mind about your choice at any time.

4.  Staff

What data do we have?

So that we can provide a safe and professional service, we need to keep certain records about you. We may record the following types of data:

• Your basic details and contact information e.g. your name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number and next of kin;
• Your financial details e.g. details so that we can pay you, insurance, pension and tax details;
• Your training records.

We also record the following data which is classified as “special category”:

• Health and social care data about you, which might include both your physical and mental health data – we will only collect this if it is necessary for us to know as your employer, e.g. fit notes or in order for you to claim statutory maternity/paternity pay;
• We may also, with your permission, record data about your race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion.

For a detailed list / information on what employee data we can keep about you, please go here.

As part of your application you may – depending on your job role – be required to undergo a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (Criminal Record Check). We keep a copy of this data once we’ve seen it on your employee file.

Why do we have this data?

We require this data so that we can contact you, pay you and make sure you receive the training and support you need to perform your job. By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

We process your data because

• We have a legal obligation under UK employment law;
• We are required to do so in our performance of a public task;
• We are required to provide data to our regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as part of our public interest obligations.

We process your special category data because

• It is necessary for us to process requests for sick pay or maternity pay.

If we request your criminal records data it is because we have a legal obligation to do this due to the type of work you do. This is set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. We do not keep a record of your criminal records information (if any). We do record that we have checked this.

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent.

Where do we process your data?

As your employer we need specific data. This is collected from or shared with:

1. You or your legal representative(s);
2. Third parties.

We do this face to face, via phone, via email, via our website, via post, via application forms, and via apps.

Third parties are organisations we have a legal reason to share your data with. These include:

• Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC);
• Our pension scheme provided by NEST;
• Our external payroll provider;
• Organisations we have a legal obligation to share information with i.e. for safeguarding, the CQC;
• The police or other law enforcement agencies if we have to by law or court order.
• uCheck for The DBS checks.

5.  Friends/Relatives

What data do we have?

As part of our work providing high-quality care and support, it might be necessary that we hold the following information on you:

• Your basic details and contact information e.g. your name and address.

Why do we have this data?

By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

We process your data because we have a legitimate business interest in holding next of kin and lasting power of attorney information about the individuals who use our service and keeping emergency contact details for our staff.

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent.

Where do we process your data?

So that we can provide high quality care and support we need specific data. This is collected from or shared with:

1. You or your legal representative(s);
2. Third parties.

We do this face to face, via phone, via email, via our website, via post, via application forms, or via apps.

Third parties are organisations we have a legal reason to share your data with. These may include:

• Other parts of the health and care system such as local hospitals, the GP, the pharmacy, social workers, and other health and care professionals;
• The Local Authority;
• The police or other law enforcement agencies if we have to by law or court order.

6.  How do we store your personal information?

Your information is securely stored for the time periods specified in the Records Management Code of Practice. We will then dispose of the information as recommended by the Records Management Code for example we will:

• securely dispose of your information by deleting your information, for example by shredding paper records, permanently deleting digital records or wiping hard drives to legal standards of destruction, where appropriate.
• archive your information, if necessary, for the legally permitted time such as 6 years for financial records.

Our Website

In order to provide you with the best experience while using our website, we process some data about you.

• Contact Forms – we collect your data sent through to us via the contact form. The data received is securely processed or disposed of according your our record keeping/destruction practices.
• Cookies – we use cookies (a small file of letters and numbers that is stored in your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree). These are used to maintain the functionality of our website and to keep it secure.
• Third parties – other third parties we use on our website include Google, Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) as well as X (formerly Twitter). Their data processing practices and policies are listed on their individual websites.

Your rights

The data that we keep about you is your data and we ensure that we keep it confidential and that it is used appropriately. You have the following rights when it comes to your data:

1. You have the right to request a copy of all of the data we keep about you. Generally, we will not charge for this service;
2. You have the right to ask us to correct any data we have which you believe to be inaccurate or incomplete. You can also request that we restrict all processing of your data while we consider your rectification request;
3. You have the right to ask that we erase any of your personal data which is no longer necessary for the purpose we originally collected it for. We retain our data in line with the Information Governance Alliance’s guidelines.
4. You may also request that we restrict processing if we no longer require your personal data for the purpose we originally collected it for, but you do not wish for it to be erased.
5. You can ask for your data to be erased if we have asked for your consent to process your data. You can withdraw consent at any time – please contact us to do so.
6. If we are processing your data as part of our legitimate interests as an organisation or in order to complete a task in the public interest, you have the right to object to that processing. We will restrict all processing of this data while we look into your objection.

You may need to provide adequate information for our staff to be able to identify you, for example, a passport or driver’s licence. This is to make sure that data is not shared with the wrong person inappropriately. We will always respond to your request as soon as possible and at the latest within one month.

If you would like to complain about how we have dealt with your request, please contact:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/