slide001

Contact

To get advice as to how acupuncture can be beneficial in your particular case please contact:

Mobile: 07748467912

 

Privacy Policy

The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the GDPR). This legislation will replace current data privacy law, giving more rights to you as an individual and more obligations to organisations holding your personal data.

One of the rights is a right to be informed, which means I have to give you even more information than I do now about the way in which I use, share and store your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how I, Mandy Pitts, use and protect any information that you give to me when you use this Service. I am committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected.

I may change this policy from time to time and changes will be posted on this page. This policy is effective from 25th May 2018.

By visiting www.twickenacupuncture.co.uk you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

By continuing to use my site, you are agreeing to my use of cookies described below.

Any changes I make to my privacy and cookie policy will be posted on this page.

Whose information does this privacy notice apply to?

This privacy notice applies to information we collect from:

  • patients;
  • prospective patients;
  • former patients;
  • visitors to my website

How do we process your personal data?

I comply with the obligations under the GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data. I use your personal data for the purposes set out below.

  1. I use your name, address, telephone number and email address to make and rearrange appointments. I am unable to send or receive encrypted emails so you should be aware that any emails I send or receive may not be protected in transit. I will also monitor any emails sent to me, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send me is within the bounds of the law.
  2. I keep a permanent attendance register which records all appointments for patients attending our clinic to keep a record of when you were treated for tax purposes and to secure potential evidence in the event of a criminal prosecution, civil litigation, insurance claim or complaint to my regulatory body, the British Acupuncture Council.
  3. I keep your name and telephone numbers in an attendance register file so that the Clinic can contact you to make/cancel appointments. This file is kept in a locked filing cabinet overnight.
  4. I may use your date of birth to help identify patients with the same name to avoid        mistakes being made as to safe and appropriate treatment, for identification purposes if referring a patient to another health practitioner, and for identification purposes if writing to a registered medical practitioner so that they correctly identify the patient.
  5. I collect your presenting complaint and symptoms and any relevant medical and family history reported by you. I use the clinical findings about your health and well-being for the purposes of making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.
  6. I use your GP’s name and address in the event that we need to contact your GP including in an emergency and because it is a mandatory requirement in the British Acupuncture Code of Professional Conduct.
  7. I keep a record of and refer to that record of any treatment given and details of progress of your case, including reviews of treatment planning to enable me to: review the full traditional diagnosis, treatment strategy and planning. I record any information or advice given, to help you receive the most appropriate treatment when referring patients to any other health professional. I maintain the records of the patient’s consent to treatment. All of this information is to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.
  8. I transport your record files to and from the clinic on the days of your treatment. At home your record files are stored in a locked filing cabinet.
  9. In the event of an adverse incident occurring to any of my patients I report the matter to the British Acupuncture Council and my insurance company to enable the insurance company to deal with any potential claims and to help the British Acupuncture Council to develop its safe practice guidelines, as well as providing research data and information for the BAcC’s insurers and other interested parties.

Complaints.

When I receive a complaint from a person I make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

I will only use the personal information I collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service I provide. I usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, I will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis. I may need to provide personal information collected and processed in relation to complaints to the British Acupuncture Council or our insurance company.

I will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to me I will only use the information supplied to me to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service I provide.

Website Users

Information I may collect

You may give me information about you such as name, address and phone number, by corresponding with me by phone, e-mail or otherwise. I may receive information about you from other sources, such as Google Analytics.

With regard to each of your visits to my site, I may automatically collect the following information:

  • technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform;
  • information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from my site (including date and time); services you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.

 

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser when you visit any website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience and the website owner with statistics about how you use the website so that it can be improved.

Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely.

Your web browser should allow you to delete any you choose. It also should allow you to prevent or limit their use.

My website uses cookies. They are placed by software that operates on my servers, and by software operated by third parties whose services I use.

If you choose not to use cookies or you prevent their use through your browser settings, you may not be able to use all the functionality of my website.

Cookies may be used on this site in the following ways:

  • Strictly necessary cookiesare cookies that are required for the operation of my site.
  • Analytical/performance cookiesallow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around my site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way my site works.
  • Functionality cookiesare used to recognise you when you return to my site.

 

 

Uses made of the information

 

I will use your information:

  • to carry out my obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and me and to provide you with the information and services that you request from me;
  • to notify you about changes to my service;
  • to administer my site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing and statistical purposes;
  • to improve my site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • as part of my efforts to keep my site safe and secure;
  • for internal record keeping – number of client enquiries etc.;
  • to operate my business efficiently including financial records.

 

Disclosure of your information

Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential, and will be shared:

  • with named third parties with your explicit consent;
  • with the relevant authority such as the police or a court, if necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject e.g. a court order;
  • with your doctor or the police if necessary to protect yours or another person’s life;
  • with the police or a local authority for the purpose of safeguarding a children or vulnerable adults; or
  • with my regulatory body, the British Acupuncture Council, or my insurance company in the event of a complaint or insurance claim being brought against me; or
  • my solicitor in the event of any investigation or legal proceedings being brought against me.

For further details about the situations when information about you might be shared please see the Information Commissioner’s website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/personal-information/sharing-my-info/

Data may be processed outside the European Union

This website is hosted in the United Kingdom

We may also use outsourced services in countries outside the European Union from time to time in other aspects of our business.

Accordingly, data obtained within the UK or any other country could be processed

The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although I will do my best to protect your personal data, I cannot guarantee the security of your data, any transmission is at your own risk. Once I have received your information, I use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Third party websites

The website contains links to other websites. I am not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of third party websites.

 

How long do we keep your personal data?

I keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary.

I keep patient records for a period of 7 years in accordance with the British Acupuncture Code of Professional Conduct https://www.acupuncture.org.uk/public-content/effective-practice/bacc-professional-codes.html

Your personal data is stored in a locked filing cabinet and will be up-dated when necessary and only with your consent and all information will be shredded and destroyed at the end of the seven-year period. In the event of my death all personal data will be shredded

At any- time you may request that changes are made to your contact details.

Your rights and your personal data

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have certain rights with respect to your personal data as set out below.

  • The right to request a copy of your personal data which we hold about you.
  • The right to request that we correct any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date.
  • The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for us to retain such data.
  • The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time. This right does not apply where we are processing information using a lawful purpose other than consent.
  • The right to request that we provide you with your personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability), (where applicable) [This right only applies where the processing is based on consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract with you and in either case the we are processing the data by automated means].
  • The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing.
  • The right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable) [This right only applies where processing is based on legitimate interests (or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority); direct marketing and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics].
  • The right to be informed if your data is lost. We shall also inform the Information Commissioner’s Office in accordance with the time limits in the GDPR.

The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

For further details about these rights please see the Information Commissioner’s website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/

Further processing

If I wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then I will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, I will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

Contact Details

To exercise all relevant rights, queries of complaints please in the first instance contact me at mandycourtman@hotmail.co.uk

 You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.