Carew Dental aims to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This policy and the related procedures lay out how Carew Dental complies with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR. All team members must ensure they read, understand and comply with our policy and procedures in relation to the Data Protection Act 2018 and the GDPR.
Ensuring that individuals’ personal information is processed in line with the requirements of the GDPR and that individuals’ privacy is respected is imperative and all team members must give this a very high priority.
To comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, our practice has notified the Information Commissioner that personal information relating to patients and team members is processed and stored within our practice.
Please note: the UK Data Protection Act 2018 enshrines the requirements of the GDPR in British law. To avoid repetition, this policy refers to the requirements of the GDPR rather than repeatedly quoting both pieces of legislation.
GDPR defines a number of roles and responsibilities and introduces some new roles and terminology. Team members must ensure they are familiar with these.
The following are relevant and are explained below:
Includes collecting the information about an individual, using it, storing it, securing it, disclosing it and destroying it etc. GDPR applies to all businesses and organisations and to all personal data held about individuals. In a dental practice this means patients, employed and self-employed team members, referrer’s and anyone else that the practice processes data for.
A data controller determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. This is the practice owner. In our practice this is Joanna Carew.
A data processor is responsible for processing personal data on behalf of a controller. Data processors are required to maintain records of personal data and processing activities and they have legal liability if they are responsible for a breach.
All practice team members are data processors. Joanna Carew is responsible for making all team members aware of their responsibilities in relation to data protection. The need to comply with GDPR and other data protection laws is included in all employment contracts and associate agreements.
Data processors are also the practice management software companies, IT support companies, payment plan providers and all other organisations that handle personal data on behalf of the controller.
An individual for whom we process personal information.
Name, address, date of birth, doctor’s name and address etc. The personal and the sensitive (including special category) data we process for our patients and team members is listed in our data inventories, GDPR Inventory Patients and GDPR Inventory Staff which are located digitally on an encrypted cloud-based system.
Includes sensitive information such as medical history, medical and dental records, ethnic origin, race, political opinions, religion, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health, sex and sexual orientation. It also includes DBS checks, Hepatitis B status.
If someone who is not entitled to see details of another individual’s personal data can obtain access without permission, this is unauthorised access and a breach of GDPR.
Under GDPR, all individuals who have personal data held about them have the following personal privacy rights:
This includes all decisions made without human intervention e.g. email reminders to book an appointment or text or email reminders of appointments, direct marketing i.e. all decisions that are taken automatically.
The ability to take personal data elsewhere e.g. to another dental practice or employer.
There are six legal bases for processing personal data and we are required to be able to justify and articulate the legal basis on which we collect and process all personal data that we hold. We must also document the legal basis on which we collect and process all personal data that we hold.
A data protection impact assessment is the process of systematically considering the impact on privacy any project or initiative could have on the privacy of individuals.
The GDPR requires everything we do to be ‘designed’ with privacy in mind and it requires this to be our ‘default’ position.
Data protection by design and default means that everything we do or plan to do such as new projects and initiatives is always planned and executed with privacy in mind.
A DPO is a person designated or appointed to ensure the organisation or business complies with GDPR.
In our practice the DPO is Joanna Carew.
Carew Dental aims to comply with GDPR requirements that state that personal data must be:
We have reviewed and enhanced our data protection risk management processes and recorded our actions on our GDPR risk assessment template. We undertake annual data protection risk assessments and follow up to ensure actions have been completed.
GDPR compliance is discussed at our practice meetings which take place on a monthly basis and actions arising are recorded and followed up.
We have a clear, robust, binding written contract with our practice management software suppliers Dentally and all other external data processors (Apple Inc) to ensure they comply with GDPR.
All team members must ensure that they:
Our personal data inventories list all the personal data we process for patients and team members together with the risks attached to each type of data.
As required by GDPR, the data inventories also list:
As required by the GDPR we have a Privacy Policy for patient data that lays out what data we collect and process and we have Privacy Notices that alert staff and patients to the collection of their data.
All data subjects have the right of access to and copies of their personal data whether they are held on paper or on computer.
A request from a patient to see records or for a copy must be referred to the patient’s dentist.
Care should be taken to ensure that the individual seeking access is the patient in question and where necessary the practice will seek information from the patient to confirm identity. A copy of the record must be supplied within one month at the very latest from the request being made. Every effort should be made to supply the information requested without delay and as soon as possible following receipt of the request.
The fact that patients have the right of access to their records makes it essential that information is properly recorded.
Records must be:
We have processes in place to ensure that we can respond to a data subject’s request for access to or copies of their records within one month (four weeks). We do not charge a fee for access to or copies of records.
In some situations, we may refuse an access request if we think it is unfounded or excessive. In those situations, we have clear refusal policies and procedures in place and will always ensure we can demonstrate why the request meets these criteria.
We provide additional information to people making requests, including our data retention periods and the right to have inaccurate data corrected.
Under certain, very limited circumstances we may refuse access to or copies of personal records. These could include:
In these circumstances we will demonstrate how the request fits these criteria in accordance with GDPR and we will provide the individual with an explanation for the refusal unless this could put them at risk.
We understand there are six legal bases for processing personal data. We have considered the legal basis on which we process all the personal data we hold and have documented this in our Privacy Policy and our Privacy Notices. We will include the legal basis in our data protection impact assessments. The legal basis is also recorded on our data inventory templates.
Consent is one of the legal bases for processing personal data. Consent is not appropriate as a legal basis for processing personal data in relation to patient care or to administer an employment contract or a self-employed associate agreement.
Consent must always be obtained for direct marketing.
We also obtain consent for the following:
We understand that gaining consent is a complex process and we ensure that all the conditions described below are satisfied.
When using consent to process data for the purposes listed above, we ensure that:
All breaches must be reported to the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) within 72 hours unless the data was anonymised or encrypted. Breaches that might bring harm to an individual (e.g. identity theft or breach of confidentiality) must also be reported to the individual(s) concerned.
We have procedures in place to detect, report and investigate a personal data breach.
All team members understand that they must inform Joanna Carew.
If, after investigation, a team member is found to have breached data protection and not reported it, he or she shall be liable to summary dismissal in accordance with our practice disciplinary policy.
A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is the process of systematically considering the potential impact that a project or initiative might have on the privacy of individuals.
We always adopt the approach of privacy by design as our default approach. Prior to embarking on any project or initiative we always undertake a data impact assessment to identify potential privacy issues before they arise to enable us to find ways to mitigate any issues. If we cannot reduce the impact sufficiently, we would not proceed.
Our systematic considerations together with the measures to be put in place to mitigate any risks to privacy are recorded in our Practice Learnt Experience File
Our DPO is Joanna Carew.
Our DPO’s duties are:
Personal data about our patients and team members is held in the practice’s computer system. The information is only accessible to authorised team members. Our computer system has secure audit trails and we back up information routinely.
Personal information about our patients includes:
The personal information we hold on our team members is listed in our Data Inventory which is stored in the Practice Learnt Experience file and to which all team members have access.
Carew Dental retains records of personal data only for as long as is required for the purposes for which it was collected or as required by law or to comply with statutory requirements.
Retention periods for individual items of data are documented in our Data Inventory records, in our Privacy Policy and in our Privacy Notices as required by the GDPR.
We will retain team members’ personal information only for as long as we need to in order to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected. After our working relationship has terminated we will retain team members’ personal data for 7 years for all purposes excluding tax and payroll, which requires us to keep relevant personal data for 12 years.
This practice retains dental records while the patient is a patient of the practice and after they cease to be a patient, for at least eleven years, or for children until age 25, whichever is the longer.
To comply with GDC Standards and GDPR, we ensure that if we are sending confidential information, we use a secure method. If we are sending or storing confidential information electronically, we will ensure that it is encrypted.
We are aware that the incorrect use of ‘BCC’ and ‘CC’ via an email is one of the top data breaches reported to the ICO. Great care must be taken when using these options, if personal information is likely to be shared, a more secure option must be used.
Our email system can be configurated to:
The information we collect, and store will not be disclosed to anyone who does not need to see it.
We will share our team members’ personal information with third parties when required by law or where it is necessary to administer the working relationship with them or where we have another legitimate interest for doing so.
Third parties we may share team members’ personal information with may include:
We may also share personal information where we consider it to be in a team member’s best interests or if we have reason to believe an individual may be at risk of harm or abuse.
The information we collect, and store will not be disclosed to anyone who does not need to see it.
We will share our patients’ personal information with third parties when required by law or to enable us to deliver a service to them or where we have another legitimate reason for doing so. Third parties we may share patients’ personal information with may include:
We may also share personal information where we consider it to be in a patient’s best interest or if we have reason to believe an individual may be at risk of harm or abuse.
Data subjects have the right to object to their personal data being processed or disclosed. Patients and team members who wish to object should discuss the matter with Joanna Carew. This may affect our ability to provide patients with dental care or it may affect our ability to fulfil the contract or agreement we hold with a team member.
Carew Dental requires all team members to comply with the principles of GDPR and this Code of Practice. Practice team members must:
Due the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been unprecedented changes to the patient journey and treatment planning processes in dental practices across the UK. Dental practices have adopted more digitised approaches to treatment planning and triaging of patients. This includes online consultations, provision of advice and treatment information via email, video conferencing or telephone.
On 12th March 2020 the ICO made a statement setting out its position on how patient data should be handled during the COVID-19 pandemic. This covers the sharing, processing, and storage of patient data. The ICO recognises that public bodies and health practitioners need to be able to communicate directly with people when dealing with this type of health emergency. It also recognises that public bodies may require additional collection and sharing of information to protect individuals.
The ICO has advised that current regulations do not restrict Health Professionals from sending public health messages or using technology to facilitate speedy and safe consultations and diagnosis so long as these forms of communication do not involve direct marketing.
Dental practices should ensure update their Privacy policies and notices to reflect the following:
Your practice should also carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment to assess any new areas of risk which may arise from the processing of additional health information.
This DPIA should set out:
All team members are required to read this policy and related procedures and sign to confirm they understand it and will comply with it at all times.
Carew Dental Limited (registered in England and Wales, company number 13163290).
Registered office ℅ UNW LLP, City Gate, St James’ Boulevard, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4JE
