Valued Living Home Care Services
We respect and value the privacy of all employees and service users and will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here, and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law.
This Privacy information explains how we use your personal data: how it is collected, how it is held, and how it is processed. It also explains your rights under the law relating to your personal data.
Personal data is defined by the General Data Protection (EU Regulation 2016/679) (the GDPR) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly in particular by reference to an identifier’. Personal data is, in simpler terms, any information about you that enables you to be identified. Personal data covers obvious information such as your name and contact details, but it also covers less obvious information such as identification numbers, electronic location data and other online identifiers. The personal data that we use is set out in part 5, below.
Under the GDPR, you have the following rights, which we will always work to uphold:
For more information about our use of your personal data or exercising your rights as outlined above, please contact us. In some circumstances, if you refuse to provide us with certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you. Alternatively, we may be unable to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations. Further information about your rights can also be obtained from the Information Commissioner’ s Office or your local Citizens Advice Bureau. If you have any cause for complaint about our use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint about our use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
We may collect some or all of the following personal data (this may vary according to your relationship with us):
– Basic personal information, including name and address, date of birth and contact details;
– Financial information, including account and transactional information and history;
– Information about you and your family (such as dependents, marital status, next of kin and contact details;
– Information about your preferences and interests;
– Visual images (such as copies from passports)
– Details of any services you have received from us;
– Information we receive from other sources, such as government departments and healthcare providers;
– Our correspondence and communications with you.
Service Users – as a care provider, we must collect some personal information on our service users, including personal health information, which is essential to our being able to provide effective care and support. The information is contained in individual files (manual and electronic) and other record systems, all of which are subject to strict security and authorised access policies.
Employees and volunteers – the service operates a recruitment policy to comply with the regulations in which all personal information obtained, including CV’s and references, is, as with service users information, securely kept, retained and disposed of in line with the GDPR. All employees are aware of their right to access any information about them.
Third parties – all personal information obtained about others associated with the delivery of the primary care service, including contractors and suppliers will be protected in the same way as information on service users and employees.
Sometimes your personal date is obtained from the following third parties (depending on your relationship with us): HMRC, DWP and other government departments. NHS, CQC and healthcare providers. Local Authorities, emergency services and suppliers.
We may also process certain sensitive categories of information for specific and limited purposes, such as making our services accessible to service users. We will only process special categories of information where we have obtained your explicit consent of are otherwise lawfully permitted to do. This may include:
– Information about racial or ethnic origin, religious, political or philosophical beliefs
– Physical or psychological health details or medical conditions.
The bulk of service users, employees and third parties personal information is collected directly from them or through form filling, mainly manually, but also electronically for some purposes, e.g. when contacting the service through its website.
With service users, we might continue to build on the information provided through consultation and in the process of agreeing care. With employees, personal information is obtained directly and with consent through such means as references, testimonials and criminal records (DBS) checks. When recruiting staff, we seek applicants’explicit consent to obtain all the information needed for us to decide to employ them.
All personal information obtained to meet our regulatory requirements will always be treated in line with our explicit consent, data protection and confidentiality policies.
Under the GDPR, we must always have a lawful basis for using personal data. This may be because the data is necessary for our performance of a contract with you, because you have consented to our use of your personal data, or because it is in our legitimate business interest to use it. Your personal data may be used for any of the following purposes:
– Providing and managing your account;
– Supplying our services to you. Your personal details are required in order for us to enter into a contract with you;
– Personalising and tailoring our services to you;
– Communicating with you. This may include responding to emails and calls from you;
– Supplying you with information by email and/or post that you have opted-in to (you may unsubscribe or opt-out at any time by contacting us
With your permission and/or where permitted by law, we may also use your personal data for marketing purposes, which may include contacting you by email/telephone/text message and post with information, news, and offers on our services. You will not be sent any unlawful marketing or spam. We will always work to fully protect your rights and comply with our obligations under the GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and you will always have the opportunity to opt-out.
Personal information that becomes inactive for any reason is kept securely only for as long as it is needed, before being safely disposed off. We will not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s)
for which it was first collected. Your personal data will therefore be kept for the following periods (or, where there is no fixed period, the following factors will be used to determine how long it is kept):
Basic information – 10 years. We may anonymise or pseudonymise the personal data do that it cannot longer be associated with you, in which case we may use it without further notice to you;
– Financial information – 6 years;
– Medical information – 3 years from discharge;
– Sensitive information – 3 years from discharge.
The security of your personal data is essential to us, and to protect your data, we take a number of important measures, including the following:
– Necessary technical measures to ensure personal data is protected;
– All data transferred is encrypted during transit and at its destination;
– Data is not processed for any purpose other than as agreed upon in our terms and conditions;
– Protect your data from loss
Our databases are regularly checked by a nominated responsible person to ensure they meet all privacy standards, are protected through strong passwords and encryption and comply with our general date protection security and protection policies.
We only share the personal information of service users, employees and others with their consent on a “need to know” basis, observing strict protocols in doing so. Most information sharing of service users information is with other professionals and agencies involved with their care and treatment. Likewise, we would not disclose information about our employees without their clear agreement, e.g. when providing a reference.
In some limited circumstances, we may be legally required to share certain personal data, which might include yours, if we are involved in legal proceedings or complying with legal obligations, a court order, or the instruction of government authority.
Where we provide information for statistical purposes, the information is aggregated and provided anonymously so that there is no privacy risk involved in its use.
If any of your personal data is required by a third party, as described above, we will take steps to ensure that your personal data is handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the third party’s obligations under the law, as described above in part 8.
If you want to know what personal data we have about you, you can ask us for details of that personal data and for a copy of it (where any such personal data is held). This is known as a “subject access request”.
All subject access requests should be made in writing and sent to the Responsible Person of Valued Living Home Care Services.
There is not normally any charge for subject access request. If your request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’ (for example you make repetitive requests) a fee may be charged to cover our administrative costs in responding.
We will respond to your subject access request in 14 days and, in any case, not more than one month of receiving it. Normally, we aim to provide a complete response, including a copy of your personal data within that time. In some cases, however, particularly if your request is more complex, more time may be required up to a maximum of three months from the date we receive your request. You will be kept fully informed of our progress.
We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time. This may be necessary, for example, if the law changes, or if we change our business in a way that effects personal data protection. In this case you would be sent out a copy of the reviewed Privacy Notice.