How we store/protect your data
How we use your personal information

This privacy notice explains why Empire house Dental Surgery collects information about you and how that information may be used.
Health care professionals who provide you with care maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received previously (e.g. NHS Trust, GP Surgery, Walk-in clinic, Dental hospital referrals etc). These records are used to help to provide you with the best possible healthcare.
NHS health care records may be electronic, on paper or a mixture of both, and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure that your information is kept confidential and secure. Records Empire house Dental Surgery hold about you may include the following information;
• Details about you, such as your name, address, carers, legal representative and emergency contact details.
• Any contact the surgery has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, emergency appointments, etc.
• Notes and reports about your health
• Details about your treatment and care. Results of investigation such as radiographs etc.
• Relevant information from other health professionals, relatives or those who care for you.
To ensure you receive the best possible care, your records are used to facilitate the care you receive. Information held about you may be used to help protect the health of the public and to help us manage the NHS. Information may be used within for clinical audit to monitor the quality of the service provided.
Some of this information will be held centrally and used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified. Sometimes your information may be requested to be used to be used for research purposes- the surgery will always gain your consent before releasing the information for this purpose.
GDPR rules do not dictate how long we should keep personal data; It is up to each organisation to justify this, based on your purposes for processing. As the data which we hold is for healthcare purposes, we are required to keep patient records for a minimum of 11 years or in the case of a young person, until they reach the age of 25 years, whichever is the longest.
How so we maintain the confidentiality of your records?
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with:
• Data Protection Act 1998 and General Data Protection Regulations 2016
• Human Rights Act 1998
• Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
• Health and Social Care Act 2012
• NHS Codes of Confidentiality, Information Security and Records Management
• Information; To share or Not to Share Review
Every member of staff who works for an NHS organisation has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential.
We will only ever use or pass on information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it, and this would only ever be for the purpose of your individual care. We will not disclose your information to any third party without your permission unless there are exceptional circumstances (i.e. life or death situations), where the law requires information to be passed on and / or in accordance with the new information sharing principle, following Dame Fiona Caldicott’s information sharing review (Information to share or not to share), where “The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.” This means that health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of their patients within the framework set out by the Caldicott principles. They should be supported by the policies of their employers, regulators and professional bodies.
Our patients’ data may be used for in-house auditing and training purposes; however, data will always be anonymised I these instances and any information gathered will never be shared outside of the practice. This auditing forms a part of our quality assurance programme, which is required in line with certain legal regulations to which we are bound. We never gather or disclose data outside of the practice or our partner organisations for statistical purposes or otherwise; our data processing is purely for our patients’ individual care needs.
Who are our partner organisations?
We may also have to share your information, subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following organisations;
• NHS Trusts / Foundation Trusts
• GP’s
• NHS Commissioning Support Units
• Clinical Commissioning Groups
• Social Care Services
• Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
• Local Authorities
• Education Services
• Fire and Rescue Services
• Police & Judicial Services
• Voluntary Sector Providers
• Private Sector Providers
• Other ‘data processors’ which you will be informed of.
You will be informed who your data will be shared with and in some cases asked for explicit consent for this to happen when this is required.
We may also use external companies to process personal information, such as for archiving purposes. These companies are bound by contractual agreements to ensure information is kept confidential and secure and they do not have any right to disclose your data elsewhere.
Access to personal information
You have a right under the Data Protection Act 1998 and The General Data Protection Regulations to request access to view or to obtain copies of what information the surgery holds about you and to have it amended should be it be inaccurate. In order to request this, you need to do the following:
• Your request must be made in writing to Empire house Dental Surgery LTD
• Your letter of request must be signed by the patient wishing to access a copy of their records
• We will not charge a fee for copies of patients’ personal data unless the request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’. The data controller may charge a reasonable administrative-cost fee if further copies are requested.
• If a request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’ data controllers can charge a fee or refuse to respond but will need to be able to provide evidence of how the conclusion that the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive was reached.
• We are required to respond to you within one month of receipt of your request.
• You will need to give adequate information (for example full name, address, date of birth, NHS number and details of your request) so that your identity can be verified and your records located.
Objections / Complaints
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at Empire house Dental Surgery, please contact the practice manager. If you are still unhappy following a review Empire house Dental Surgery, you can complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) via their website (www.ico.gov.uk).
If you are happy for your data to be extracted and used for the purposes described in this privacy notice then you do not need to do anything. If you have any concerns about how your data is shared then please contact the practice.
Change of Details
It is important that you tell the person treating you if any of your details such as your name or address have changed or if any of your details such as date of birth is incorrect in order for this to be amended. You have a responsibility to inform us of any changed so our records are accurate and up to date for you.
Notification
The Data Protection Act 1998 requires organisations to register a notification with the Information Commissioner to describe the purpose for which they process personal and sensitive information.
This information is publicly available on the Information Commissioners Office website. www.ico.org.uk
The practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
Who is the Data Controller?
Stephanie McCluskey Practice Manager
Complaints
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed by the Practice please contact the Practice Manager at the following address:
Empire house Dental Surgery LTD
Wakefield Old Road
Dewsbury
WF12 8DJ

If you are still unhappy following a review by the Practice you can then complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO). www.ico.org.u, casework@ico.org.uk,
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
Reviewed March 2023
To review March 2024

 

 

Complaints Procedure

 

In this practice we take complaints very seriously indeed and try to ensure that all our patients are pleased with their experience of our service.  When patients complain, they are dealt with courteously and promptly so that the matter is resolved as quickly as possible.  This procedure is based on these objectives.

Our aim is to react to complaints in the way in which we would want our complaint about a service to be handled.  We learn from every mistake that we make and we respond to patients concerns in a caring and sensitive way.

 

  1. The person responsible for dealing with any complaints about the service which we provide is:

Stephanie McCluskey (Practice Manager)

You can contact her as follows:

In writing: FAO Mrs. S. McCluskey, Empire house Dental Surgery, Wakefield Old Road, Dewsbury WF12 8DJ

Email: Admin@empirehousedental.co.uk

 

  1. If a patient complains on the telephone or at the reception desk, we will listen to their complaint and offer to resolve the issue, however if this is not possible, we will then refer the matter to Steph McCluskey. We ask all patients to please put their complaint in writing or to email Steph. The staff member will make brief notes in the patient’s record.

 

  1. If a complaint is about any aspect of clinical care or associated charges it will normally be referred to the dentist, unless the patient does not want this to happen.

 

4..  We will acknowledge the patient’s complaint in writing and enclose a copy of this code of practice as soon as possible, normally within three working days.  We will seek to investigate the compliant within 10 working days of receipt to give an explanation of the circumstances which led to the complaint.  If the patient does not wish to meet us, then we will attempt to talk to them on the telephone.  If we are unable to investigate the complaint within 10 working days. We will notify the patient, giving reasons for the delay and a likely period within which the investigation will be completed.

 

  • We will confirm the decision about the complaint in writing immediately after completing our investigation.

 

  1. Proper and comprehensive records are kept of any complaint received.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with the response to your complaint, you may wish to receive information and advice from:

The NHS complaints section on NHS choices website. The email for NHS England is;

england.contactus.nhs.net, or contact 0300 311 22 33

The Citizen Advice Bureau Kirklees, https://kcalc.org.uk/

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsmen who is completely independent of the NHS and government on: 0345 015 4033

We are registered by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), contact details, www.cqc.org.uk/dental or contact 03000 616161

Address, CQC, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA, Tel, 03000 616161

Private patients’ complaints should be directed to: General Dental Council, 37 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 8DQ. Telephone number: 020 7167 6000, or

Dental Complaints Service https://dcs.gdc-uk.org/ on 020 8253 0800

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| All Rights Reserved

page updated 22/01/2024