PRIVACY NOTICE

This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect about you, how we store this information, how long we retain it and with whom and for which legal purpose we may share it.

WHO ARE WE?

St Martin’s Nursing Home Limited employs more than 30 staff and operates at 51 Vesey Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B73 5NR.

Our website address is: https://www.stmartins-nursinghome.co.uk

St Martins is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (I.C.O.) to process personal and special categories of information under the Data Protection Act 2018 and our registration number is ZA492450

WHY WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

The staff caring for you need to collect and maintain information about your health, treatment and care, so that you can be given the best possible care. This personal information can be held in a variety of formats, including paper records, electronically on computer systems, in video and audio files.

WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU & HOW DO WE COLLECT IT?

Personal information about you is collected in a number of ways. This can be from referral details from our staff, other 3^rd parties or hospitals, directly from you or your authorised representative. We will likely hold the following basic personal information about you: your name, address (including correspondence), telephone numbers, date of birth, next of kin contacts, etc. We might also hold your email address, marital status, occupation, overseas status, place of birth and preferred name or maiden name.

In addition to the above, we may hold sensitive personal information about you which could include:

• Notes and reports about your health, treatment and care, including your medical conditions results of investigations e.g. x-rays and laboratory tests, future care you may need, personal information from people who care for and know you e.g. relatives and health or social care professionals, other personal information such as smoking status and any learning disabilities
• Your religion and ethnic origin
• Whether or not you are subject to any protection orders regarding your health, wellbeing and human rights (safeguarding status).

It is important for us to have a complete picture of you as this will assist staff to deliver appropriate treatment and care plans in accordance with your needs.

WHAT DO WE DO WITH YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Your records are used to directly, manage and deliver healthcare to you to ensure that:

• The staff involved in your care have accurate and up to date information to assess and advice on the most appropriate care for you.
• Staff have the information they need to be able to assess and improve the quality and type of care you receive.
• Appropriate information is available if you see another healthcare professional, or are referred to a specialist or another part of the NHS, social care or health provider.

WHAT MAY WE DO WITH YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

The personal information we collect about you may also be used to:

• Remind you about your appointments and send you relevant correspondence.
• Review the care we provide to ensure it is of the highest standard and quality, e.g. through audit or service improvement;
• Support the funding of your care, e.g. with commissioning organisations;
• Prepare statistics on NHS performance to meet the needs of the population or for the Department of Health and other regulatory bodies;
• Help to train and educate healthcare professionals;
• Report and investigate complaints, claims and untoward incidents;
• Report events to the appropriate authorities when we are required to do so by law;
• Review your suitability for research study or clinical trial
• Contact you with regards to satisfaction surveys relating to services you have used within St Martins so as to further improve our services

Where possible, we will always look to anonymise/ pseudonymise your personal information so as to protect patient confidentiality, unless there is a legal basis that permits us to use it and we will only use/ share the minimum information necessary.

WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH?

St Martins is required to protect your personal information, inform you of how your personal information will be used, and allow you to decide if and how your personal information can be shared. Personal information you provide to St Martins in confidence will only be used for the purposes explained to you and to which you have consented. Unless, there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the health or safety of others is at risk, where the law requires it or there is an overriding public interest to do so. Where there is cause to do this, St Martins will always do its best to notify you of this sharing.

HOW WE MAINTAIN YOUR RECORDS

Your personal information is held in both paper and electronic forms for specified periods of time as set out in the NHS Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care and National Archives Requirements.

We hold and process your information in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 as amended by the GDPR 2016, as explained above. In addition, everyone working for the NHS must comply with the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality and various national and professional standards and requirements. We have a duty to:

• Maintain full and accurate records of the care we provide to you
• Keep records about you confidential and secure
• Provide information in a format that is accessible to you

We provide the option to communicate with residents/relatives/friends/visitors via email. Please be aware that St Martins cannot guarantee the security of this information whilst in transit, and by requesting this service you are accepting this risk.

WHAT ARE YOUR RIGHTS?

If we need to use your personal information for any reasons beyond those stated above, we will discuss this with you and ask for your explicit consent. The Data Protection Act 2018 gives you certain rights, including the right to:

• Request access to the personal data we hold about you, e.g. in health records. The way in which you can access your own health records is further explained in our Policy on “Record Keeping and Access to Personal Files“
• Request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete information recorded in our health records, subject to certain safeguards.
• Refuse/withdraw consent to the sharing of your health records: Under the Data Protection Act 2018, we are authorised to process, i.e. share, your health records ‘for the management of healthcare systems and services’. Your consent will only be required if we intend to share your health records beyond these purposes, as explained above (e.g. research). Any consent form you will be asked to sign will give you the option to ‘refuse’ consent and will explain how you can ‘withdraw’ any consent at a later time. The consent form will also warn you about the possible consequences of such refusal/withdrawal.
• Request your personal information to be transferred to other providers on certain occasions.
• Object to the use of your information: In certain circumstances you may also have the right to ‘object’ to the processing (i.e. sharing) of your information where the sharing would be for a purpose beyond your care and treatment (e.g. as part of a local/regional data sharing initiative).
• We will always try to keep your information confidential and only share it when absolutely necessary.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter.

DATA PROTECTION OFFICER

NAME: Mr David Underhill

ROLE: Head of Information Governance and Quality Assurance – Data Protection Officer

ADDRESS:

St Martins Nursing Home,

51 Vesey Road,

Sutton Coldfield,

West Midlands,

B73 5NR

CONTACT TEL: 0121 321 1789

INFORMATION COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE

The Information Commissioner’s Office (I.C.O.) is the body that regulates the Practice under Data Protection and Freedom of Information legislation. https://ico.org.uk/. If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you can complain to the I.C.O. at:

Information Commissioner’s Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire,

SK9 5AF

EMAIL: casework@ico.org.uk