PRIVACY POLICY
Henleaze Dental Practice respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.
This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you visit our website, contact us, request an appointment or use our dental services.
1. Who we are
The data controllers responsible for the personal information described in this policy are:
| Practice / Practitioner | ICO registration number |
|---|---|
| Henleaze Dental Practice Limited (includes Dr Mark Haseltine) | Z2562047 |
| Dr Laura Birch | ZA295801 |
| Dr Victoria Ward | ZA750720 |
| Dr Ester Lucas | ZB297618 |
| Dr Elizabeth Daoud | ZC186002 |
If you have questions about this policy or how we handle your personal information, please email info@henleazedental.co.uk.
2. Personal information we collect
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following information.
Information you provide
- Your name, date of birth and contact details.
- Information you submit through website forms, appointment requests, emails or telephone enquiries.
- Appointment details, communication preferences and correspondence.
- Information about a parent, guardian, carer or representative where relevant.
- Payment, billing and transaction information.
- Feedback, complaints and any information you choose to provide when contacting us.
Information relating to your dental care
If you register as a patient or receive treatment, we may also collect:
- Medical and dental histories, including information about medication, allergies and relevant health conditions.
- Examination findings, diagnoses, treatment plans and clinical notes.
- Dental X-rays, scans and clinical photographs.
- Referrals, prescriptions and correspondence with other healthcare professionals.
- Information about treatment consent and your care preferences.
- NHS number, exemption or eligibility information, where applicable.
Health information receives additional protection under data protection law.
Information collected through our website
When you use our website, we may collect:
- Your IP address, browser type, device information and operating system.
- Pages visited, dates and times of visits, and referring websites.
- Technical and security information recorded in server logs.
- Cookie preferences and information collected through cookies or similar technologies, as explained in our Cookie Policy.
3. How we obtain your information
We collect information directly from you when you contact us, complete a form, book an appointment, register as a patient or receive care.
Where relevant, we may also receive information from:
- A parent, guardian or authorised representative.
- A dentist, GP, specialist or other healthcare professional involved in your care.
- Referral services.
- NHS bodies, insurers or dental payment-plan providers, where applicable.
- Our online appointment-booking and other service providers.
We only obtain information from other sources where appropriate and lawful.
4. How and why we use your information
We use personal information to:
- Respond to enquiries and appointment requests.
- Register patients and manage appointments.
- Assess dental needs and provide safe, appropriate treatment.
- Maintain accurate clinical and administrative records.
- Send appointment confirmations, reminders and communications about your care.
- Process payments and manage accounts.
- Make referrals and coordinate care with other healthcare professionals.
- Handle feedback, complaints and legal claims.
- Meet legal, regulatory and professional obligations.
- Operate, maintain and protect our website and IT systems.
- Understand and improve our website and services.
- Send optional marketing communications where we have an appropriate lawful basis and meet applicable electronic-marketing requirements.
We do not sell your personal information.
5. Our lawful bases for using personal information
We process personal information in accordance with applicable UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Depending on the activity, we rely on the following lawful bases:
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Responding to a request for treatment, arranging appointments and providing private dental services. | Taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, or performing our contract with you. |
| Managing general enquiries, routine administration, website security and service improvement. | Our legitimate interests in operating an effective, secure dental practice, where those interests do not override your rights. |
| Meeting statutory requirements and applicable regulatory obligations. | Compliance with a legal obligation. |
| Sending optional marketing communications. | Consent, where required. |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the potential impact on your privacy and use only information that is necessary for the relevant purpose.
Additional protection for health information
For health information used to provide or manage dental care, we generally rely on the condition permitting processing for medical diagnosis, healthcare or treatment, or the management of healthcare services. This is Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR, together with the relevant provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018. This information is handled by, or under the responsibility of, professionals subject to duties of confidentiality.
Where another condition is required for a particular use of health information, we will identify that condition and explain it where appropriate.
Consent to dental treatment is separate from consent as a lawful basis for processing personal information.
6. Who we share information with
We only share personal information where necessary and lawful. Depending on your circumstances, recipients may include:
- Members of our practice team who need access to carry out their duties.
- Dental laboratories, specialists and other healthcare professionals involved in your care.
- Providers of practice-management software, online booking, hosting, email, secure storage and IT support.
- Payment processors and, where relevant, dental payment-plan providers or insurers.
- Professional advisers, indemnity providers and legal representatives.
- Regulators, public authorities or law-enforcement bodies where disclosure is legally required or otherwise permitted.
- Relevant NHS organisations, where applicable.
We limit disclosures to the information needed for the relevant purpose. Where a supplier processes personal information on our behalf, we put appropriate contractual arrangements in place.
7. How long we keep information
We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including relevant clinical, legal, regulatory and record-keeping requirements.
We may retain information for longer where necessary to deal with an ongoing complaint, legal claim or other legal requirement.
When information is no longer required, we securely delete, destroy or anonymise it.
8. How we protect information
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.
Access to patient information is restricted to authorised people who need it for their work.
Please avoid sending detailed medical information through a general website enquiry form unless we specifically ask you to do so. Email info@henleazedental.co.uk to ask for an appropriate way to provide sensitive information.
9. Cookies and similar technologies
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies for improving your website experience.
Some technologies are necessary to operate the website or provide a service you request. Where consent is legally required for other technologies, we obtain it before using them.
10. Marketing and your choices
Where we send optional marketing, such as practice news or information about services, we do so in accordance with applicable data protection and electronic-marketing requirements.
You can stop receiving marketing at any time by:
- Using the unsubscribe option in a marketing message; or
- Emailing info@henleazedental.co.uk.
Appointment reminders and necessary communications about your treatment are separate from optional marketing.
We will obtain separate permission where required before using identifiable patient photographs, testimonials or treatment stories for promotional purposes.
11. Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis for processing, you may have the right to:
- Request access to your personal information.
- Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Ask us to erase information.
- Ask us to restrict how we use information.
- Receive certain information in a portable format.
- Object to certain uses of your information.
- Withdraw consent where processing relies on your consent.
These rights are not absolute. For example, we may need to retain clinical records to meet legal obligations or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
To exercise your rights, email info@henleazedental.co.uk. We may need to verify your identity before responding.
Your right to object
You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests, on grounds relating to your particular situation.
You can object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing at any time. If you do, we will stop using it for that purpose.
11. Information you need to provide
We need certain information to arrange appointments, identify you correctly and provide safe dental care.
If you do not provide information needed for a particular service, we may be unable to arrange that service or provide treatment safely. We will explain this where relevant.
Information requested solely for optional marketing is not a condition of receiving dental care.
12. Complaints
If you are concerned about how we use your personal information, please see our Practice Complaints Policy.
13. Changes to this policy
We review this policy regularly and update it when necessary.
Where a change materially affects how we use your personal information, we will bring it to your attention as appropriate.