Security & privacy policy

 

Heath and Reach Veterinary Surgery is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

 

This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our website and our premises, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

 

We may update this Policy from time to time so please check this page periodically to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website or registering with the practice, you are agreeing to be bound by this policy.

 

If you have any questions about our privacy policy please contact us by email to reception@heathandreachvets.co.uk or alternatively, you can telephone 01525 237444

 

Lawful basis for processing your data

 

Organisations are permitted to process data if they have a legal basis for doing so. Heath and Reach Veterinary Surgery processes data on the basis that:

 

- As your chosen veterinary surgery, we have a legitimate interest in processing your data. Which includes some or all the following:

 

o    To enable us to provide our veterinary services to clients

o    Where the processing enables us to enhance and personalize our services and communication for the benefit of our clients

o    To provide communications including postal, which we think will be of interest to you

o    To better understand how people, interact with our websites

o    To manage payments, fees and charges

o    To administer and protect our business and our site (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)

 

and/or

 

- With your consent

o    To communicate our offers and promotions

 

and/or

 

- It is necessary in relation to a contract or agreement which you have entered into. Which may include:

 

o    Joining a healthcare plan

o    Taking out a finance agreement

o    Collection and recovery of money owed to us

 

Information we collect about you

 

We obtain information about you when you use our website, for example, when you contact us about registering your pet, booking online, signing up for a voucher, find out more about products and services, or if you register to receive our newsletter.

 

The type of information we collect

 

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, email address, IP address, and information regarding what pages are accessed and when.

 

CCTV and Audio recording

 

This practice is dedicated to the improvement of clinical and customer care. We digitally record images and audio to assist with staff training and for the safety of pets, clients and staff and the monitoring of the security of premises.

 

Cookies

 

Our site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site and allows us to improve our site. It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences.

 

How do we use your information?

 

We may use your information to:

 

- process orders that you have submitted

- contact you about your pet’s treatment

- contact you about promotions or offers

- carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered between you and us, including sending you bills and statements of account

- seek your views or comments on the services we provide

- notify you of changes to our services

- send you communications, which you have requested, and that may be of interest

- process a cv application

- carry out analysis, improve the quality of our services and ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer

- Training and security purposes

 

How long do we store your data

 

We review our data retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity (ie for as long as you are a client +7 years or immediately if you request to be deleted), or for as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

 

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

 

Where we store your personal data

 

As part of the services we offer to you, the information which you provide to us is stored within our practice management system, Teleos Systems Ltd . Records will be available for the benefit of patient care and transferring records.

 

Your data may be transferred to countries outside the European Union (“EU”). This may happen if any of our servers are located in a country outside of the EU. If we transfer your information outside of the EU in this way, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy. By submitting your personal data, you’re agreeing to this transfer, storing or processing.

 

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU to provide you with those services.

 

Disclosure of your information

 

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

 

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

 

We may pass your information to our third-party service providers for the purposes of providing services to you (for example to send you appointment reminders). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes.

 

We will not release your information to third parties unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.  We may also pass your infomation to our debt recovery service provider, should this be necessary to recover monies owned to us.

 

We may be required to share your personal data with your animal insurance company. We may also need to share your personal data with a veterinary referral centre or specialist should we need to refer your animal to them

 

Links to other websites

 

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

 

If you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy practices of the operators of that third-party site and recommend that you check their policy.

 

Your rights

 

You have a choice about the type of information you receive from us. As a client of our services, you understand and agree that personal information you provide will be held on a database operated by us and we will contact you about your pet’s treatment using your preferred method of communication.

 

You have the right to access information held about you. If you wish to see a copy of your data, please contact us. We will provide this data within a few days (not exceeding one month).

 

You have the right to request the movement of your data from one surgery to another. We will only transfer data to another surgery with your consent.

 

The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please let us know.

 

We will only send you direct marketing communications by email, phone or text message about new products and services if you have consented to receive them. We will ask you to confirm your consent to receive direct marketing when you first register with us and again at each visit to the surgery.

 

You can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us by email: reception@heathandreachvets.co.uk or telephone on 01525 237444 or in person.

 

You have a right to complain to the ICO if you think there is a problem with the way we are handling your data.

 

Changes to our privacy policy

 

This Policy was last updated in May 2018.