Privacy policy

Privacy Notice

Us

Dental Partners Trading Limited (trading as Dental Partners) takes great care to protect the personal data we hold for our patients in line with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The purpose of collecting and storing personal data about our patients is to ensure we can:

  • Provide, appropriate, safe, and effective dental care, treatment, and advice for all our patients.
  • Fulfil any contracts we hold in relation to their care.
  • For business administration of their care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we may also collect and store personal data about our patients for the purposes of protecting public health and monitoring and managing the COVID-19 pandemic.

We (Dental Partners Trading Limited) are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, registration number Z9593066. Dental Partners is made up of several trading companies, many of which also have their own data-protection registrations.

If you would like any of this information in a different format please contact us.

The Privacy Notice

This Policy applies to our use of any and all Data collected by us in relation to your use of the Web Site and any Services or Systems therein.

Data Protection Contact

All individuals who have personal data held about them have a right to complain. All complaints concerning personal data should be made in person or in writing to our Data Protection Officer. All complaints will be dealt with in line with the practice complaints policy and procedures.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we collect and use your personal information, you can contact our Data Protection Officer Emma Haywood at emma.haywood@dentalpartners.co.uk

You can also contact for advice.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Your local supervisory authority.

What information do we collect

The personal data we process (processing includes obtaining the information, using it, storing it, securing it, disclosing it, and destroying it) for our patients includes:

  • Personal details such as name, address, date of birth, NHS number
  • Unique identification number.
  • Next of kin.
  • Email address.
  • Phone numbers.
  • GP contact details.
  • Occupation.
  • Medical history.
  • Dental care records including treatment plans and consent
  • X rays and photographs.
  • Family group.
  • Payment plan details.
  • Financial information.
  • Credit cards receipts.
  • Correspondence.
  • Details of any complaints received
  • IP address (automatically collected)
  • Cookie information

We keep an inventory of personal data we hold on our patients and this is available for patients on request. A list of personal information held is also included in our Privacy Notice that is available to all patients.

How do we obtain information

We obtain your personal information directly from you: –

  • Your contact with us by telephone, post, or e mail
  • Filling in forms either in practice or via our website
  • Indirectly from you, such as when you interact with us vis technology and our website and when we use online personalised ads. When you do this, we collect and use technical data automatically about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect and use this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies.

We may require to obtain information from others: –

  • If you are under the age of 18
  • A power of attorney

How do we use your information

By law we must have a lawful reason for processing your data and we process data: –

To provide you with the dental care we require up-to-date and accurate information about you. We will seek your preference for how we contact you about your dental care.

To provide the services set out in a contract − that is, to provide you with our products and services.

In our or a third party’s legitimate interest.

Or required or allowed by law.

Sharing your information

The information we collect, and store will not be disclosed to anyone who does not need to see it.

We will share your personal information with third parties when required by law or to enable us to deliver a service to them or where we have another legitimate reason for doing so. Third parties we may share patients’ personal information with may include:

  • Regulatory authorities such as the General Dental Council or the Care Quality Commission 
  • NHS Local Authorities
  • Dental payment plan administrators
  • Insurance companies
  • Dental laboratories
  • Loss assessors
  • Fraud prevention agencies
  • Finance company
  • In the event of a possible sale of the practice at some time in the future.

If we do this, we require these third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with the law. In addition, all our third parties required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information.

We may also share personal information where we consider it to be in a patient’s best interest or if we have reason to believe an individual may be at risk of harm or abuse.

Any sensitive personal information relating to our patients is only used to provide dental care for the individual. It is never shared for research purposes or any non-clinical need. The National Opt-out Policy introduced in March 2020 is therefore not operated at our practice on this basis.

Should we change our policy to use information for a non-clinical purpose or a research project, we would then introduce the National Opt-out policy.

We may, from time to time, employ the services of other parties for dealing with matters that may include, but are not limited to, payment handling, delivery of purchased items, search engine facilities, advertising, and marketing. The providers of such services do have access to certain personal Data provided by Users of this Web Site. Any Data used by such parties is used only to the extent required by them to perform the services that Dental Partners requests. Any use for other purposes is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, any Data that is processed by third parties must be processed within the terms of this Policy and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Personal privacy rights

Under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, all individuals who have personal information held about them have the following personal privacy rights:

  • Right to subject access.
  • Right to have inaccuracies deleted.
  • Right to have information erased.
  • Right to object to direct marketing.
  • Right to restrict the processing of their information, including automated decision-making.
  • Right to data portability.

Patients who wish to have inaccuracies deleted or to have information erased must speak to the dentist who provided or provides their care.

All individuals who have personal data held about them have a right to object to their personal data being subjected to automated decision making.

Patients will always be asked to give specific, informed, verifiable, opt in consent for any processes involving automated decision making.

Access to your information

By law you have the right to ask for your information this is commonly known as a subject access request, if you would like access please contact a team member at your practice.

How long do we keep your information

We retain dental records and orthodontic study models while the patient is a patient of the practice and, after they cease to be a patient, for at least eleven years, or for children until age 25, whichever is the longer.

Keeping your information safe

Your personal information deserves the greatest protection and security. We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent it from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed.

Marketing

We always obtain specific, unambiguous opt in consent from all patients to whom we send direct marketing information. Marketing could be in the forms of SMS, email, phone, post, social media, and digital remarketing.

We also obtain specific, unambiguous, opt in consent from our patients for referrals to doctors and healthcare providers.  For a new patient,we obtain consent for these things when the patient first attends the practice.  For an existing patient, we ask the patient for consent when they attend for their recall appointment or for a treatment appointment.  We refresh this consent annually when the patient completes a new medical history proforma.

Patients who have given their opt in consent have a right to withdraw their consent at any time. Patients are advised of their right to withdraw their consent for anything they wish to withdraw from in our privacy notice.

The rules on processing and sharing information during the COVID-19 pandemic have been relaxed to allow healthcare providers to protect public health and manage the spread of the virus.

We may need to contact our patients, their families or third-party organisations regarding patients’ appointments, medical histories, and treatment. Where possible, we will obtain prior consent to process and share this information.

Where patients have not previously consented to or have withdrawn their consent for us to contact or share or process their data, we will assess whether the need for processing is proportionate and necessary in relation to the risk to the individual and/or the public if the information is not shared.

Your credit or debit card information

If you use your credit or debit card, we pass your card details securely to our payment-processing partner as part of the payment process. We do this in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Security Standard and do not store the details on our database.

Transferring information outside the UK and EEA

Some companies that we work with or that provide services to us are in, or run their services from, outside the UK.

We take steps to make sure that when we transfer information to another country, appropriate protection is in place, in line with global data-protection laws. Certain countries are considered to provide an adequate level of protection because of the data-protection laws in place in those countries. If this is not the case, the protection may be set out under our contract with the organisation who receives the information.

Latest updated

10th May 2021