Patient Privacy Policy

This policy sets out how Avenue House Dental Practice, a company registered in England with number 5938680, whose registered office is at 44 Southampton Road, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 9GG, uses and protects any information that you provide when you use Avenue House Dental Practice.

Avenue House Dental Practice is registered with the Information Commissioners Office, registration number Z9834079.

Personal Information

In providing you with our services, Avenue house may handle your personal information. Personal information is information about you from which you can be identified, such as your name and contact details. Depending on what services you receive from us, this may include sensitive personal information such as medical information.

By providing your data and/or information, or by using the Avenue House website or other online or digital platforms, you consent to the use of your data and information, as described or referred to in this privacy notice, and the cookie policy. The provisions of Avenue House’s social media terms and conditions may also apply. If we make a change to any of the ways in which we process personal information, we will update this policy.

Confidential and Medical Information

The confidentiality of your personal information is of paramount concern to Avenue house and we comply with UK data protection law and all the applicable medical confidentiality guidelines, issued by professional bodies, such as the General Dental Council and the British Dental Association.

Your confidential medical information will only be disclosed to those involved with your treatment or care, or in accordance with UK law and guidelines from professional bodes, or for the purposes of clinical audit (unless you object). If you receive services from Avenue House and that service transfers to a new provider, we may share your personal and confidential medical information with the new provider.

Securing Information

We are committed to keeping your personal information secure. We have put in place physical, electronic and operational procedures intended to safeguard and secure the information we collect. All Avenue House staff have a legal duty to respect the confidentiality of your information, and access to your confidential information is restricted only to those who have a reasonable need to access it.

When using the Avenue House website, if the URL of a web page starts with HTTPS, or you see a locked/green padlock symbol, your data should be encrypted when it is sent from your computer to our server. However, we cannot ensure the security of your data when it is being transmitted to our website or other digital sites from other pages. All transmission of personal information and other data is done so at your own risk.

Information submitted to Avenue House through a website is normally unprotected until it reaches us. In addition, users are also requested not to send confidential details or credit card numbers, for example, by email.

Information we may hold about you

The information we hold about you may include the following:

• Basic details such as name, address, contact details and next of kin
• Details of contact we have had with you
• Details of services you have received
• Patient experience feedback and treatment outcome information that you provide
• Information about complaints and incidents
• Notes and reports about your health and any treatment and care you have received or need
• Information from customer surveys, competitions and marketing activities
• Recordings of calls we receive or make

When we collect your information

Information about you is collected when:

• You use our services
• You submit a query to us, for example by email, telephone or social media, including where you reference Avenue House Dental Practice in a public social media post
• You participate in any marketing activity

We may also collect personal information about you from other people when:

• We liaise with your family, employer, health professional or other treatment or benefit provider. We may only share information in this way where you have provided your consent or in circumstances where you are incapable of giving consent, or we are unable or it is not reasonable to seek your permission, or we are required to by law or in accordance with guidance from professional bodies.
• You use a third party application to provide information to one of our mobile applications or websites

Using your information

We use your personal information to provide you with our services, and to improve and extend our services. This may include:

• Responding to your queries
• Supporting your medical treatment or care and other benefits
• Internal record keeping and administration
• Responding to requests where we have a legal or regulatory obligation to do so
• Checking the accuracy of information about you, and the quality of your treatment or care, including auditing, medical and billing information
• Supporting your nurse, carer or other healthcare professional
• Assessing the type and quality of care you have received and any concerns or complaints you raise, so that these can be properly investigated
• Using your contact information to send promotional material about new products, special offers or other information we think you may find interesting (see ‘Keeping you Informed’ below for more information)
• Using your contact information to give you an opportunity to complete a customer satisfaction survey
• Using your contact information to conduct and analyse market research

Sharing Information

Avenue House Dental Practice works with other individuals and organisations to provide our services to you, and this may involve them handling your personal information. We do not share your personal information with anyone outside of Avenue House Dental Practice, except:

• When we have your express permission
• When we are permitted or obliged to do so by law. For example, we are required to provide information to organisations such as the National Registries (eg. The Cancer Registry) and to notify the Government of certain infectious diseases such as TB and meningitis (but not HIV/aids)
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share personal data in order to enforce or apply our terms of use (of our website or any part of it) or terms and conditions of supply of any relevant products or services and other agreements
• To protect the rights, property, or safety of Avenue House, our customers, or others
• In order to detect, prevent and help with the prosecution of financial crime. For example, we may share information with fraud prevention or law
enforcement agencies, and other organisations. If we suspect fraudulent activity we may inform the person or organisation who administers or funds your dental services
• If there are other exceptional circumstances, and we are unable or it is not appropriate, to seek your permission

In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.

Keeping Information

We will only keep your personal information for as long as is necessary and in accordance with UK Law

Keeping you informed

Avenue House would like to keep you informed of the Practice’s products and services that we consider may be of interest to you (via mail, email, phone or SMS). When we collect your information, we will ask you if you would like us to keep you updated in this way. We may use your personal information to:

• Decide which services we think are relevant to you
• Decide which media, including social media platforms, would best be utilised to reach the customers who wish to receive marketing materials
• Contact you with details of our products and services, including displaying interest based adverts via social media

If you do not wish to receive marketing information about our products and services, or at any time you change your mind about receiving these messages, please inform the Practice Manager.

Accessing Information

If you have any data protection queries, please contact the Practice Data Protection Officer:

• Email – [email protected]
• Write – Avenue House Dental Practice, 44 Southampton Road, Lymington, Hants, SO41 9GG

You should also contact the Practice Manager to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to ask us to correct or remove (where justified) any inaccurate information. We may charge a small fee for providing you with a copy of your personal information. We may also ask you to provide additional documentation to confirm your identity, or, if you are seeking to access personal information of another individual, proof of their consent or your legal right to receive their personal information.

Updating this Privacy Policy

We regularly review and update this policy.