Privacy & Data Protection

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and other organisations in the event you have a complaint. Please see the section on ‘Your rights’ for more information.

Introduction

In order that the Nightingale Homecare Group Ltd can provide care and support services to the people we support we collect and use certain personal information about you.

Personal information means any information about you from which you can be identified, but it does not include information where your identity has been removed (anonymous data).

As the ‘controller’ of personal information, we are responsible for how that data is managed. The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which applies in the United Kingdom and across the European Union, sets out our obligations to you and your rights in respect of how we manage your personal information.

As the ‘controller’ of your personal information, we will ensure that the personal information we hold about you is:

*          Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.

*          Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.

*          Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.

*          Accurate and kept up to date.

*          Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.

*          Kept securely.

Examples of the Information collected by us

When you enquire about Nightingale Homecare care and support services and during the course of providing care and support services to you we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

• Your name, home address, date of birth and contact details (including your telephone number, email address) and emergency contacts (i.e. name, relationship and home and mobile numbers)
• Your allergies and any medical, physical or mental conditions and in particular your care needs.
• Your likes, dislikes and lifestyle preferences (including your religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature, racial or ethnic origin, genetics, health, and sexuality (so far as they relate to providing you with suitable care).

Information collected from other sources

We also obtain personal information from other sources such as:

• Your allergies and any medical, physical or mental conditions and in particular your care and support needs, from any appropriate external social or health care professionals (including your GP).
• Your name, home address, date of birth, contact details, needs assessments and financial assessments from any appropriate external social or health care professionals (including any relevant public body regardless of whether you are publicly funded).
• Your likes, dislikes and lifestyle preferences (including your religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature, racial or ethnic origin, genetics, health, and sexuality so far as they relate to providing you with suitable care) from your family, friends and any other person you have nominated as your representative.
• Your Attorney or Deputy (if applicable)

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

• Prepare, review and update a suitable care plan, describing the nature and level of care and support services which you have requested we supply to you
• To communicate with you, your representatives and any appropriate external social or health care professionals about your individual needs and personalise the service delivered to you
• Make reasonable adjustments, when required, to meet your individual needs and to ensure we have suitable facilities to ensure your safety
• Invoice you or the Local Authority / Clinical Health Commissioners for the care and support services in accordance with our terms and conditions
• Carry out quality assurance procedures, review our service and improve our customer experience

Who we share your personal information with

We regularly share your medical information with appropriate external social or health care professionals (including your GP and pharmacist) and any individuals you have nominated as your representative. This data sharing enables us to establish the type of care and support you need. It also allows us to design the right care package to suit your individual circumstances, including if (in future) you decide to receive care from an alternative provider.

• We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by law. This includes information required by public bodies to evidence our compliance with the applicable regulatory framework. We are also required to share personal information with external social or health care professionals, including public bodies and local safeguarding groups (in some circumstances) to ensure your safety.
• We will not share, sell or trade your personal information with any other third party.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and if so why

The provision of your medical, physical or mental condition is necessary to enable us to create a care plan and to provide you with suitable care and support services.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

• Fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information;
• Access to your personal information and to certain other supplementary   information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address;
• Require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold;
• Require the erasure (i.e. deletion) of personal information concerning you, in certain situations. Please note that if you ask us to delete any of your personal information which we believe is necessary for us to comply with our contractual or legal obligations, we may no longer be able to provide care and support services to you;
• Receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations;
• Object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you;
• Object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal information;
• Otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
• Claim compensation for damages caused by our breach of any data protection laws;

For further information on each of these rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data protection Regulation

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have procedures in place to keep your personal information secure and to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Statement of Purpose

Click here to download (PDF)