We will ask for information about you and your health in providing dental care and treatment. We may receive information from other providers involved in providing your care. This privacy notice describes the type of personal information we hold, why and what we do with it.

About us

Middlewich Street Dental Practice LTD operates at 50-52 Middlewich Street, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 4DA.

Scott and Oratile Hall are responsible for securing all information they hold about you. Those at the Practice who have access to your personal information include the dentist, dental professionals involved with your care and treatment, and the reception staff responsible for the management and administration of the Practice.

Our data protection officer, Oratile Hall, ensures that the Practice complies with data protection requirements to ensure that we collect, use, store and dispose of your information responsibly. You can contact our data protection officer, Oratile Hall, at [email protected].

Information that we hold

We can only keep and use the information for specific legal reasons. If we want to keep and use information about your health, we can only do so in particular circumstances. Below we describe the information we hold and why, and the lawful basis for collecting and using it.

1. Contact details

We hold your personal information, including your name, date of birth, address, contact numbers and email address. This information allows us to fulfil our contract with you to provide appointments. We will also use the information to send you reminders and recall selections, as we have a legitimate interest in ensuring your continuing care and informing you of our services.

2. Dental Records

We hold information about your dental and general health, including:

• Clinical records are made by the dentist and other dental professionals involved with your care and treatment.
• X-rays, clinical photographs, digital scans of your mouth and teeth, and study models.
• Medical and dental histories.
• Treatment plans and consents.
• Notes of conversations with you about your care.
• Date of appointments.
• Details of any complaints you have made and how these complaints were dealt with.
• Correspondence with you and other health professionals or institutions.

We collect and use this information to allow us to fulfil our contract with you to discuss your treatment options and provide dental care that meets your needs. We also use this information for the legitimate interest of ensuring the quality of the treatment we provide.

3. Financial information

We hold information about the fees we have changed, the amounts you have paid and some payment details. This information forms part of our contractual obligation to you to provide dental care and allows us to meet legal and financial requirements.

How we use your information

• We require up-to-date and accurate information about you to provide you with the dental care and treatment you need.
• We will share your information with the NHS (dental referrals) and Patient Plan Direct (if you are a dental plan patient) regarding your dental treatment.
• We may contact you to conduct patient surveys or to find out if you are happy with the treatment you received for quality control.
• We will seek your preference for how we contact you about your dental care. Our usual methods are by telephone or email.
• If we wish to use your information for dental research or education, we will discuss this with you and seek your consent. Depending on the purpose and if possible, we will anonymise your information. If this is not possible, we will inform you and discuss your options.
• We may use your contact details to inform you of products and services available at our Practice.
• We have CCTV at the Practice for patient and staff safety.

4. Sharing information

Your information is typically used only by those working at the Practice, but there may be instances where we need to share it, for example, with:

• Your doctor
• The hospital or community dental services or other health professionals caring for you
• Specialist dental or medical services to which we may refer you
• Dental laboratories
• Debt collection agencies
• Private dental schemes of which you are a member
• Health insurance schemes of which you are a member

We will only disclose your information on a need-to-know basis and limit any information we share to a minimum. We will inform you in advance if we send your medical information to another provider and will give you the provider’s details at that time.

In certain circumstances or if the law requires, we may need to disclose your information to a third party not connected with your health care, including HMRC or other law enforcement or government agencies.

5. Keeping your information safe

We store your personal information securely on our practice computer and in a manual filing system. Those who do not work at the Practice cannot access your information. Only authorised team members have access to your data (on a need-to-know basis). They understand their legal responsibility to maintain confidentiality and follow practice procedures to ensure this.

We take precautions to ensure the security of the practice premises, the practice filing systems and computers.

We use high-quality specialist dental software to record and use your personal information safely and effectively. Our computer system has a secure audit trail, and we back up information routinely.

We use cloud computing facilities for storing some of your information. The Practice has a rigorous agreement without a provider to ensure that we meet the obligations described in this policy and that we keep your information secure.

We keep your records for 11 years after your last visit to the Practice or until you reach the age of 25, whichever is longer. At your request, we will delete non-essential (for example, some contact details) before the end of this period.

6. Access to your information and other rights

You have a right to access the information we hold about you and receive a copy. We do not usually charge you for copies of your information; if we pass on a charge, we will explain the reasons.

You can also request us to:

• Correct any information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. If we disclose that information to a third party, we will inform you about the change.
• Erase some of the information we hold; for legal reasons, we may be unable to erase certain information (for example, information about your dental treatment). However, if you ask us to, we can delete some contact details and other non-clinical information.
• Stop using your information, for example, sending you appointment reminders or information about our service. Even if you have given us consent to send you marketing information, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
• Stop using information if you believe the information is inaccurate or you think we are using your information illegally.
• Supply your information electronically to another dentist.

Suppose we rely on your consent to use your personal information for a particular purpose. In that case, you may withdraw your consent anytime, and we will stop using your data.

All requests should be made by email to Oratile Hall at [email protected].

7. If you disagree

Please discuss the matter with your dentist or receptionist if you do not wish us to use your personal information as described. If you object to how we collect and use your information, we may not be able to continue to provide your dental care.

Suppose you have concerns about how we use your information and cannot discuss it with your dentist or anyone at the Practice. In that case, you should contact, The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Cheshire, SK9 5AF (contact numbers, 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745).

Reviewed: Nicole Mindurski

4.7.23