Privacy Notice

The Dental Hub, hereafter referred to as "the organisation", "us", "we" or "our", is committed to ensuring the security of personal data held by the organisation. The Dental Hub complies with the Data Protection Act (2018) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018. This means that we will ensure that your information is processed fairly and lawfully.

What personal information do we need to hold?

We may hold the following information about you:

• Your past and current medical and dental condition; personal details such as your age, address, telephone number and your general medical practitioner.
• Details of your NHS number and entitlement to healthcare treatment (if applicable).
• Details of your exemption status.
• Radiographs, clinical photographs and study models.
• Information about the treatment that we have provided or proposed and its cost.
• Notes of conversations or incidents that might occur for which a record needs to be kept.
• Records of consent to treatment.
• Records of correspondence relating to your care between the practice and other health care professionals, for example in the hospital or community services.
• Records of your bank account details for the management of Direct Debit payments for our Dental Plan products.

Why do we hold this information?

We need to keep accurate personal data about patients so that we can provide safe and appropriate dental care. We also need to process personal data about you if we are providing care under NHS arrangements to ensure the proper management of NHS administration (this applies only for patients registered for NHS dental care at our Wetherby and York locations).

Online Patient Portal

We use an online patient portal provided by Software of Excellence UK Ltd ("Dentally") to allow you to complete forms, provide medical information, and manage bookings securely online. Dentally acts as our data processor and processes your information solely for the purpose of transferring it to us and updating your dental records. Your data is stored securely on servers within the European Economic Area (EEA) and is handled in accordance with GDPR. Please note that use of the portal is also subject to Dentally's Portal Terms of Use, which can be accessed via the Portal.

Retaining information

Once your information is transferred from the online portal to our system it becomes part of your dental record, which may also include x-rays and study models, and is retained in line with our standard retention periods: ten years or until age 25, whichever is longer. Completed forms and records are held securely as part of your dental records. A patient's record should be complete and accurate to ensure you receive appropriate care. You can question the content of your records, but not on the basis that it is upsetting or that you disagree with it. Factual errors can be corrected but it must be immediately obvious what has been changed, who made the amendment and the time and date it was changed.

What about my right to opt out?

We cannot safely treat you without being able to create and maintain appropriate clinical records. We are unable to provide care to you within the organisation unless you agree to the terms of how we collect, store and process your data.

Security

Your information is held in the organisation's computer system and/or in a secure manual filing system. The information is only accessible to authorised personnel. Personal information will not be removed from the organisation without your authorised consent, except where retention or deletion is required under our record retention policy or by law.

All access to information is held securely and can only be accessed by passwords that are regularly changed. Data is encrypted and computer terminals are closed if unattended.

Disclosure of information

To provide proper and safe dental care, we may need to disclose your information to:

• Your general medical practitioner;
• Hospital or community dental services;
• Other health professionals caring for you;
• A dental laboratory if your dental work involves anything not made on the premises.

To administer payment for NHS dental care or other financial products available from the organisation, we may also need to disclose your information to:

• NHS payment authorities;
• The Inland Revenue;
• The Benefits Agency, where you are claiming exemption or remission from NHS charges;
• Private dental schemes of which you are a member;
• Bottomline Payment Services Ltd who process direct debit collections on behalf of the organisation for Dental Plans at all of our locations;
• Lloyd & White Group Ltd who administer Dental Plans for our Wetherby location;
• Tabeo Ltd/Tabeo Broker Ltd who process card terminal payments and provide patient finance on behalf of the organisation;
• Stripe, for processing payments made through our online portal;
• Debt Collection Services UK Ltd who collect bad debts on behalf of the organisation.

Disclosure will take place on a 'need-to-know' basis. Only those individuals or organisations who need information to provide your care or for the proper administration of financial services (whose personnel are covered by strict confidentiality rules) will receive your data.

In certain circumstances, we may be required to disclose information without your consent to protect a child or vulnerable adult from harm, or to comply with a legal obligation, or to assist law enforcement authorities (such as the police) in the prevention, investigation, detection, or prosecution of criminal offences. Such disclosures are carried out in accordance with safeguarding procedures, relevant law, and only to the extent necessary.

In very limited circumstances or when required by law or a court order, personal data may have to be disclosed to a third party not connected with your health care. In all other situations, disclosure that is not covered by this Code of Practice will only occur when we have your specific consent. Where possible you will be informed of these requests for disclosure.

Additional information

If you would like more information about how your information is collected, stored and processed, please contact the reception team at your usual practice. Their contact details are set out below: