Privacy Policy
1. Purpose
This policy outlines the ways that Herts & Essex Fertility Centre (HEFC) collects and uses personal data and sensitive personal data (we will refer to this as personal information) from patients and individuals. HEFC is legally responsible for ensuring its processing of personal information is compliant with all current data protection laws. This policy explains what information of yours will be collected by HEFC, how the information will be used, and how you can control the collection, correction and/or deletion of information. We will not use or share your information with anyone except as described in this Privacy Policy.
- Personal data is any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified such as name, etc.
- Sensitive personal data: also called ‘special category data’ such as ethnic origin, biometric data, and religious beliefs.
The purpose of this policy is also to ensure that patients experience a level of care in an environment that actively encompasses respect for individual values, beliefs and personal relationships.
Appropriate staff attitudes and behaviour are promoted including consideration of non-verbal behaviour and body language and the needs of minority groups.
2. What data we Collect
2.1 Treatment information
As per all the healthcare professionals in the UK, HEFC is required by law to maintain all health, treatment or care records of all our patients. These records help our clinic provide the best possible care and treatment which reflects our high standards.
All the information we collect and hold for our patients allows us to provide a number of different treatment services, monitor the quality of care that our patients experience and run our clinic efficiently and effectively. These records also help us to respond to our patient’s queries or secure specialist services and are kept in both written and/or electronic form. Our clinic’s records include contact information about each patient, such as name, DOB, telephone, email and postal address, in addition to more sensitive information about their health, including medical history, results of investigations: laboratory tests, blood tests, scans etc., which help our fertility experts plan and deliver the best treatment and care for each and every one of our patients.
2.2 Google analytics
When someone visits hertsandessexfertility.com we use a third-party service called Google Analytics, to collect standard internet behavioural information and details of visitor patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way that does not identify anyone. We do not make and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website.
2.3 Cookies
Like the majority of the active web pages our web pages use “cookies”. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we place on your computer or mobile device if you agree. These cookies allow us to distinguish differences between visitors and provide each visitor with a good experience when they browse our website, while at the same time helping us to improve our website journeys.
2.4 Disabling cookies?
If you want to disable cookies you need to change your website browser settings to reject cookies. This will depend on the browser you use. Find below details on how to disable cookies for the most popular browsers are set out below:
2.4.1 For Microsoft Internet Explorer:
Choose the menu “tools” then “Internet Options”
Click on the “privacy” tab
Click on the “advanced” button
Choose the appropriate settings you would like
2.4.2 For Google Chrome:
Choose Settings> Advanced
Under “Privacy and security,” click “Content settings”.
Click “Cookies” and choose the appropriate settings you would like
2.4.3 For Safari:
Choose Preferences > Privacy
Click on “Remove all Website Data”
2.4.4 For Mozilla Firefox:
Choose the menu “tools” then “Options”
Click on the icon “privacy”
Find the menu “cookie” and select the relevant options
2.4.5 For opera 6.0 and further:
Choose the menu “Files”> “Preferences”
Privacy
2.5 What happens if I disable cookies?
This depends on which cookies you disable, but in general, the website may not operate properly if cookies are switched off.
2.6 Social media cookies
In order to enhance your Internet experience and to make the sharing of content easier, some of the pages on our website may contain tools or applications that are linked to third-party social media service providers such as Facebook or Twitter (see the ‘Social Media Widgets’ section, below). Through these tools or applications, the social media service provider may set its own cookies on your device.
We do not control these cookies and you should check the social media service provider’s website for further details about how they use cookies and how to manage these cookies.
2.7 Use of the information collected
User-Provided Information
Personal information provided to HEFC by our patients will only be used for the purposes stated when the information is requested, such as creating a self-referral.
We will not be allowing third parties to access your personal information for any contact purposes without your express permission. Personal information collected and/or processed by HEFC is held in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR)
Demographic and Statistical records
Demographic and statistical information about user behaviour collected via Google Analytics is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the Herts & Essex Fertility Centre website and help enhance our content to be more useful, such as seeing which pages are most used, which content people spend the most amount of time on etc. We also use it to look at the impact of our marketing activities, for example, to monitor where users are coming from, whether our announcements are being noticed etc.
Any disclosure of this information is always anonymised and will never identify individual users.
Patient Surveys
Providing excellent patient experience is a top priority of the Herts & Essex Fertility Centre. We regularly carry out in-house surveys which help us monitor our patient’s experience through their treatment journey and allow us to make improvements. Our surveys are always anonymous and all answers provided are kept in confidentiality.
Sharing your information
We have a legal obligation to share some key details related to your treatment with The Human Fertility & Embryology Authority (HFEA), and may also have to share your information – subject to strict agreements on how it will be used, with the following partners:
Your GP – with your explicit consent
Clinical Commissioning Groups
Fertility Funding Programmes – with your explicit consent
Fire and Rescue Services
Police
We will never share your information outside of health partner organisations without your explicit consent unless there are exceptional circumstances, such as when the health or safety of others is at risk, where the law requires it, or to carry out a statutory function.
Please note: we may be legally obliged to disclose your personal information to third parties if we are under a duty to disclose or share such information as necessary to prevent and detect crime, protect public funds and ensure the personal information is accurate. These third parties include government departments, local authorities and private sector organisations such as those offering Fertility Programmes, but this will only be in the exceptional circumstances listed above.
3. How we store information collected
3.1 Our servers
The information which you provide to us will be stored on our secure servers. Our servers are hosted in Cheshunt and managed by the Broxbourne Council IT team which complies with all EU privacy regulations including GDPR.
3.2 In the clinic
All our staff working for our clinic is subject to existing data protection regulations, including the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality. Confidential information will only be used to provide the agreed treatment to which you have consented unless there are other circumstances covered by the law. All our staff are required to protect your information, inform you of how your information will be used, and allow you to decide if, and how your information can be shared. All our staff are expected to make sure information is kept confidential and receive regular training on how to do this.
3.3 Information security
We work hard to protect our clinic and our patients from unauthorised access to or unauthorised alteration, disclosure or destruction of information that we hold. We review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorised access to systems.
We restrict access to personal information to contractors and agents who need to know that information to process it for us and who are subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations. They may be disciplined or their contract terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.
4. Accessing and updating personal information
4.1 Accessing your data
The General Data Protection Regulation gives you the right to access information held about you. We aim to provide you with access to your personal information. We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate – unless we have to keep that information for legitimate business or legal purposes.
If you wish to have a copy of the information we hold about you, please contact: our administration team at enquiries@hertsandessexfertility.com
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, or about the information we hold, feel free to contact us in any of the following ways:
By Email -: enquiries@hertsandessexfertility.com
Data Protection Officer at -: sharon.julians@hertsandessexfertility.com
SIRO (Senior Information Risk Officer) -: sharon.julians@hertsandessexfertility.com
By Phone -: 01992 78 50 60
By Post -: Herts & Essex Fertility Centre, Bishops College, Churchgate, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire EN8 9XP
5. Testimonials
We are happy to publish testimonials and treatment stories of patients who are happy to share their experiences with our clinic and the outcome of their treatment online. We only include the information they are happy to share and we always ask for their consent when it comes to pictures and names.
If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, you can contact us at
enquiries@hertsandessexfertility.com
6. Compliance with Regulatory Authorities
We review our Privacy Policy regularly and we are up to date with national data protection regulations. When we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We work with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints regarding the transfer of personal data that we cannot resolve with our users directly.
6.1 Changes to our privacy policy
Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to our patients via email.
This privacy policy was last updated on 14th May 2018.
7. Complaints
If you have concerns or are unhappy about any of our services, please contact -:
Soriah Jones, Nurse Manager/Complaints Officer at soriah.jones@hertsandessexfertility.com
or Sarah Templeman, Clinic & Nursing Director at sarah.templeman@hertsandessexfertility.com
We will acknowledge a written complaint within 2 working days of receipt and aim to provide a full written response within 21 working days.
If the complaint cannot be resolved after Stages 1 and 2 of the Complaints process we will ask for your complaint to be reviewed externally by the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Services ISCAS an External Adjudicator to resolve.
If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy, or about the information we hold, feel free to contact the Data Protection Officer at sharon.julians@hertsandessexfertility.com
