GDPR Policy
PRIVACY AND GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATIONS (GDPR)
Roger Pope & Partners is committed to protecting your privacy and is committed to maintaining it in accordance with the law. We will not collect information about you without your consent. We will always keep your personal information safe and will never sell it to third parties. Unless legally required to do so, Roger Pope Opticians will not share your personally identifiable information with any third party beyond legitimate reasons in the provision of your healthcare. We will be clear and open with you about why we collect your personal information and how we use it. Where you have choices, we'll explain them to you and respect your wishes.
SAFEGUARDING YOUR INFORMATION
We aim to provide you with the highest quality of healthcare. To do this we need to keep records about you, your health, and the care we have provided or plan to provide to you. We hold this information in a secure environment.
INFORMATION RECORDED
Information recorded may include:
• Basic details about you, such as name, address and date of birth;
• Details of your current spectacle or contact lens prescription;
• Details of spectacles or contact lenses supplied to you;
• Other details and notes about your health and medical treatment;
• Records of medicines you have been prescribed by your doctor or healthcare provider;
• Information relevant to your continued care from other people who care for you and know you well, such as other healthcare professionals and relatives.
As part of providing a professional, safe and efficient service, there is certain information that we record. This includes details about your ocular health, your general health, advice given and referrals made to other healthcare professionals. This information will not be shared with anyone else except under the circumstances described below in ‘Sharing Information’.
SHARING INFORMATION
The information held about you will not be shared for any reason, unless:
• You ask us to do so;
• We ask and you give us specific permission;
• We are permitted by law, for example, where public interest overrides the need to keep the information confidential.
People we may ask you for permission to share information with, will include your doctors, (GP and hospital), ophthalmologists and other healthcare professionals.
Anyone who receives information from us also has a legal duty to keep this information confidential, subject to recognised exceptions of the types listed above.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Following an eye or contact lens examination patients will be given a copy of their prescription. Copies of prescriptions can be re-issued but for the safeguard of our patients the following should be noted:
• The prescription will need to be signed by the prescribing optician or signed as a certified copy by a registered optician. He or she may be available on the same day, but the signature may be delayed until the optician is next in the practice.
• Details will not be given out over the phone, this is for both security and the elimination of transcription errors.
• Under no circumstances will prescriptions be given, verbally or otherwise, to a 3rd party unless under strict authorisation of the patient concerned.
YOUR RIGHTS
You have the right to confidentiality under the GDPR, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the common law duty of confidence (the Disability Discrimination and the Race Relations Acts may also apply). Optical practices have a requirement under their professional Code of Ethics to keep records about you confidential, secure and accurate.
Our staff contracts of employment contain a requirement to keep patient information confidential.
Our guiding principle is that we hold your records in strict confidence.
YOUR RIGHT TO VIEW YOUR HEALTH RECORD
You have the right to ask for a copy of all our records about you.
You will need to give adequate information in order for optical staff to identify you (for example, full name, address and date of birth). Please see ‘Request For Access To Data’.
REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO DATA
A request for access to personal data must be made in writing subject to any applicable exemption. A copy of information held on our electronic record will be provided. We are required to respond to your request within 21 days.
OUR GENERAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY
All personal data will be relevant and lawfully collected.
Data shall only be held and used for lawful purposes.
Data held on a specific patient will not be disclosed unless under written permission from the said patient.
Every effort will be made to ensure data is accurate and up to date.
An individual shall be entitled at reasonable intervals and without undue delay or expense;
• To be informed by any of our data users whether personal data is held of which you are the subject;
• To have access to any such data held by a data user, and where appropriate, to have such data corrected or erased.
PREPARING FOR A PERSONAL DATA BREACH
A personal data breach means a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data. This includes breaches that are the result of both accidental and deliberate causes.
• We know how to recognise a personal data breach.
• We understand that a personal data breach isn’t only about loss or theft of personal data.
• We have prepared a response plan for addressing any personal data breaches that occur.
When a personal data breach has occurred, and if it’s likely that there will be a risk then we will notify the ICO.
If a breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, we will inform those concerned and without undue delay.
