At End Cottage Veterinary Clinic we are committed to the proper use, control and storage of all information and data deemed as sensitive under the Data Protection Act 1998, and under the recent change in EU legislation; GDPR May 2018.
We confirm that we are data controllers and as such acknowledge our responsibilities in the appropriate collection, handling and storage of personal information, and that of obtaining and recording appropriate consent.
Personal data collected from data subjects (clients) is used and held on record as it is necessary in order to provide our professional services and to enable a professional relationship to exist between a registered client and the veterinary practice.
Your personal details and End Cottage Veterinary Clinic
- Information required to register as a client at End Cottage Veterinary Clinic will be held on a ‘practice management system’ – a computerised database holding all patient records and registered client files.
- The ‘practice management system’ provider has issued a privacy statement to confirm that the system is sufficiently secure to meet GDPR standards.
- There are a number of instances whereby the personal information held about you on the ‘practice management system’ may be transferred off site in the interests of the welfare of an animal(s) registered under your care, or to provide you with a service that you have requested from us. Your consent to any such transfer of information will be obtained and recorded per instance or for future reference. Your data will not be sent to any third party such as your pet insurance company or our appointed health plan provider, without your prior consent.
- Documents pertaining to your consent to treatment and procedures, and all relevant documents that form a part of a patients’ clinical records, will be stored on file at the practice for a period of six years and three hundred and sixty four days (6 years and 364 days) from the date that any such consent has been provided or the last appointment attended as a client at the practice. The reason for this is that we are obliged to keep records for this period of time by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as this is the period of time that a legal case may be brought against a veterinary practice or veterinary surgeon.
- In order to provide some of our administrative support services such as vaccination reminders or flea and worm treatment reminders we need to make direct or indirect contact with you. If you have not received any such service from us before then your express permission to do so will be obtained. If you currently receive this service from us then we acknowledge that this is a pre-existing contact agreement and failure to send any such reminder could result in a clinical problem for your animals. As such, we will continue to send reminders and we will obtain and record your continued consent and contact preference at the earliest opportunity when you next visit the practice.
- You are able to amend your consent for data handling at any point – please advise a member of our team.
- You can stipulate the ways in which End Cottage Veterinary Clinic can contact you and you can amend your preferences at any time. Please speak to a member of our team.
- You have the right to make your personal details anonymous on our system but this will only work in the instance that you no longer require our veterinary services. Your records will be held on file for the full term of requirement (as per above) but your personal details will not be viewable on the ‘practice management system’
- Please note that we are unable to provide veterinary services for a client who has not completed the required registration details.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUERIES OR QUESTIONS REGARDING THE USE OR STORAGE OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA OR YOU WISH TO RAISE CONCERN REGARDING THE USE OR STORAGE OF YOUR DATA PLEASE FORWARD YOUR CONCERNS IN WRITING TO:
PRACTICE MANAGER
END COTTAGE VETERINARY CLINIC
BOOTHFERRY ROAD
HOWDEN
DN14 7TA
