PRIVACY POLICY: PINFOLD VETS

We aim to deliver a high-quality Veterinary service to you and your pet and hope that you have an excellent experience with us. We abide by the principles of service, care, honesty and integrity. We are also aware that you provide and trust us with your personal information for us to deliver care to your pet. This privacy notice recognises our responsibility in handling your data and clarifies in how it is handled and stored.

For services Innoveterinary Limited, trading as “Pinfold Vets”, is the data controller (the company responsible for protecting your information). For the purposes of this document Pinfold Vets will be used as the business name. If you have any queries about this policy, please speak to us directly or contact us on enquiries@pinfoldvets.co.uk.

HOW WE USE YOUR DATA

As a practice we request and hold specific data about people who work for us and those who use our services (known as Data Subjects). Examples of data we hold, but not exclusively are name, address, telephone numbers etc. We only collect what we feel is necessary and relevant to provide a Veterinary service to you. We hold and process this data principally for accurate recording of your pet’s health records and for financial and administrative purposes.

The following document highlights what information is collected, why we need to collect it and our lawful basis for doing so. Information is provided in line with current data protection legislation.

WHAT DATA WE COLLECT and store

Names
Address
Telephone numbers
Emails
Sensitive personal data (see section later)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WE MAY also COLLECT (these are NOT retained, see detailed policy information)

Images
Bank details

WHERE WE STORE YOUR DATA and DATA SECURITY

Pinfold Vets stores your personal data on our Practice Management Software System (VetIT). This system is maintained by VetIT and is accessed by them for Third Party for software support, repair or recovery. Access to VetIT is through web based service via practice computers. Practice computers are password protected and access is via individual logins which are changed regularly.

Additional paper data (including your details) for example consent forms, hospitalisation forms etc will also contain your data and contact information. Paper data is used in clinical areas and after use is stored in private, locked areas of Lennox House.

If you register with us online your details are collected via Jotfom.com but access is restricted to Pinfold Vets only through practice email. Practice emails are password protected and are deleted once used.

Bank details are never retained in unencrypted form.

Staff details are retained as long as staff remain in our employment and no longer require HR support.

We may on occasion ask to take pictures for posting on social media. In the majority of cases these will be of your pet. We will always ask for verbal permission to take images beforehand.

HOW LONG WE STORE YOUR DATA FOR:

Pinfold Vets is required to retain information in accordance with the law, such as financial information needed for income tax and audit purposes.

In order to comply with our professional liability insurance, we keep and securely store past clients records for seven years. This includes full name, address, email address and telephone number. Consent forms, hospitalisation forms are securely retained and destroyed after set retention periods.

Bank account details are never stored by us; they may on occasion be entered via encrypted software onto partner websites (see ‘how we use your data’)

HOW WE USE YOUR DATA:

1.To administer your account and provide the products and services you have requested from us we require your data to:

Manage appointments and communications with you, keep clinical notes and maintain records for invoicing, accounting and legal purposes.
Process pet insurance claims: We will pass on your pet’s clinical history with your name and address and contact details to your insurance company to allow them to process your claim. Often the details are completed by yourselves on online or paper claim forms.
Identify Laboratory samples. Currently the only data we share with our laboratory partners are surname and pet name for routine testing. For travel documentation (eg rabies certification) your data will be shared with a laboratory as well as being used on travel documents.
Cremation services: If you choose to have a deceased pet individually cremated, we will provide your name, pets name and address to the crematorium as this is a legal requirement for transfer.
Pinfold Pet Health Plan: If you decide to subscribe to our preventative healthcare plan and pay by direct debit, you will also need to provide bank account details to set up and confirm your direct debit. We do not retain this information once your direct debit is set up. Easy direct debits process and retain this information as Data processors. Details of their data protection policy can be found at https://www.easydirectdebits.co.uk/privacy-policy . Any information is inputted and encrypted on a secure portal. If you are on our home delivery service then your name, pets name and address are shared to ensure accurate delivery of preventive products. Timely text reminders are provided by Easy DD to ensure you administer products regularly.

2. To send you communications as a client of our practice.

We send all our clients the following healthcare communications:
Reminders for appointments, vaccinations and administering preventative healthcare treatments. These are carried out within the practice using “text marketer” software or, for pet health plan reminders through Easy DD.
We may send you healthcare information if we feel that we have a legitimate reason to do so in the interest of your pets health.

3. To share with veterinary related 3rd parties WITH your consent.

There will be occasions where we will need to ask for your consent to share your personal data with other parties. For example:
Referral of your pet to a specialist veterinary surgeon, Out of Hours provider (Vetsnow LTD) or Physiotherapy and ancillary veterinary services. In these instance we will provide the referral vet /service with your name, address and contact details to enable them to confirm your referral appointment and maintain contact with you. We will also provide your pet’s clinical history so they have all the relevant information to look after your pet.
Should you wish to move your pet’s care to an alternative veterinary surgery, we will provide your pet’s clinical history with your name and address to your new vets. Likewise if you are moving to us we will contact your previous vets in order to obtain your pets history and your details.
If you choose to have your pet microchipped, we register your name, address and contact number with the microchip provider. Note that microchipping of dogs is a legal requirement and we share your personal data in this case under a legal obligation to do so.

Sensitive personal data

On certain occasions you may need to divulge specific personal data to us that may be relevant to the treatment of your pet. This is known as Sensitive personal data. We would only record this after gaining specific consent from you and this would be recorded in a separate client file (not linked to your pets clinical history). This information can be deleted when it is no longer relevant and would NOT be passed onto any third parties.

YOUR RIGHTS AS THE DATA SUBJECT

The General Data Protection Regulation grants all data subjects the following rights without charge. These include the right to:

Fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use Personal Information.
Access your Personal Information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address
Require us to correct any mistakes in your information which we hold
Require the erasure of Personal Information concerning you in certain situations
Receive the Personal Information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations
Object at any time to processing of Personal Information concerning you for direct marketing
Object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you
Object in certain other situations to our continued processing of your Personal Information
Otherwise restrict our processing of your Personal Information in certain circumstances.

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

Pinfold Vets has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We encourage users to frequently check this page for any changes and to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.

COMPLAINTS

We take the processing of your personal data very seriously and are here to help with any concerns you may have. Please contact the practice by email : enquiries@pinfoldvets.co.uk or by phone 01509606979

If you are still not happy with how your personal data is being processed Pinfold Vets or how your complaint has been handled, you also have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the Information Commissioners Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by calling 0303 123 1113.

Updated 27^th June 2022