Privacy Policy
This data policy sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. We comply with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Your privacy is taken very seriously, and we are dedicated to handling your information in a secure, responsible and transparent manner.
What data we collect
When you register with us, we will store your title, name, address, any phone numbers and email addresses you give us on our practice management system. This essential information will be used to provide you with our veterinary services. With your opt-in consent, we may also send you practice information, reminders, offers, invitations and newsletters by email and/or SMS text message. You can opt out of receiving these electronic communications at any point, just let us know.
How we use your data
Your personal data will be used to make appointments, register and update your animal(s) records, contact you about your animal or your account and/or in response to any communications from you. It may also be used for reasons outlined in the “Sharing Your Data” section of this Privacy Policy.
Sharing your data
We will not sell or unnecessarily share your personal data. However, as a veterinary practice, there are a number of third parties who we may share your details with for the following legitimate or lawful reasons:
● Out of hours practices, referral practices or other veterinary practices, who, with your consent, may share your animal’s history to enable ongoing care
● Insurance companies, in order to help you process insurance claims
● Microchip companies, to register or check on your animal’s microchip details
● Zoetis, to enable vaccination reminders to be sent to you.
● VPG laboratories, to identify your pet’s laboratory samples
● Animal charities, to enable processing of vouchers
● The Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs and Animal and Plant Health Agency, to enable us to complete Animal Health Certificates and Export Health Certificates for your pet in compliance with current legislation and regulations or to report a Notifiable disease
● The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (V.M.D.), to enable us to request/complete Special Treatment Certificate(s) and for adverse reaction reporting
● The British Veterinary Association (B.V.A.) in relation to canine hip / elbow health schemes
● The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (R.C.V.S.) or Veterinary Defence Society (V.D.S) regarding matters related to the care of your pet
● The Health and Safety Executive (H.S.E.) to report an Injury, disease or dangerous occurrence (RIDDOR)
● A debt collection agency, solicitor, and H.M. Courts and Tribunals Service in relation to the recovery of outstanding debt.
In addition, we may share your data with a third party for the following reasons:
● To comply with our legal obligations, including where necessary to abide by law, regulation or contract, or to respond to a court order, administrative or judicial process
● In response to lawful requests by public authorities (including for national security or law enforcement purposes)
● As necessary to establish, exercise or defend against potential, threatened or actual litigation
● Where necessary to protect the vital interests of our employees or another person
● In connection with the sale, assignment or other transfer of all or part of our business
● With your freely given and explicit consent
Where we do share your data, we will endeavour to ensure your data is treated in the manner
outlined by this notice, and we will only ever do so on a “need to know basis” and in accordance
with applicable data protection and data privacy laws
Where your Data is Stored
Your data may be stored on our practice management system (PMS), Lupa, a cloud-based system. It may also be stored on our computers, on back-ups of the PMS, on our private email platform, on our electronic mailing list (if you have consented) and in hard copy at our
practice premises.
Data Retention
● We are required to keep your data for legal purposes for a minimum of six years. However, your
data may be retained for longer than this on our practice management system, although is unlikely to be accessed after this time. This is for many reasons, including the potential requirement for your pet’s early history as their lives will usually extend beyond this requirement.
● If you consent to being on our marketing mailing list, your data will be held here until you opt out of receiving it or it becomes clear the emails are not being received by you.
Our Website
Our website has its own privacy policy which you can access on the website itself.
Information you fill in on online forms (for example ‘contact us’, registration forms, online bookings etc) will be treated as per the data privacy policy outlined above.
Even though our website seeks to provide quality, safe and relevant external links, users ought to apply a policy of caution before following any external web links. Such links are followed at the
user’s own risk. The website owners can neither guarantee nor verify the contents of any externally linked website despite their very best efforts. Nicholson Veterinary Centre Ltd cannot be held liable for any damages or implications as a result of visiting any external links mentioned.
Social Media
Interactions made through external social media services such as Facebook and Instagram are subject to the terms and conditions, as well as the privacy policies held with each social media service. Users are encouraged to use social media platforms sensibly and with due care and attention in respect of their own privacy and personal details. Personal communication of sensitive data should be made with us through more private means such as telephone, email or in person.
Reviews
We are extremely happy to read good reviews about our services! We reserve the right to publish these reviews in our newsletter or on other promotional material. We will only publish your first name.
Photos of Your Animals
We would like to use photos of your pet on our website and social media pages and sometimes in our waiting room. We may use your animal’s name with such images. We will ask you for your consent before doing this. If you have consented and you change your mind, please let us know and we will take them down. We occasionally will take photos of your animal for clinical reasons such as documenting progression of a medical condition or to discuss a case with another colleague, these may sometimes be veterinary professionals not working at our practice.
Your Rights
You may exercise the rights available to you under data protection law as follows:
● The right to be informed
● The right of access
● The right to rectification
● The right to erasure
● The right to restrict processing
● The right to data portability
● The right to object
● Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling Please let us know by contacting us at the below address should you wish us to change or delete the data we hold for you or if you want to change how we process it.
Please remember that in order to be able to offer you veterinary services as a client we need your name, address and phone number as a minimum requirement.
Issues and complaints
We endeavour to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures. This notice was drafted with clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of our collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed.
Please do contact us if you have any questions or concerns about how we have collected or handled your personal data.
If you are still dissatisfied you can complain to the data supervisory authority for the UK, the ICO, by calling 0303 123 1113 or via their website https://ico.org.uk.