Privacy Policy

Mary Rush Care Ltd have provided this privacy notice to set out why we need to collect personal information relating to our Service Users, families, friends and representatives, how we use it and how we protect it.

The registered office for Mary Rush Care Ltd is – Goldcare House, 16 Castlegate, Tickhill, Doncaster, DN11 9QU

Mary Rush Care Ltd is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide accommodation and personal care without nursing.

We recognise that the privacy and security of personal information is of great importance to our Service Users, their families and friends, our staff and others such as GPs and all those involved in looking after the welfare of our Service Users.

Mary Rush Care Ltd is required by law to tell you about your rights and our obligations regarding our collecting and processing of any of your personal information, which you might provide to us. We have a range of policies and procedures to ensure that any personal information you supply is only with your active consent and will always be held securely and treated confidentially in line with the applicable regulations. We have listed the relevant documents in a later section (6) and can make any available at request.

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer who is responsible for overseeing questions relating to this privacy notice. If you have any questions please contact us.

Where we use the term ‘Service User’ in this privacy notice, we refer to residents in our residential care homes and any other Service Users which we provide care for.

The personal information we refer to in this privacy notice includes information that can be used to identify you. Your name and address are the main examples.

What personal information we collect about service users, employees and third parties

As a registered care provider, we must collect some personal information on our service users, including financial information, which is essential to our being able to provide effective care and support. We also collect information about you when you enquire about our services, use our website or when you voluntarily complete customer surveys.

We may collect information about your life, including social history, health and well-being, treatment and care. This may also contain information about your marital status, ethnicity and sexual orientation and details of medical treatments.

Personal information of any relative, next of kin, attorney or deputy to one of our Service Users may be stored, including full name, relationship to the Service User, contact details including address, telephone numbers and/or email addresses.

When you visit our care homes the purpose of your visit and your car registration number will be recorded and stored for the prevention and detection of crime and/or the safety of our Service users and staff.

Your information is contained in individual files (manual and electronic) and other record systems, all of which are subject to strict security and authorised access policies. Personal information that becomes inactive, eg from enquiries or prospective users who do not enter the service is also kept securely for as long as it is needed, before being safely disposed of.

Employees – The service operates a safe recruitment policy to comply with the regulations in which all personal information obtained, including CVs and references, is, like service users’ information, securely kept, retained and disposed of in line with data protection requirements. All employees are aware of their right to access any information about them.

All personal information obtained about others associated with the delivery of the care service, including contractors, visitors, etc will be protected in the same ways as information on service users and employees.

How we collect information

The bulk of service users’, employees’ and thirds parties’ personal information is collected directly from them or through form filling, mainly manually, but also electronically for some purposes, eg when contacting the service through its website.

With service users, we might continue to build on the information provided in enquiry and referral forms, and for example, from needs assessments, which feed into their care and support plans.

We may collect information from compliments, complaints, accidents and incidents information.

With employees, personal information is obtained directly and with consent through such means as references, testimonials and criminal records (DBS) checks. When recruiting staff, we seek applicants’ explicit consent to obtain all the information needed for us to decide to employ them.

All personal information obtained to meet our regulatory requirements will always be treated in line with our explicit consent, data protection and confidentiality policies.

Our website and databases are regularly checked by experts to ensure they meet all privacy standards and comply with our general data protection security and protection policies.

What we do with personal information

Your record will contain detailed information about your health and well-being including illnesses, medical appointments and treatments. It will also contain details of your attorney, deputies, your close family and/or next of kin. We will share this information with medical and health professionals who have a legal and legitimate need to use the information to support the care provided to you.

All personal information obtained on service users, employees and third parties is used only to ensure that we provide a service, which is consistent with our purpose of providing person-centred care, which meets all regulatory standards and requirements. It will not be disclosed or shared for any other purpose.

At this time, we do not share any data for planning or research purposes for which the national data opt-out would apply. We review all of the confidential patient information we process on an annual basis to see if this is used for research and planning purposes. If it is, then individuals can decide to stop their information being shared for this purpose. You can find out more information at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/.

We process your personal data to manage the services we provide to you, to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between us and you, to provide you with information or services you have requested and to process payments and refunds.

How we keep your information safe

Mary Rush Care Ltd has a range of policies that enable us to comply with all data protection requirements. Foremost are:

Access to Employee Data

Complaints

Computer Security

Confidentiality of Service Users’ Information

Consent to Care and Treatment

GDPR (from May 2018) and Data Protection

Record Keeping

Information Governance under the General Data Protection Regulation

Protecting Personal Data under the General Data Protection Regulation

Safe Staff Recruitment and Selection

Service Users’ Access to Records

Sharing Information with other Providers.

We take the privacy and security of your personal details very seriously. We ensure we handle your data with the highest level of care by having clear internal policies and procedures, physical security to our premises and IT security technologies to prevent the unauthorised access, damage or loss of your data.

With whom we might share information

We only share the personal information of service users, employees and others with their consent on a “need to know” basis, observing strict protocols in doing so. Most information sharing of service users’ information is with other professionals and agencies involved with their care and treatment. Likewise, we would not disclose information about our employees without their clear agreement, eg when providing a reference.

We work closely and share information with the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), local and health authorities, medical professional and regulators to deliver our care services. We will receive information from them regarding your health and care including admission details, care records and medical records.

We are required from time to time to provide specific information about you without you or your representative’s consent. This may include –

• Reporting health or safety issues including infectious diseases
• Where there is a legal or statutory requirement, court order or public authority which instructs us to do so
• Supporting police investigations, professional conduct hearings and safeguarding investigations in the public interest.

In exceptional circumstances we may be required to share information without you or your representative’s consent. Circumstances may include:

• Where a serious crime or fraud has been committed
• If there is a serious risk to the public, service users or employees
• Where there is a need to protect children or vulnerable adults who are not able to decide if their personal data should be shared

Even when seeking to notify the local authority of a safeguarding matter or the Care Quality Commission of an incident that requires us to notify it, we would only do so with consent or ensure that the information provided is treated in confidence.

Where we provide information for statistical purposes, the information is aggregated and provided anonymously so that there is no privacy risk involved in its use.

How personal information held by the care provider can be accessed

There are procedures in place to enable any staff member, employee or third party whose personal information we possess and might process in some way to have access to that information on request.    The right to access includes both the information and any uses which we might have made of the information.

If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please contact us.

We want to make sure the information we hold is correct and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is incorrect.

We may ask for proof of identity before we share your personal data with you or your representative.

How long we keep information

There are strict protocols in place that determine how long the organisation will keep the information, which are in line with the relevant legislation and regulations.

We will only keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including satisfying any legal, contractual or reporting requirements. How long we keep your data for is determined by law and is largely determined by necessity. Once your information is no longer required it will be securely destroyed.

You have the right to ask us to delete your data where retaining it is no longer necessary.

Where we process your data based solely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

How we keep our privacy policies up to date

The staff appointed to control and process personal information in our organisation are delegated to assess all privacy risks continuously and to carry out comprehensive reviews of our data protection policies, procedures and protocols at least annually.

How to contact us

Data Protection Officer, Mary Rush Care Ltd, Goldcare House, 16 Castlegate, Tickhill, Doncaster, DN11 9QU