President Privacy Notice

Introduction

We ask that you read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

Who we are

Hartford Care is the trading name for the following companies: Hartford Care Ltd, Hartford Care (Southern) Ltd, Hartford Care (South West) Ltd, Hartford Care (2) Ltd, Hartford Care (4) Ltd, Hartford Care (5) Ltd, Hartford Care (9) Ltd, Burnham Lodge Ltd, Scio Healthcare Ltd, HW Group Ltd, Crispin Homes Ltd, Belford Care Ltd and Ashley Grange Nursing Home Ltd. We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are regulated under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

The personal information we collect and use

Information collected by us

In the course of providing residential and nursing care for our residents, we collect the following categories of personal information when you provide it to us:

  • Identity Data: your name, address, date of birth, telephone numbers, email addresses;
  • Power of Attorney details;
  • Family Data: name, address, telephone numbers and email addresses of family members that you or your Power of Attorney have requested we hold;
  • Gender, marital status, political beliefs, ethnicity, religion or sexuality;
  • Medical Data: name of your doctor, NHS number, full medical history and medication details;
  • Dietary requirements;
  • Interests and hobbies;
  • Financial Data: details of your personal finances, including bank account details.

Information collected from other sources

We also obtain personal information from third party sources as follows:

  • Full assessment data from social workers or local authorities;
  • NHS or Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs);
  • General Practitioners.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information for the following purposes and activities:

  • Creation of a pre-admission questionnaire and completion of an Admission Agreement;
  • Monitoring and evaluating health care received by you with regular updating of your care plan;
  • Communication with local and statutory bodies;
  • Contacting your family or power of attorney;
  • Undertaking a financial assessment of your ability to pay the care home fees;
  • Obtaining payment for the care services we provide.

Who we share your personal information with

We may share your personal data with the following people and organisations:

  • Family members/ friends who assist with health, property or financial matters for you. We will only share relevant personal information if we have obtained your specific consent or they are your appointed Power of Attorney/ Deputy.
  • Social workers, local authorities, NHS or CCG.
  • Safeguarding authorities, including the Care Quality Commission and other regulators.
  • The police, other law enforcement bodies, the Courts, the Office of the Public Guardian and coroners.
  • Companies handling our IT solutions, insurance brokers, debt collection agencies and professional advisors to the extent it is relevant to the service they are providing.

If we wish to use your personal data for another purpose, we will provide an updated privacy notice first. Where necessary, we will seek your consent before using your data for this new purpose.

How long your personal information will be kept

We will hold your personal data for no longer than is necessary under applicable UK law. We will hold financial information relating to the invoicing for our care services for a period of 7 years, while other personal information will be held for a period of 8 years after we have ceased to provide our care services to you. Personal data is deleted or securely destroyed at the end of its retention period.

Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

The law on data protection allows us to process your data for certain reasons only. The information below categorises the types of data processing we undertake and the lawful basis we rely on.

Type of activity Lawful basis
Creation of pre-admission questionnaire and completion of an Admission Agreement Performance of the contract
Creating and updating care plan Performance of the contract
Reporting to safeguarding authorities Legal obligation
Undertaking a needs assessment or financial assessment with local authority Legitimate interest
Invoicing and collection of fees Performance of contract

Transfer of your information out of the EEA

Your information will only be shared within the UK or the EEA wherever possible. If information is shared to third parties operating outside the EEA, we will ensure that either suitable regulations and/or contracts are in place to give you the same rights and protections as would be experienced within the EEA.

Your rights

Under General Data Protection Regulation, you have a number of important rights free of charge. In summary, those include rights to:

  • Fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your use personal information
  • Access to 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
  • Data portability i.e. you have the right to receive your personal information in a machine-readable format and have the right to transmit that 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 A guide to individual rights | ICO.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • Write to us at 2nd Floor, Clifton House, Bunnian Place, Basingstoke RG21 7JE addressing all correspondence to the Chief Financial Officer who is responsible for data protection matters
  • Let us have enough information to identify you, including the name of the care home
  • Let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • Let us know the information to which your request relates

Compliance with the national data opt-out

The Department of Health and Social Care’s national data opt-out policy enables people to opt out from their health and care data being used for research or planning purposes. We only use your health/ care records for your individual care and not for research and planning. Consequently, you do not need to decide whether to opt out as your data is not being used for these purposes anyway.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner who are the supervisory authority in the UK and who may be contacted at Make a complaint | ICO or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 18 May 2018 and last updated on 28 October 2023. We reserve the right to change this privacy notice from time to time by updating this page. Please check our website from time to time to see the current privacy notices.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please write to us at 2nd Floor, Clifton House, Bunnian Place, Basingstoke RG21 7JE addressing all correspondence to the Chief Financial Officer, the designated person responsible for data protection matters.