We will always make sure that your information is protected and treated securely. Any information that you give will be held in accordance with the Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. We also make our Information Asset Register available for people to read to give further clarity about how data relating to them is managed and kept secure. This includes our retention schedule and clear details about the lawful basis for storing and keeping personal data. Find out more about our Information Governance Policy and our Retention and Disposal Schedule.
Public Voice CIC is data controller for all personal data processed by Healthwatch Croydon. Any issues relating to the processing of personal data by or on behalf of Healthwatch Croydon may be addressed to here.
Information we collect
We collect personal information from visitors to this website through online forms and every time you email us your details. We also collect feedback and views from people about the health and social care services that they access. In addition, we receive information about our own staff and people who apply to work for us.
We also collect information about:
- People who use our website – visit our cookies policy for more information.
- People who share their experiences with us by other means, including experiences shared with us by email, phone, in person or by other means
- Information about our own staff and people applying to work for us
How we use your data
We use the information you share with us in line with our main statutory functions. These are inclusive of, but not limited to:
- Obtain the views of people about their needs and experience of local health and social care services. Local Healthwatch make these views known to those involved in the commissioning and scrutiny of care services.
- Make reports and make recommendations about how those services could or should be improved.
- Promote and support the involvement of people in the monitoring, commissioning and provision of local health and social care services.
- Provide information and advice to the public about accessing health and social care services and the options available to them.
- Make the views and experiences of people known to Healthwatch England, helping us to carry out our role as national champion.
- Make recommendations to Healthwatch England to advise the CQC to carry out special reviews or investigations into areas of concern.
Security
We are strongly committed to data security and we take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption.
We have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information you provide to us.
Only authorised employees and contractors under strict controls will have access to your personal information.
Sharing your data with Healthwatch England
We are required to share information with Healthwatch England to ensure that your views are considered at a national level. This enables them to analyse the quality of care across the country and supply the Department of Health and national commissioners with the information you provide. By working together, we can ensure that leaders of health and social care are aware of people's experiences, and can make a difference to the care people receive now and in the future.
Find out more about Healthwatch England’s purpose and what they do.
Unless specified below, the information we provide to Healthwatch England contains no personally identifiable data. Any information that is used for national publications is anonymised.
How we share information with other organisations
We only share personal data with other organisations where it is lawful to do so, and in accordance with our Information Governance Policy. Information is shared in order to fulfil our remit which is to pass on your experiences of care to help improve them on your behalf and people like you.
We work with Healthwatch England, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), local commissioners, NHS Improvement and our local authority to make this happen. We can also engage external suppliers to process personal information on our behalf.
We will only disclose your personal information where we have your consent to do so, or where there is another very good reason to make the disclosure – for example, we may disclose information to CQC or a local authority where we think it is necessary to do so in order to protect a vulnerable person from abuse or harm. Any such disclosure will be made in accordance with the requirements of the current data protection legislation.
Wherever possible, we will ensure that any information that we share or disclose is anonymised, so as to ensure that you cannot be identified from it. We sometimes use other organisations to process personal data on our behalf.
Where we do this, those companies are required to follow the same rules and information security requirements as us, outlined in a Data Processing Contract. They are not permitted to use reuse the data for other purposes.
Retention and disposal of personal data
We publish a retention and disposal schedule [insert link to retention schedule] which explains how long we keep different types of records and documents for, including records and documents containing personal data. Personal data is deleted or securely destroyed at the end of its retention period.
Your rights
Your right to access information about you
If you think we may hold personal data relating to you and want to see it please email info@healthwatchcroydon.co.uk.
You have a right to receive a copy of this personal data, or to ask us to forward it to a person or organisation of your choice. Wherever possible, we will provide the personal data to you in your preferred format.
Correcting or deleting your personal data
If you know that we are holding your personal data and believe that it may be wrong, or if you want it to be deleted or for us to stop using it, you have a right to request that it can be deleted or amended.
Please make your objection in writing to info@healthwatchcroydon.couk
Complaints about how we look after or use your information
If you feel that we have not met our responsibilities under data protection legislation, you have a right to request an independent assessment from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find details on their website.
Our contact details and key roles
- Healthwatch Croydon is data controller for all of the personal data that you provide us with. Any issues relating to the processing of personal data by or on behalf of Healthwatch Croydon may be addressed to:
24 George St, Croydon CR0 1PB
Telephone: 0300 012 0235
Email: info@healthwatchcroydon.co.uk
- Heathwatch Croydon has not yet designated a Data Protection Officer under Article 37 of the GDPR.
Information about people who use our website
Please note that this statement does not cover links within this website to other websites.
When you browse this website, we collect personal data provided by you, such as:
- feedback from surveys and online forms
- email addresses
- preferred means of communication.
We will tell you why we need your personal information and how we'll use it.
a. Information that you give us
We might ask for your name and contact details, depending on what you're doing. The personal data that we process includes information about racial or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender and sexuality. We use this information to check we are promoting and ensuring diversity in our workforce and to make sure we are complying with equalities legislation. As we are subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities, we need to collect data on equality issues. When you give us any personal information we'll let you know how long we'll hold it for. We only hold your information for as long as we have a valid reason to keep it.
b. Device information
Devices are lots of things like:
- your computer
- your mobile
- your TV
- your tablet
- your voice-enabled device
We automatically collect some technical information from these devices and web browsers. This might include:
- IP (internet protocol) address
- device ID
-
app ID
Cookies
Cookies are small text files which are transferred to your computer or mobile when you visit a website or app. We use them to help us understand how people are using our services, so we can make them better. Please be aware that some systems on our website require the use of cookies, however where non-essential cookies are in use, we will only collect the information with your permission.
Find out more about our use of Cookies
How we will use your personal information Personal information about you can be used for the following purposes:
- in our day-to-day work;
- to send you our newsletter where you have requested it;
- to respond to any queries you may have;
- to improve the quality and safety of care.
This may include any personal information that you choose to share with us, but we will treat this as confidential and protect it accordingly. We will never include your personal information in survey reports.
Signing up to our newsletter
We use a third-party supplier to provide our newsletter service. By subscribing to this service you will be agreeing to them handling your data.
The third-party supplier handles the data purely to provide this service on our behalf. This supplier follows the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 in how they obtain, handle and process your information and will not make your data available to anyone other than Healthwatch.
Information about people who share their experiences with us by other means
There are a number of ways that we collect feedback from people about their experiences of using health and social care services day to day. Where personal data is collected we will be clear on how we intend to use your information.
We will aim to anonymise information where we can but there may be instances where this is not possible in order to make change happen on your behalf.
We ensure that where consent is required it will be freely given, used only for agreed specific and unambiguous purposes and that you are well informed about how the personal data will be kept. This includes where it will be stored, details on security and for how long it will be kept. We will comply with GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 at all times. Where we rely upon your consent to process personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Personal data may be collected with your consent when we receive feedback by phone or through research.
Personal data received from other sources
On occasion we will receive information from the families, friends and carers of people who access health and social care services. We use this personal data to inform providers and commissioners to help them deliver services that work for you.
We will only process your personal data where we have your permission, or there is another lawful basis, to do so under current data protection legislation.
Publishing information
We anonymise our data to ensure that a person cannot be identified, unless this has been otherwise agreed and consent has been given. Healthwatch England provides a secure digital system for local Healthwatch to manage their data.
Other organisations process the data contained within it on behalf of local Healthwatch and a Data Processing Agreement is in place to ensure that this is held securely and according to current data protection legislation.
Healthwatch England is a committee of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) but acts independently. These organisations must comply with all legal requirements and do not reuse any data for any other reason or make it available to others.
Information about our own staff and people applying to work with us
We need to process personal data about our own staff (and people applying to work for us) so that we can carry out our role and meet our legal and contractual responsibilities as an employer. The personal data that we process includes information about racial or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender and sexuality. We use this information to check we are promoting and ensuring diversity in our workforce and to make sure we are complying with equalities legislation.
Our employees decide whether or not to share this monitoring data with us, and can choose to withdraw their consent for this at any time. Employees who wish to withdraw their consent for us to process this data can let us know. Other personal data that we are required to process includes information on qualifications and experience, pay and performance, contact details and bank details. We check that people who work for us are fit and suitable for their roles. This may include asking people to undertake Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.
People joining Healthwatch Croydon will be asked to complete a ‘declaration of interests’ form to identify any services with which they have close links (for example, because they have previously worked there or because the service is run by a close relative) or any other issues which could cause a perceived conflict of interest. Staff are regularly asked to update these forms.
We have a legal obligation to comply with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and this may include the requirement to disclose some information about our employees – especially those in senior or public facing roles. We also publish some information about our staff, including the names and work contact details of people in some roles.
