Our Privacy Policy

1. Who we are
For the purposes of the policy, “” or “we”, will refer to Alpha House Dental Practice, Simply Endodontics and Simply Periodontics.

2. Information we collect
We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our patients and staff and this policy sets out how we treat your personal information. In providing your dental care and treatment, we will ask for relevant information about you and your health. Occasionally, we may receive information from other providers who have been involved in providing your care. This privacy notice describes the type of personal information we hold, why we hold it and what we do with it.

We process personal information about our patients, other dental professionals, suppliers and employees. The types of data we may collect are listed below and we will only use that data in ways relevant to carrying out our legitimate purposes and functions and in a way that is not detrimental to the interests of our patients or employees.  We will take particular care in the collection and storage of any personal sensitive data. Everyone working within the Practice has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. Similarly, anyone who receives information from us has a legal duty to keep it confidential.

Personal information may be written down in paper records or held on computer. These records may include:

• Basic details such as your name, date of birth, national insurance number, NHS number, address, telephone number, email address and next of kin.
• Information about your dental and general health, including:
• Clinical records made by dentists and other dental professionals involved with your care and treatment
• X-rays, clinical photographs, digital scans of your mouth and teeth, and study models
• Medical and dental histories
• Treatment plans and consent
• Notes of conversations with you about your care
• Dates of your appointments
• Details of any complaints you have made and how these complaints were dealt with
• Correspondence with other health professionals or institutions
• Details of the fees we have charged, the amounts you have paid and some payment details.

It is essential that your details are accurate and up to date. Always check that your personal details are correct when you visit us and please let us know as soon as possible if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated.

3. How we use your information
Your records are used to direct, manage and deliver the care you receive to ensure that:

• The dental professionals involved in your care have accurate and up to date information to assess your oral health and decide on the most appropriate care for you.
• Healthcare professionals have the information they need to be able to assess and improve the quality and type of care you receive.
• Appropriate information is available if you see another dental professional or are referred to a specialist.
• Your concerns can be properly investigated if a complaint is raised.

If we wish to use your information for dental research or dental education, we will discuss this with you and seek your consent. Depending on the purpose and if possible, we will anonymise your information. If this is not possible we will inform you and discuss your options.

From time-to-time we may use your contact information to send you details of products and services offered in our practices that directly relate to your oral healthcare.

If you use our website, we may collect technical data about the type of Internet browser and computer operating system that you use. This information does not identify you as an individual and is used only for tracking of site use.

4. Sharing information
Your information is normally used only by those working at The Practice, but there may be instances where we need to share it – for example, with:

• Your doctor               
• The hospital or community dental services or other health professionals caring for you
• The Department for Work and Pensions and its agencies, where you are claiming exemption or remission from charges
• Private dental schemes of which you are a member.
• In certain circumstances or if required by law, we may need to disclose your information to a third party not connected with your health care, including:  
• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
• If the Practice or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
• to the extent that we are required to do so by law;
• in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings;
• in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk)
• If you choose to make a purchase from us using a loan, we will share your information with our lending partner Buyline Ltd. We will only do this with your consent. For information about how Buyline process your information please visit: https://buyline.co.uk/privacy/

Except as provided in this privacy policy, we will not provide your information to third parties.

5. Keeping your information safe
The Practice is responsible for keeping secure the information about you that we hold. Those at The Practice who have access to your information include dentists and other dental professionals involved with your care and treatment, and the reception staff responsible for the management and administration of the Practice. We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.

We store your personal information securely on our practice computer system and in a manual filing system. Your information cannot be accessed by those who do not work at the Practice; only those working at the Practice have access to your information. They understand their legal responsibility to maintain confidentiality and follow practice procedures to ensure this.

We use high-quality specialist dental software to record and use your personal information safely and effectively. Our computer system has a secure audit trail and we back-up information routinely.
We use cloud computing facilities for storing some of your information.  The Practice has a rigorous agreement with our provider to ensure that we meet the obligations described in this policy and that we keep your information securely.

All electronic transactions you make to or receive from us will be encrypted [using SSL technology].
Unfortunately, data transmission over the internet is not completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.

We keep your records for 10 years after the date of your last visit to the Practice or until you reach the age of 25 years, whichever is the longer.

6. Access to your information and other rights
You have a right to access the information that we hold about you and to receive a copy. You should submit your request to the Practice in writing or by email. We do not usually charge you for copies of your information; if we pass on a charge, we will explain the reasons.
Alpha House Dental Practice
14 Alpha Road
Birchington
Kent CT7 9EQ
Email: info@alphahousedentalpractice.co.uk

You can also request us to:

• Correct any information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. If we have disclosed that information to a third party, we will let them know about the change
• Erase information we hold although you should be aware that, for legal reasons, we may be unable to erase certain information (for example, information about your dental treatment
• Stop using your information – for example, sending you reminders for appointments or information about our service
• Supply your information electronically to another dentist.

7. Practice Website
We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors; this policy sets out how we treat your personal information. You can visit the website without disclosing any information about yourself. We do not collect personal identifying information when you access the website home page and browse the website homepage and browse the website without disclosing your personal data (except Cookies). Please see below under “Cookies”
Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

8. Using your personal data
Personal data submitted on this website will be used for the purposes specified in this privacy policy or in relevant parts of the website.
We may use your personal information to:

• enable your use of the services available on the website;
• send you general (non-marketing) communications;
• send you email notifications;
• provide third parties with statistical information about our users – but this information will not be used to identify any individual user;
• deal with enquiries and complaints made by or about you relating to the website.

We will not without your express consent provide your personal information to any third parties for the purpose of direct marketing.
9. Cookies
When you visit this site we may send “cookies” to your computer primarily to enhance your on-line experience. By closing this message, you agree to our use of cookies, unless you decide to disable them. “Cookies” are files which can identify you as a unique viewer and store your personal preferences as well as technical information. On their own, cookies do not contain or reveal any personal information. However, if you choose to furnish the site with personal information, this information may be linked to the data stored in the cookies.
We may also collect certain anonymous technical information when you visit many of our web pages such as the type of browser you are using, the type of operating system you are using and the domain name of your Internet service provider.
We use cookies and technical information to personalise your visit to our site (e.g., to recognise you by name when you return to our site) and to track customer trends and patterns. This helps us improve the design and content of our Website for visitors and assists us in our communications and marketing initiatives. Although most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, you can set most browsers at any time to refuse all cookies or indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, please note that some parts of this Website may not function properly if you refuse cookies. For more information on cookies and how to disable them you can consult the information provided by the Interactive Advertising Bureau UK at www.allaboutcookies.org.

10. Third party websites
The website may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of third party websites.

11. If you do not agree
If you do not wish us to use your personal information as described in this policy, you should discuss the matter with your dentist. If you object to the way that we collect and use your information, we may not be able to continue to provide your dental care.

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our treatment of your personal data, please write to us by email to: info@alphahousedentalpractice.co.uk

If you have any concerns about how we use your information and you do not feel able to discuss it with your dentist or anyone at the Practice, you should contact The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745).

12. Changes to our Privacy Policy
Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be visible at the Practice , posted on our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.