Privacy Notice

Care First 24 Ltd is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. 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 other organisations in the event you have a complaint. Please see the section on ‘Your rights’ for more information.

Introduction

We are Care First 24 Ltd. In order that we can provide care and support services to the people we support we collect and use certain personal information about you.

Personal information means any information about you from which you can be identified, but it does not include information where your identity has been removed (anonymous data).

As the ‘controller’ of personal information, we are responsible for how that data is managed. The General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which applies in the United Kingdom and across the European Union, sets out our obligations to you and your rights in respect of how we manage your personal information.

As the ‘controller’ of your personal information, we will ensure that the personal information we hold about you is used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way:

1. collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
2. relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
3. accurate and kept up to date.
4. kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
5. kept securely.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or would like further explanation as to how your personal information is managed, please send an email to [email protected], write to Care First 24 Ltd, 7 The Old Yard, Rectory Lane, Brasted, Kent TN16 1JP, or call 01732 790001.

Please note when we refer to:

• A “public body” we mean any organisation in the United Kingdom which delivers, commissions or reviews a public service and includes (but is not limited to) the Ombudsman, local authorities, councils, unitary authorities, clinical commissioning groups, health and social care trusts, the National Health Service as well as their arm’s length bodies and regulators.
• A “social or health care professional” we mean any person who provides direct services, acts as consultant or is involved in the commission of your healthcare or social care services, including (but not limited to) your General Practitioner (GP), dental staff, pharmacists, nurses and health visitors, clinical psychologists, dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, hospital staff, social workers and other care and support related professionals.

The personal information we collect and use in relation to people who enquire about and use our services

Information collected by us

When you enquire about our care and support services and during the course of providing care and support services to you we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

• your name, home address, date of birth and contact details (including your telephone number, email address) and emergency contacts (i.e. name, relationship and home and mobile numbers)
• your allergies and any medical, physical or mental conditions and in particular your care needs
• your likes, dislikes and lifestyle preferences (including your religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature, racial or ethnic origin, health, and sexuality (so far as they relate to providing you with suitable care)
• credit or direct debit details (if you pay for some or all of our services using one of these methods)

Information collected from other sources

We also obtain personal information from other sources such as:

• your allergies and any medical, physical or mental conditions and in particular your care and support needs, from any appropriate external social or health care professionals (including your GP)
• your name, home address, date of birth, contact details, needs assessments and financial assessments from any appropriate external social or health care professionals (including any relevant public body regardless of whether you are publicly funded)
• your likes, dislikes and lifestyle preferences (including your religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature, racial or ethnic origin and sexuality so far as they relate to providing you with suitable care) from your family, friends and any other person you have nominated as your representative
• your Attorney or Deputy (if applicable)

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to:

• prepare, review and update a suitable care plan, describing the nature and level of care and support services which you have requested we supply to you
• to communicate with you, your representatives and any appropriate external social or health care professionals about your individual needs and personalise the service delivered to you
• make reasonable adjustments, when required, to meet your individual needs and to ensure we have suitable facilities to ensure your safety
• invoice you for the care and support services in accordance with our terms and conditions
• carry out quality assurance procedures, review our service and improve our customer experience (please note that feedback can also be provided anonymously)

Who we share your personal information with

We regularly share your medical information with appropriate external social or health care professionals (including your GP and pharmacist) and any individuals you have nominated as your representative. This data sharing enables us to establish the type of care and support you need. It also allows us to design the right care package to suit your individual circumstances, including if (in future) you decide to receive care from an alternative provider.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by law. This includes information required by public bodies to evidence our compliance with the applicable regulatory framework. We are also required to share personal information with external social or health care professionals, including public bodies and local safeguarding groups (in some circumstances) to ensure your safety.

We will not share, sell or trade your personal information with any other third party.

Whether information has to be provided by you, and if so why

The provision of your medical, physical or mental condition is necessary to enable us to create a care plan and to provide you with suitable care and support services. Without this information, we will not be able to assess your care needs or provide any care services to you.

The provision of your name, home address is required so that we can arrange a care worker to attend your home to deliver the services and so that we can invoice you for the fees.

We will inform you at the point of collecting information from you, whether you are required to provide the information to us.

How long your personal information will be kept

• we will hold the personal information kept within your client file for 7 years as required by law
• we will hold the personal information kept within our feedback procedure for 1 year so that we can identify trends and patterns in our service

The personal information we hold

Reasons we collect and use your personal information

We rely on the following grounds within the GDPR:

• Article 6(1)(b) – processing is necessary for the performance of our contracts to provide individuals with care and support services
• Article 6(1)(c) – processing is necessary for us to demonstrate compliance with our regulatory framework and the law
• Article 9(2)(h) – processing is necessary for the provision of social care or the management of social care systems and services
• as the lawful basis on which we collect and use your personal data and special category data (such as your health).

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have a number of important rights as a ‘data subject’. 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 (i.e. deletion) of personal information concerning you, in certain situations. Please note that if you ask us to delete any of your personal information which we believe is necessary for us to comply with our contractual or legal obligations, we may no longer be able to provide care and support services to you;
• receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those 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;
• claim compensation for damages caused by our breach of any data protection laws;

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

Candidates

Care First 24 Ltd is a ‘data controller’. This means we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you, the candidate.

Information we collect

We will, prior to commencing a relationship with you and periodically thereafter collect personal information about you such as your Name, Telephone Number and Email Address required to provide services to you.

Why we collect this

The lawful basis for processing such information about you is:

• That the company has a legal obligation to do so and processing is necessary for the company to be able to offer you the required services

How we process this

We will keep this documentation electronically throughout your relationship with Care First 24 Ltd.

Retention of data

We hold information we collect from you to maintain a relationship. Once your relationship with Care First 24 Ltd ceases we will retain such information/data for seven years or longer if required, thereafter your data will be deleted from our systems/files.

We collect personal information about candidates from:

• Recruitment agencies
• Trust ID
• Disclosure and Barring Service in respect of criminal convictions
• Your named referees
• From third parties, publicly accessed sources: CV, contact details, employment history, qualifications, skills

Individual rights

We recognise that you have rights as a ‘data subject’, and that we have an obligation to uphold these. This privacy notice aims to outline how we maintain these rights. In particular, it outlines:

• How we collect and process your information

• Why we do this

• How you can exercise your rights;

• Who to contact in the event you’re unhappy with our performance.

Right to be informed

This encompasses the obligation for us to be transparent in how we collect and use your personal data.

Right of access

You have the right to access your personal data and supplementary information.

Right to rectification

If the information we hold on you is inaccurate or incomplete, you can request we correct this.

Right to erasure

You can request we delete or remove personal data where there is no compelling reason for us to continue processing

Right to restrict processing

You have the right to request we cease processing your data, if:

• You consider it inaccurate or incomplete;

• Where you object to processing and we are considering

• Whether we still have a legitimate interest to process it.

• Where we don’t need the data for the original reason we collected it, but may need it to support a legal claim

Right to data portability

Where you have consented to our processing your data, or where the processing is necessary for us to deliver a contract, you can request a copy of that data be provided to a third party in electronic form.

Right to object

You have the right to object to our processing under certain circumstances. For example, you can object to direct marketing (including profiling); and processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.

Rights relating to automated decision making including profiling

Where we apply automated decision making, we must

• give you information about the processing;
• introduce simple ways for you to request human intervention or challenge a decision;
• carry out regular checks to make sure that our systems are working as intended

Information related to automated decision making is contained later in this notice.

How to contact us

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

• email, call or write to Gerry Shaw, our Data Protection Officer
• let us have enough information to identify you (eg your name and address),
• 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, including any account or reference numbers, if you have them

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact the Data Protection Officer. You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioners’ Office (ICO).

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 20^th June 2023 and last updated on 20^th June 2023. We may revise this privacy notice from time to time. Any changes we may make in the future will be posted on this page.

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example: audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).