Privacy Statement for Relatives, Friends and Carers of Residents/Patients

At Barchester Healthcare we are committed to protecting your personal data and handling it responsibly. Our Privacy Statement for Relatives, Friends and Carers of Residents/Patients explains how we collect and manage your data.

October 2024

1. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT?

1.1    Under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, we are required to explain to you why we collect your information, how we intend to use that information and whether we will share this information with anyone else. This statement applies to all relatives/friends/carers/visitors with a vested interest in our residents/patients (past and present).

2.    It is important that you read this Privacy Statement for Relatives, Friends and Carers of Residents/Patients so that you know how and why we use your information. We may update this Privacy Statement for Relatives, Friends and Carers of Residents/Patients at any time. It is also important that you inform us of any changes to the personal information we hold about you so that the information is accurate and up to date.

3. WHO ARE WE?

3.1    We are Barchester Healthcare Homes Limited (Barchester), a company registered in England and Wales under company number 02849519 and with our registered office at 3rd Floor, The Aspect, Finsbury Square, London, United Kingdom, EC2A 1AS. 

3.2    Barchester is the "Data Controller" for the information which we hold about you. This means that we are responsible for deciding how and why we hold your personal information.

4. OUR DATA PROTECTION OFFICER

4.1    Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) is responsible for overseeing what we do with your information and monitoring our compliance with the Data Protection Laws.

4.2    Our DPO is Michael O’Reilly who is assisted by the Legal Team. If you have any concerns or questions about our use of your personal data, you can contact raise these by emailing dpo@barchester.com or writing to Data Protection Officer, 3rd Floor, The Aspect, Finsbury Square, London, United Kingdom, EC2A 1AS. Alternatively, if you wish to make contact but are unable to use any of the above methods, please contact your local General Manager or Hospital Manager who will be able to put your queries forward to the team. 
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5. TYPES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION WE USE AND OUR LAWFUL BASIS FOR DOING SO

5.1    We process your personal information for a number of reasons. This is to ensure that we can offer our residents/patients with whom you are associated the best care, protection and support possible and regulate the care we provide (for example, in ensuring that our residents needs/preferences can be met, and in relation to complaints raised by or in respect of you in order to regulate the care provided or your conduct or concerns about you which may put residents/our employees at risk); in order to contact you where necessary in relation to their care (for example, in the event of an emergency); and in order to make any necessary decisions around a resident’s placement (including in considering making an offer of, or decision around the sustainability of, a placement). Without this information, we may not be able to offer a resident a placement or sustain the resident’s placement at one of our homes/hospitals.

5.2    In accordance with the Data Protection Laws, we need a lawful basis for collecting and using information about you. These lawful bases are set out in Article 6 of the UK GDPR and, depending on the type of data, may require reliance on additional safeguards set out in Articles 9 and 10 of the UK GDPR and within the Data Protection Act 2018. 

Standard personal data:

5.3    We will process standard personal data about you. Please refer to the Appendix to see the types of data we might process about you.
5.4    Our Article 6 GDPR lawful basis for processing this type of data will depend on the circumstances, but will include the following (as appropriate):
5.4.1    You have given us clear consent to process your personal data (in the circumstances where consent is the only available lawful basis) (Article 6(1)(a)) of the UK GDPR); or
5.4.2    It is necessary in order for us to perform our contract with the resident/you/the resident’s commissioning body (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR); or
5.4.3    It is necessary to meet legal / regulatory obligations (Article 6(1)(c) of the UK GDPR); or
5.4.4    It is necessary for our legitimate interests (where they are not overridden by your rights) (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR).
Special categories of personal data:

5.5    Some of the information which we may process about you will be “special category personal data” and criminal activity data. Special category personal data and criminal activity data (see further below) require a greater level of protection than standard personal data. Please refer to the Appendix to see the types of special category personal data and criminal activity data we might process about you.

5.6    Our Article 6 UK GDPR lawful basis for processing this type of data will depend on the circumstances, but will include the following (as appropriate):

5.6.1    You have given us consent to process your personal data (in the circumstances where consent is the only available lawful basis) (Article 6(1)(a)) of the UK GDPR); or
5.6.2    It is necessary in order for us to perform our contract with the resident/you/the resident’s commissioning body (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR); or
5.6.3    It is necessary to meet legal / regulatory obligations (Article 6(1)(c) of the UK GDPR); or
5.6.4    It is necessary to protect your life (Article 6(1)(d) of the UK GDPR); or
5.6.5    It is necessary for our legitimate interests (where they are not overridden by your rights) (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR).
5.7    We also require an Article 9 UK GDPR basis and must meet other additional conditions specified within the Data Protection Act 2018 to process this type of data.  

Criminal activity data:

5.8    We may process information about you in relation to details of criminal activity in relation to proven and unproven criminal offences (including allegations of criminal activity, investigations into criminal activity, details of proceedings and outcomes of proceedings). Please refer to the Appendix for more details of the data we might process about you.

5.9    Our Article 6 UK GDPR lawful basis for processing this type of data will depend on the circumstances, but will include the following (as appropriate): 

5.9.1    You have given us consent to process your personal data (in the circumstances where consent is the only available lawful basis) (Article 6(1)(a)) of the UK GDPR); or
5.9.2    It is necessary in order for us to perform our contract with the resident/you/the resident’s commissioning body (Article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR); or
5.9.3    It is necessary to meet legal / regulatory obligations (Article 6(1)(c) of the UK GDPR); or
5.9.4    It is necessary for our legitimate interests (where they are not overridden by your rights) (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR).
5.10    We also require an additional Article 10 UK GDPR condition for processing this type of data, and must meet other additional conditions specified within Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 to process this type of data. 

6. SOURCE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

6.1    The information described at section 4 which we collect about you will be obtained through a variety of sources which may include:

6.1.1    from you directly prior to, during or after the resident/patient’s stay with us;
6.1.2    from others prior to, during or after the resident’s/patient’s stay with us;
6.1.3    information created about you in the course of the resident/patient’s stay with us (for example, data recorded within the resident’s care records, care planning records or other ancillary documentation, such as details or your visits or involvement in meetings in relation to their interests and details of any complaints that you have raised); 
6.1.4    information which you have otherwise made public;
6.1.5    from social media activity (such as Facebook, Linkedin etc.);
6.1.6    from external healthcare providers such as the NHS, your GP, hospital staff etc. and multi-disciplinary teams;
6.1.7    from safeguarding authorities / commissioning bodies and Integrated Care Boards / social services and other regulators (such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council and Information Commissioner’s Office) (and in some circumstances, their professional advisors or authorised representatives).
6.1.8    from the Police and other law enforcement agencies (for example, the Home Office), the courts, the Office of the Public Guardian and coroners.
6.1.9    from auditors / professional advisors (including solicitors and insurers). 
6.1.10    from other entities/persons which fall outside of this list which is made known to us which may be related to the patient/resident and their residency; and
6.1.11    because circumstances are variable and change with time there may in some instances be situations outside the list above and we regularly review our Privacy Statement for Relatives, Friends and Carers to assess whether any updates are required.

7. COMPLYING WITH DATA PROTECTION LAW

7.1    We will comply with the Data Protection Laws when using your personal information. At the heart of the Data Protection Laws are the data protection principles (Article 5(1) of the UK GDPR) which say that the personal information we hold about you must be:

7.1.1    processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
7.1.2    collected only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes;
7.1.3    adequate and relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes;
7.1.4    accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date;
7.1.5    kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about; and
7.1.6    processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security.

8. SHARING YOUR INFORMATION

8.1    We will share your personal information with third parties where we have a lawful basis for doing so.

8.2    The types of organisations/persons with which we may share your personal data are as follows:

8.2.1    External healthcare providers and multi-disciplinary teams healthcare providers such as your GP, hospital staff, dentists, other care providers etc;
8.2.2    Safeguarding authorities / commissioning bodies and Integrated Care Boards / social services / other regulators (such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Information Commissioner’s Office) (and in some circumstances, their professional advisors or authorised representatives);
8.2.3    The Police and other law enforcement agencies (for example, the Home Office), the courts, the Office of the Public Guardian and coroners;
8.2.4    IT service providers: we may use external IT or software providers who may have access to your personal data from time to time as is necessary to perform their services;
8.2.5    Attorneys/Deputies or others who are acting in your best interests (including complainants who have a vested interest in a resident’s/patient’s care, or bodies commissioned for the investigation of complaints, such as the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman);
8.2.6    Auditors / professional advisors (including solicitors and insurers). 

9. TRANSFERRING INFORMATION OUTSIDE OF THE UK AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AREA (EEA)

9.1    We strive to ensure that any data necessary to be shared with the companies we work with (i.e. our supply chains) remains within the UK or the EEA in the first instance. However, some companies that provide services to us are located in, or run their services from, countries outside of these areas and resultantly, on occasion, your personal data may be transferred to countries outside of these areas. 

10. CAN WE USE YOUR INFORMATION FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE?

10.1    We typically will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collect it. It is possible that we will use your information for other purposes as long as those other purposes are compatible with those set out in this Privacy Statement for Relatives, Friends and Carers. If we intend to do so, we will provide you with information relating to that other purpose before using it for the new purpose.

11. STORING YOUR INFORMATION AND DELETING IT

11.1    To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements. We will only retain your personal information in line with periods calculated using such criteria and in consideration of how long it is reasonable to keep records to show we have met the obligations we have to you and by law, any time limits for making a claim, any periods for keeping information which are set by law or recommended by regulators, professional bodies or associations.

11.2    In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you. 

12. YOUR RIGHTS

12.1    Under certain circumstances, you have the right to:
12.1.1    Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. 
12.1.2    Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
12.1.3    Request erasure of your personal information in certain circumstances. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
12.1.4    Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) or public interest as our lawful basis for processing and there is something about your particular situation which leads you to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object if we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
12.1.5    In the limited circumstances where we are relying on your consent as our lawful basis to process your data for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. If you withdraw your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another lawful basis for doing so.
12.1.6    Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
12.1.7    Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

12.2    If you wish to exercise any of the above rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer whose details are set out in Section 3.

13. AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING

13.1    You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

14. RIGHT TO COMPLAIN TO THE ICO

14.1    You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (the "ICO") if you are not satisfied with the way we use your information. You can contact the ICO by writing to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or ico.org.uk.

15. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT

15.1    We reserve the right to update this Privacy Statement for Relatives, Friends and Carers at any time where appropriate.

APPENDIX

1.  The standard personal data we may process about you includes:
   
   -    personal details (such as name, date of birth, gender, nationality), contact details (such as your address, personal telephone number and personal email address) in order for us to contact you in relation to your loved one’s residency and in the event that we need to contact you in a emergency in which you/your loved one could be affected;
   
   -    to allow us to assess that you are the correct person to be communicating with in respect of a resident/patient before, during and after their residency with us (for example, details of and evidence of your status as their Power of Attorney/Deputy and photographic verification documents);
   
   -    financial information (such as bank account details, details about your financial assets (for example, details of any property you own) for the purpose of making necessary checks to ensure that the care and accommodation is affordable for you (if you are making payments relating to the resident/patient’s care), and for the purposes administering payments/refunds relating to the resident’s/patient’s stay with us;
   
   -    information about your family and others (such as dependants, next of kin and emergency contact numbers) so we know who to contact if required in connection to the resident’s/patient’s placement;
   
   -    security information images/audio of you (such as CCTV footage etc.) in order to ensure public safety i.e. the safety and security of our residents and employees and those who visit our premises, as well as identify and help to deter criminal activity (such as vandalism/damage to the property and theft) and create an overall secure living environment for our residents/patients, and working environment for our staff;
   
   -    information created about you in the course of the resident/patient’s stay with us (for example, data recorded within the resident’s care records, care planning records or other ancillary documentation, such as details or your visits or involvement in meetings in relation to their interests and details of any complaints that you have raised, or others have raised about you or the patient/resident which relate to you, and information about you within a resident/patient’s day to day activity documentation required in order to provide them with safe, appropriate and personalised care and accommodation and ensure that we meet their individual requirements);
   
   -    communications we have had with you in order to maintain an accurate record of our care and treatment of our resident/patient;
   
   -    information about you which would directly impact the resident’s/patient’s residency with us or allow us to properly carry out any necessary disciplinary processes with employees/others, make decisions around your residency, or provide evidence for legal proceedings (including instigating or responding to any claims) and for safeguarding and regulation of care purposes, including for the purposes of responding to complaints;
   
   -    we may also process your data by sending you email or text message communications in relation to your residency and ask for your views on the ways in which we could improve our services and improve the employment environment pursuant to our care contract;
   
   -    we may also ask for your consent for information about you to be featured in our marketing material, including (but not limited to) brochures and other such printed and electronic publications, the Barchester website and social media pages and other promotional pages linked to Barchester; and
   
   -    because circumstances are variable and change with time, there may in some instances be situations outside the list above, and we regularly review our privacy statements to assess whether any updates are required.
   
   2.     The special category personal data which we may process about you (in order to provide you with safe, appropriate and personalised care and accommodation) includes the following:

   -    information about your racial or ethnic origin;
   
   -    information about your religious beliefs;
   
   -    information about your sex life and sexual orientation and political opinions; and
   
   -    information about your health, including any disabilities or special requirements which you may have (for example, in order to make suitable access arrangements when visiting a care home/hospital), medical condition, vaccination status (in permitted circumstances), records required by care home regulations.
   
   3.     We may process criminal activity data about you. This may include information in relation to allegations of criminality, investigations and proceedings. We will only this type of information if it is appropriate and where we are legally able and / or required to do so. Where appropriate, we will collect information about criminal convictions as part of the admission process or we may be notified of such information directly by you/others in the course of the resident’s/patient’s residency with us. We will use information about criminal convictions and offences in the following ways:

   -    to protect our residents/patients and staff from the risk of assault, abuse, theft or possession or any other detriment;
   
   -    in order to meet legal / regulatory obligations.
   
   -    less commonly, we may use information relating to criminal convictions where it is necessary in relation to legal claims, where it is necessary to protect your interests (or someone else's interests), or where you have already made the information public.
   
   -    we may also process such information in the course of legitimate business activities with the appropriate safeguards.