Privacy and Adult Social Care

This privacy notice explains how the Adult Social Care service at Buckinghamshire Council (the data controller) will use the personal information we collect about you when you use this service.

We can hold the following information on you:

• Your name
• Your date of birth
• Your address
• Your contact details, including telephone number and email address
• Your NHS number
• Your gender
• Your ethnicity
• Your next of kin
• Your physical or mental health condition
• Information recorded as part of your referral to our services or in any assessment of your needs
• Contact we have had with you (such as correspondence, records of visits)

We may also ask you for further details, where required and appropriate, such as:

• Religious or other similar beliefs
• National Insurance number
• Language
• Accommodation status
• Nationality
• Marital status
• Financial information

We need your information to:

• Make sure we meet all of our legal and statutory duties
• Provide you with the services that you require, such as care and support plans
• Check and update your customer record details
• Meet our administrative purposes
• Assess financial eligibility for services
• Deliver a range of preventative services, information and signposting
• Contact you to take part in research or surveys and ask your opinion about our services to understand how we can deliver a better service
• Help us manage our contracts
• Help us, within the Council, in auditing and monitoring the performance of our services (we will ensure that no individual can be identified)
• Make statutory statistical returns to Government

The legal basis for processing the data under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 is:

• Article 6(1)(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting [email protected]
• Article 6(1)(c) We have a legal obligation
• Article 6(1)(d) We have a vital interest (the processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person)
• Article 6(1)(e) We need it to perform a public task

The legislation under which we operate includes:

• Care Act 2014
• Health & Social Care Act 2014
• Care Quality Registration Regulations 2009
• Mental Capacity Act 2005
• Mental Health Act 2007
• Housing Act 2004
• The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009

When we need to use your special category information, we can use it under:

• Explicit consent
• Vital interests
• Health or social care (with a basis in law)
• Public health (with a basis in law)
• Archiving, research and statistics (with a basis in law)

We will share your information, if appropriate, with:

• Third parties (data processors) contracted by Buckinghamshire Council to work on behalf of the Council to support the Adult Social Care service and you
• The NHS
• Other bodies/agencies who know you or who might be able to help you to provide you with the best service possible (we will ask to share information about you where possible) for example. other councils, direct payment support services
• Other bodies in connection with the prevention of crime, criminal or legal investigations or proceedings including fraud (and the National Fraud Initiative) or regulatory functions (such as the Local Government Ombudsman)
• Other relevant services within the council
• Other bodies (for example utility company) if there is an emergency situation, for example, a flood or extreme weather event where life may be at risk (where information is shared in an emergency situation, this will be done in a secure way and the information will be destroyed when the situation has ended)

We will securely hold your information and only keep it for as long as is necessary. Where information is no longer needed it will be confidentially disposed of.

To provide you with the best care and support, we link data from the health and social care services you use through the shared health record known as My Care Record. This data is also used to help us better plan services for you and to understand how well existing services are working to meet your needs.

From September 2021, all regulated social care providers in England need to comply with the national data opt-out. Under the national data opt-out everyone who uses publicly-funded health and/or care services can stop health and care organisations from sharing their confidential patient information with other organisations if it is not about managing or delivering their own care. This may, for instance, be for research or planning purposes.

As a Council, we are compliant with the national data opt-out where it applies and have put processes in place so we can apply any national data opt-out choice.

We do not carry out any automated decision making in relation to this information.

You have legal rights over your information. For details of those rights, see our corporate Privacy Policy. Your rights will differ depending on our lawful basis for processing your data.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF, by email at [email protected].

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to the Data Protection Officer. You can also then complain to the ICO if you remain unhappy with how we have used your data.

Date of publication/last update: September 2021