Introduction

Abbeymead Dental Care is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information.

This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about patients during and after any treatment with us, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Abbeymead Detal Care is a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you as a patient. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice. 

This notice applies to current and former patients of Abbeymead Dental Care. This notice does not form part of any contract to provide services. We may update this notice at any time.

It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information. A copy of the full GDPR Policy and Procedure is available for review 

Data protection principles

We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.

2. Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.

3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.

4. Accurate and kept up to date.

5. Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.

6. Kept securely. 



The kind of Infomation we hold about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

There are “special categories” of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection.

We will collect, store, and use the following categories of patient data;

• Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and personal email addresses.

• Date of birth.

• Gender.

• Marital status and dependants.

• Next of kin and emergency contact information.

• NHS number

• Bank account details.

• Registration date with Abbeymead Dental Care.

• Information that the individual is or has been a patient of Abbeymead Dental Care or has attended, cancelled or failed to attend an appointment on a certain day.

This list is not exhaustive.

How is your personal infomation collected?

We collect personal information about patients, either directly from you or are provided information by third parties.

We will collect additional personal information in the course of marketing activities carried out by Abbeymead Dental Care.

How we will use the infomation about you?

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

1. Where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you.

2. Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

3. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

1. Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests).

2. Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes

3. Archiving your sensitive personal date data for use in the public interest, scientific interest. Also, this data may be used

Situations in which we will use your personal infomation

We need all the categories of information in the list above primarily to allow us to perform our contract with you and to enable us to comply with legal obligations. In some cases we may use your personal information to pursue legitimate interests of our own or those of third parties, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. The situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below.

• Administering the terms and conditions we have entered into with you.

• Administering our Dental Plan Membership Scheme.

• Accounting and auditing.

Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information.

 If you fail to provide personal infomation

If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you (such as providing dentistry services or providing any other associated benefit), or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (such as health and safety).

Cookies

We and our trusted partners use cookies and other technologies in our related services, including when you visit our Site or access our services. 

A "cookie" is a small piece of information that a website assigns to your device while you are viewing a website. Cookies are very helpful and can be used for various different purposes. These purposes include allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, enabling automatic activation of certain features, remembering your preferences and making the interaction between you and our Services quicker and easier. Cookies are also used to help make sure that the advertisements you see are relevant to you and your interests and to compile statistical data on your use of our Services. 

The Site uses the following types of cookies:

a. 'session cookies' , which are stored only temporarily during a browsing session in order to allow normal use of the system and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed; 

b. 'persistent cookies', which are read only by the Site, saved on your computer for a fixed period and are not deleted when the browser is closed. Such cookies are used where we need to know who you are for repeat visits, for example to allow us to store your preferences for the next sign-in; 

c. 'third-party cookies' , which are set by other online services who run content on the page you are viewing, for example by third-party analytics companies who monitor and analyse our web access.

Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you, but Personal Information that we store about you may be linked, by us, to the information stored in and obtained from cookies. You may remove the cookies by following the instructions of your device preferences; however, if you choose to disable cookies, some features of our Site may not operate properly and your online experience may be limited.

We use a tool which is based on the Snowplow Analytics technology to collect information about your use of the Site. The tool collects information such as how often users access the Site, which pages they visit when they do so, etc. The tool does not collect any Personal Information and is only used by our Site hosting and operating service provider to improve the Site and services.

Use of script libraries (Google Web Fonts)

in order to present our contents correctly and make them graphically appealing across all browsers, we use script libraries and font libraries such as Google Web Fonts (https://www.google.com/webfonts) on this website. Google Web Fonts are transferred to your browser's cache to avoid multiple loading. If your browser does not support Google Web Fonts or does not allow access, content will be displayed in a default font. 

• Calling script libraries or font libraries automatically triggers a connection to the library operator. In theory, it is possible – but currently also unclear whether and, if so, for what purposes – that operators of corresponding libraries collect data.
  
  
• The privacy policy of the library operator Google can be found here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy.

Third-party collection of information

Our policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent you disclose your information to other parties or sites throughout the internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. Accordingly, we encourage you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each third party that you choose to disclose information to. 

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, nor to individuals whom we do not employ or manage, including any of the third parties which we may disclose information to as set out in this Privacy Policy. 

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

How we use particularly sensitive personal infomation

”Special categories” of particularly sensitive personal information require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. We have in place an appropriate policy document and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data. We may process special categories of personal information in the following circumstances:

1. In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent.

2. Where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise rights in connection with providing our services.

3. Where it is needed in the public interest, such as for Government Department monitoring.

Less commonly, we may process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public. We may also process such information about patients or former patients in the course of legitimate business activities with the appropriate safeguards.

• Details regarding your personal identification such as your physical condition. This includes x-ray imaging, genetic and biometric data. 

• Information concerning your medical history, including physical and/or mental condition and your oral health or condition.

• Information about discussions undertaken and agreements reached on treatment options, including costs of any proposed treatment.

• Information about the treatment that is planned, is being undertaken or has been provided.

• Information about family members and personal circumstances supplied by you or others.

• The amount that was paid for treatment, the amount owing, or the fact that the patient is a debtor to Abbeymead Dental Care.

Data sharing

We may have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers and other entities in the group.

We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

We may transfer your personal information outside the EU.

If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.

 Why might you share my personal information with third parties?

We will share your personal information with third parties where required by law, where it is necessary to deliver a service to you or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.

Which third-party service providers process my personal information?

”Third parties” includes third-party service providers. These may include (this list is not exhaustive); 

 -Dental Plan Membership Administrator.

- Loss assessors.

- Insurance companies.

- Regulatory authorities such as the GDC and the Care Quality Commission.

- Fraud prevention agencies. 

- NHS Local Authorities and designated agents.

- The British Dental Association (BDA). 

- Other entities within our group. 

How secure is my information with third-party service providers and other entities in our group?

All our third-party service providers and other entities in the group are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

When might you share my personal information with other entities in the group?

We will share your personal information with other entities in our group as part of our regular reporting activities on Abbeymead Dental Care performance, in the context of a business activities such as system maintenance support and hosting of data.

What about other third parties?

We may share your personal information with other third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of the business. We may also need to share your personal information with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law.

Your rights in connection with personal data

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

• 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.

• 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.

• Request erasure of your personal information. 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).

• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

• 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.

• Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact Sue Hawkins, Practice manager in writing.

Right to withdraw consent

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent please contact Sue Hawkins, Practice manager in writing. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

Minors

We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy, especially in an online environment. The Site is not designed for or directed at children. Under no circumstances shall we allow the use of our services by minors without prior consent or authorisation by a parent or legal guardian. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from minors. If a parent or guardian becomes aware that his or her child has provided us with Personal Information without their consent, he or she should contact us at sue@abbeydent.co.uk.

Updates or amendments to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to periodically amend or revise the Privacy Policy; material changes will be effective immediately upon the display of the revised Privacy policy. The last revision will be reflected in the "Last modified" section. Your continued use of the Platform, following the notification of such amendments on our website, constitutes your acknowledgment and consent of such amendments to the Privacy Policy and your agreement to be bound by the terms of such amendments.

Data protection officer

We have appointed Dr Richard Baker as our Data Protection Officer to oversee compliance with this privacy notice. 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 Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.

Last Modified Nov 2025