At Chapel Fell Vets we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. Please read this GDPR & privacy policy carefully, so that you can understand why and how we collect data from you, and how it is used by us.

Why we collect your personal data and what we do with it

When you register your pet or pets with Chapel Fell Veterinary services information on you and your pet are stored and processed for the following reasons;

• Personal information is collected in order to provide you with the veterinary care you have requested we undertake to keep your pet(s) healthy
• This request and our agreement to provide veterinary care constitues a contract, your data and information is needed to allow us to fulfill this contract and provide services to the standard required by our regulatory body, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. 

It should be noted that GDPR only pertains to your data (relating to a living human being) and is not applicable to information or data on animals. 

Information collected, stored and processed by Chapel Fell Vets is based on "Legitimate and Medical Interest" as without it the following services could not be provided:

• Treatment reminders (such as vaccination, blood test, health check reminders). Please note responsibility to book and maintain these appointments lies with you. 
• Progress reports or updates on your pets treatment. 

Additional communications such as newsletters or veterinary care updates that may benefit you as the client or your pet may be sent occasionally. You can withdraw consent for receiving promotional or veterinary information updates by unsubscribing at any time, either via the unsubscribe option in the email or by emailing us. 

We receive your personal data either via direct communication with yourself (email, phone, post) or via referral from another veterinary care provider which will only occur with your consent. 

Retention Period:
The record keeping requirements for Veterinary Medicinal Products (VMPs) are set out in the Veterinary Medicines Regulations (VMRs). Records of the retail supply (which includes administration) of POM-V and POM-VPS medicines must be kept for 5 years.

Therefore Chapel Fell Veterinary Services will retain your records, including vaccination records for 5 years post completion of the last veterinary procedure. After which time you can ask that we delete your records if you so wish. You may do this by contacting us by phone or email. Should we not be requested to delete your records, these will be retained indefinitely in order for us to provide a better service at a later date without having to collect personal data again.

Storage:
Your records are stored electronically and backed up daily to a cloud storage facility. Paper records associated with your patients care will be scanned and attached to you pets digital record and the paper copy shredded. 

Third-Parties / Outsourced Providers:
Your information or data will never be shared  any third party without your prior written or verbal consent. Only the following people/agencies will/could have access to your data;

• Members of the team at Chapel Fell Veterinary Services. 
• Your bricks and mortar veterinary care provider or the practice that referred your pet to our care for acupuncture services. 
• Emergency care providers, to ensure safety and continuity of the care received by your pet. 
• IT service company who manage our IT and servers - ProVet Cloud. 
• Government agencies should this be required for fulfilment of contract

Data Access Requests:
Under professional guidelines set by the RCVS clinical and client records including diagnostic images and similar records, are the property of, and are retained by Chapel Fell Veterinary Services.  Although you do not own your pets' clinical records, you have the right to access information and you can do this by contacting us directly and submitting a “Subject Access Request”. We will respond to this request within one calendar month.

 

Access if you change vet
Under RCVS guidelines, at your request we must provide copies of any relevant clinical and client records. This includes relevant records which have come from other practices, if they relate to the same animal and the same client, but does not include records which relate to the same animal but a different client.

 

As stated above. Your data may be shared with a veterinary care provider with whom you are already registered. Either in the case of your "bricks and mortar" practice following routine treatments or a veterinary practice that has referred you to our acupuncture referral facility. 

Data Rectification:

In addition to this, you also have the right to request that we update any information that you believe to be incorrect. It is likely that this request will be dealt with immediately, however we will respond to this request within one calendar month. This can be done by contacting any member of our team by email, phone or website contact form.

Other rights:
If you decide that you don’t want us to contact you anymore, you are welcome to email us to ask us to stop. This request will be reviewed and we will respond to you within one calendar month. Marketing communication cessation requests will be undertaken immediately, or you can unsubscribe yourself from the emails.

If you wish for us to erase all of the data we store and process for you, or you would like us to amend or update information please contact us directly. This will be undertaken within one calendar month of your request. 

Complaints process:
 We are strongly committed to protecting your personal data. If you are concerned about a breach our responsibilities in handling your personal data, please contact us directly. Should you be unsatisfied with our response, you have the right to raise your concern directly with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK Data Protection Supervisory Authority.