In the table below, we set out the personal information which we collect and use about you.
Each section has details on:

• what we use
• why we use it, and
• the lawful basis for using it.

Here is a bit of detail on what we mean by ‘personal information’ and ‘legitimate interests’:

• ‘personal information’ means any information about you from which you can be identified, and
• ‘legitimate interests’ means the interest of Menston Dental Practice in managing our practices and business generally so, ultimately, we can give you the best possible care. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

The company responsible for your information and privacy (also known as the ‘data controller’) is the Ibrahim and Adam Limited trading as Menston Dental Practice.

As you would expect, we collect your personal information from various sources.

This will be from you such as when:

• you speak to any member of your dental or orthodontic team in person
• you correspond with us, such as by post, phone or e-mail
• you complete any forms (including consent forms and prescription forms) and any other similar forms
• you set up an online booking account on our website
• you download or install any app on our website
• you contact us on social media or our blog (see ‘Social Media’ box in the ‘Sharing your personal information’ section)
• you review or rate your dental or orthodontic team on any website, and
• you interact with our website. When you do this we collect and use technical data automatically about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect and use this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies. We also receive technical data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies.

This will be from other people and entities such as when:

• you give other people and entities permission to share your personal information with us, and
• those people and entities set out in the ‘Sharing your personal information’ section share your personal information with us (where they are allowed to do this).

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. 

We like to keep you aware of the great products and services which we offer. This means that if you visit our site, other sites such as Google will show our ads on other sites across the Internet (including Google itself). Google helps us do this by using cookies or similar technologies on your computer.

You can opt out of this at any time by visiting:

• Google's Ads settings, or
• the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.

Please bear in mind that if you don’t give us certain key personal information we won’t be able to offer you most of our products and services, including our dental and orthodontic services. In some cases this means that we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

We 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 data for in this way, we will:

• notify you, and
• explain the legal basis which allows us to do this.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law, such as where we are obliged to help the police in any criminal investigation.

Our duty to share your personal information can often be as important as our duty to protect and secure it from harm. When we share your information, we do this to make sure that you receive the best possible care from our dental and orthodontic team in our practice.

We will share your personal information with our trusted partners where:

• required by law, such as where:
  • we have a duty to share your information for your direct care, or
  • we have to share your information with the police or other enforcement, regulatory of government entity (bear in mind that we assess such requests on a case-by-case basis and always take your privacy into consideration when doing so)
• required by a court order
• you have explicitly consented to us doing so, such as where you have agreed to participate in a clinical trial or research
• we have another legitimate interest in doing so, such as when we have to contact our bank to process your debit or credit card payments

The people or entities we share your personal information with include, where applicable:

• your next of kin, such as in an emergency
• your parent, guardian, carer or representative, such as if they have responsibility for looking after you or your oral healthcare
• healthcare providers, such as any other NHS entities (in England, Scotland and Wales) or HSC entities (in Northern Ireland). 
• other dentists
• other orthodontists
• other healthcare workers such as GPs and pharmacists
• dental and orthodontic laboratories
• emergency services, including the police, fire service and ambulance services
• local authorities, including social services
• schools
• translators or interpreters, such as if you need help using our products and services
• government bodies (this includes the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Work and Pensions in England and any similar departments in the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and any agencies of such departments), such as when we need to prevent, detect and investigate fraud and errors
• ombudsmen, such as the Parliamentary and Health Ombudsman (in England), Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales or Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman
• health and social care regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC)(in England), Healthcare Improvement Scotland, Health Inspectorate Wales (HIW)(Arolygiaeth Gofal Iechyd Cymru) and the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA)(in Northern Ireland)
• Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
• HM Revenue & Customs, such as when we need to prevent, detect and investigate fraud and errors
• banks (known as merchant services providers), such as when they process any debit or credit card payments that you make to us
• credit reference agencies, such as when we do a credit search on you
• debt recovery services providers, such as when we seek to recover any debts from you
• Google Analytics, such as where we use your IP address to track and report on traffic to our website
• any professionals advising us or you, such as any lawyers
• our IT providers, such as when they support our website and other business systems
• any providers of postal and delivery services such as the Post Office or DHL
• any third party who buys us or substantially all of our assets

If we need to share your personal information, we follow best practice such as the ICO’s Data Sharing Code of Practice.

We require these third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it carefully in accordance with the law. 

We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal information:

• for specified purposes, and
• in accordance with our instructions.

We will, where necessary, share your personal information with other third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of the business.

We will also, where necessary, need to share your personal information with a regulator (such as the General Dental Council (GDC) or any health and social care regulator) or to otherwise comply with the law.

The future of much of your dental and orthodontic care is digital. 

Using the cloud has many benefits. It means we can do things like transfer your personal information to other people or entities in a safer and more secure way than, say, using e-mail (see the ‘Sharing your personal information’ section).

When we use the cloud your personal information is sent to, and stored on, computers which aren’t physically located in our practice. The majority of our cloud-based services are based in the European Economic Area (EEA) so your personal information stays in the EEA. (The EEA includes all of the countries of the European Union (EU), including the UK, together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).

However, like many businesses, some of the cloud-based services we use are not based in the EEA. This means that your personal information leaves the EEA. When this happens, we have made sure that we use a cloud-based service that collects and uses your personal information in accordance with high data protection standards.

From time to time, there are other circumstances when we have to send your personal information outside the EEA, such as if you move abroad and you want your dental and orthodontic records to be sent to your new dentist. We would always need your explicit consent to do this.

Your personal information deserves the greatest protection and security. This is why we have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent it from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality to us.

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for.

We follow guidance from the NHS to work out how long we should keep your personal information.

Where such guidance is unavailable, we work out an appropriate retention period for your personal information by taking into account the:

• amount, nature, and sensitivity of the information
• potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of the information
• purposes for which we process the information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and
• any applicable legal requirements

Details of our retention periods for some of your personal information, following the guidance set out at the end of this section, are set out below:

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current.

If you want to tell us about any changes please use our contact us button at the top of this page. Alternatively, you can contact us as follows:

• call our practice
• speak with a member of the dental team in person, or
• e-mail info@menstondental.co.uk

By law you have many rights over your personal information. Bear in mind that in some circumstances some of these rights may not apply to you.

If you want to do any of these things please use our contact us button at the top of this page. Alternatively, you can contact us as follows:

• call our practice
• speak with a member of the dental team in person, or
• e-mail info@menstondental.co.uk

In almost all circumstances you do not have to pay a fee to access your personal information or to exercise any of the other rights. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month.

Occasionally it may take us longer than this if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will:

• notify you, and
• keep you updated.

Not all cookies are bad! Most websites you visit use cookies to improve how the website works by letting that website ‘remember’ you, either for the duration of your visit (using a ‘session cookie’) or for repeat visits (using a ‘persistent cookie’).

In certain limited circumstances, you have the right to withdraw your consent to the collection and use of your data. This is not the same, however, as giving or withdrawing your consent to dental treatment.

If you want to do this please use our contact us button at the top of this page. Alternatively, you can contact us as follows:

• call our practice
• speak with a member of the dental team in person, or
• e-mail info@menstondental.co.uk

From time to time we will to update this privacy notice to reflect how we are collecting and using your information. If we do this, we will let you know (such as by email or a notice on the website) so that you can review any updates before you continue to

Details of any changes will also be recorded in our change log below.