Privacy Policy Notice

Information we collect about you

At Ardfallen Dental Practice we value our patients privacy and we are committed to protecting and respecting your data protection and privacy rights. This Privacy Policy outlines how and why we collect your personal information. Unless otherwise agreed with you, we will collect personal information i.e. name, contact number, address, email address and your doctor’s details, as well as sensitive dental and medical history or any correspondence with other healthcare professionals relating to you.

Ardfallen Dental Practice registered address is Ardfallen Mall, Douglas Road, Cork, T12 D57T. Ardfallen Dental Practice will be the ‘Controller’ of your personal data.

Why We Need It

We need to know both basic and sensitive medical data in order to provide you with the highest standard of dental services you have consented us to provide, and to assert our right to be recompensed for these services, in line with the agreement or contract we have with you, our patient. It is important you provide this information in order to treat you at our practice. We will only collect data that is relevant to effectively communicating with you about your treatment and to the provision of your dental treatment. We will regularly update your personal data, including medical care. Therefore, it is important that you notify us of any changes in your personal details, your medical or dental status at your earliest opportunity to ensure that we hold the highest quality and accurate records for you.

What We Do With It

Your personal data is obtained, kept and used primarily for the purpose of providing you with healthcare safely and efficiently at all times. All personal data that we hold about you will be processed by our staff at the practice. We will only use this data for the purposes of providing dental treatment for you to include your appointment reminders. Appointment reminders may be sent to you by text, electronic mail or by post. In the course of your care some third parties may have limited access to your data for processing purposes, referrals, or to allow us to claim payment for treatment under a public scheme. They will be the Data ‘Processors’ and are as follows:

  • Specialist referrals
  • Department of Social Protections (if PRSI Qualified)
  • Our Software Company
  • Our IT Company
  • Laboratories
  • Dental Insurance Companies

Your data may also be provided to third parties where there is a legal obligation to do so. Where data is backed up remotely, this data is kept on servers located within the European Union. We take all reasonable steps to ensure your data is processed discretely and kept securely.  If we require to transfer your personal information to a country outside the EU, we will take the necessary steps to ensure appropriate protection is in place in line with data protection laws.

How Long We Keep It

In line with the Dental Council of Ireland’s Code of Practice in relation to Professional Behaviour and Ethical Conduct, we retain all adult patient records (both basic and sensitive medical data) for eight years after the date of their last treatment. In the case of children and young adults, their records will be kept until the patient’s 25th birthday; or their 26th birthday if the young person was 17 when they finished treatment. If a patient dies before their 18th birthday, records will be kept for eight years. After this time the records will be safely destroyed if they are no longer required for the lawful purpose (s) for which they were obtained.

Your Rights

You are legally entitled to a photocopy of your personal data upon written request.  As well as the right to access your information, you also have the right to have any inaccuracies in your data rectified and to delete and restrict the use of your information, and to withdraw any consent your have previously given us to handle your information, within legal obligations.   Your request will be dealt with in a timely manner.

Access to your personal data is on a ‘need to know’ basis. This prohibits the release of your information to a spouse, partner or family member without your explicit consent. A guardian or carer may have the right to access information in the case of vulnerable adults or those with diminished mental capacity.  A parent or guardian will have access to your personal information if you are less than 16 years of age.

Communication

From time to time we may contact you with details of other dental services that we provide or wish to introduce, such as additional dentists, treatments or introductory treatments  and offers.  These communications may be via post, email or SMS.  We will never pass your details on to other parties for unsolicited marketing purposes.  You also have the right to withdraw your consent and to opt out of this communication at any time.

Cookies

Cookies are very small text files placed on your computer. They are used to store data about you and your preferences so that a web server does not have to repeatedly request this information, improving your experience.

The cookies we use are ‘analytical’ cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our site when they are using it.  This helps us to develop and improve our website as well as providing information and services in response to what you might need or which we feel may be of interest to you. if you provide any information when filling in forms on our website we  may keep a copy of the correspondence in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your system. If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings. You can block cookies at any time by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.