Privacy and cookie policy

This privacy notice covers all companies within the Exemplar Health Care group. Details of those companies can be obtained by contacting the Company Secretary of Exemplar Health Care at the address provided at the end of this notice. Exemplar Health Care generates records from our contact with you, including records that may contain personal information which is subject to UK Data Protection Act 2018. To explain our approach to data protection, our privacy notice covers the following areas.

How we collect personal information

We collect information in a variety of ways including using our website (see 'Information we collect via this website' and 'Cookies' below), on various forms, service agreements and contracts, and through our ongoing contact with you. In some cases, we collect CCTV images and some telephone calls may be recorded.

When you apply to become an Exemplar Health Care employee, we request and hold on file any references necessary to assess the application and also any information provided by you.

When we receive a request regarding a potential service user we request and hold on file any information necessary to assess the request including as appropriate (but not limited to) information from other service providers, the Police, the NHS, support workers, social workers, and mental health workers.

If a service user or funder provide us with personal information relating to members of a service user’s family or their associates we will assume that they do so with their knowledge and their consent to the collection and processing of the information.

Where a service user does not have capacity, information provided by family or associates will be treated in the same way as if they were the service user.

It is important that you notify us of any changes to your personal information.

Who the personal information relates to

We collect personal information about the following people. 

Service users 

This includes current, former and potential service users (and potentially family or associates), who live in our properties or access our support and other services, and could also include their family and people associated with them.

Colleagues 

This includes current, former and potential colleagues, as well as Board and Committee Members, apprentices and volunteers.

It also includes anyone who makes a complaint or enquiry, and visitors to our website and offices. 

What information is collected and retained

 

Job applicants and our current and former employees

When you apply to become an Exemplar Health Care employee, we request and hold on file any references, personal contact details, previous employment details, and criminal convictions, and any other information provided by you in order to process and consider your application. Personal information about unsuccessful candidates will be held for six months after the recruitment exercise has been completed, and it will then be destroyed. We retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.

Once a person has taken up employment with Exemplar Health Care, we will compile a file relating to their employment. The information contained in this file will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to that person’s employment. Once their employment with Exemplar Health Care has ended, we will retain the file in accordance with the requirements of our retention schedule and then destroy it.

Your employment file will include the following information.

  • Personal contact details such as name, title, address, telephone numbers and personal email addresses and emergency contact details
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Marital status and dependants
  • Referee details, next of kin, beneficiaries, details of family members and emergency contacts
  • National insurance number and other tax or governmental identifiers
  • Bank accounts, payroll and tax status
  • Salary, insurance, annual leave, pension, benefit entitlement and expenses
  • Start date and leaving date
  • Location of employment or workplace
  • Attendance history
  • Driving licence (including copies where we are required to hold such information for identification or insurance purposes where you are to use our vehicles) and vehicle details
  • Identification documents
  • Recruitment (including copies of right to work documentation, DBS referrals and checks, past employment history, references and other information included in your application)
  • Employment records and notes (including job titles, work history, working hours, training records, professional membership, maternity, paternity and compassionate leave and details of any home-working assessments for health and safety purposes) and education and professional records/qualifications
  • Performance including that generated through our appraisal systems
  • Disciplinary and grievance information
  • Movements through CCTV footage and other information obtained through electronic means such as our electronic signing in app
     

Service users

We hold the following information about our service users. 

  • Your name
  • Your date of birth
  • What we do to care for you
  • Your medical history including information from other service providers, the Police, the NHS, support workers, social workers, and mental health workers
  • Information regarding your next of kin, family members and associates if provided by you or the funder of your care
  • Your care funding
     

How we use our records

We will collect, process, share and securely store personal information in compliance with data protection legislation.

All information will be retained in accordance with the requirements of our Records Management Policy.

We keep these records to allow us to:

  • allocate accommodation
  • manage our provision of care
  • process payment and service charges
  • offer help with debts and benefits
  • provide support services which help service users achieve their goals
  • prevent and detect crime and resolve disputes
  • promote safety and the quiet enjoyment of our facilities
  • engage with service users and make improvements to the care we provide
  • promote equal opportunities and fair treatment for all colleagues and service users
  • provide employment and training advice and opportunities
  • manage employment and colleague development
  • work with partners to deliver mutual success
  • provide information services you request from us.

 

Sensitive personal information

Under data protection legislation, certain personal information is classified as “sensitive”. Sensitive data is information relating to physical or mental health, sex life, religious or philosophical beliefs, political opinions, membership of a Trade Union, allegations of criminal offences and criminal convictions and offences. We minimise our holding and use of sensitive categories of personal information but, given the services we provide, there are times when we use it, for example when providing accommodation for disabled persons or those with problems around substance abuse, or when helping someone to access care services.

When we collect specific sensitive data we will notify you of how we will use it, including who it may be shared with.

Complaints or enquiries

We try to meet the highest standards in all areas of our business. We take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures. If you do make a complaint or enquiry we may collect and store personal information in relation to this matter, we will keep it secure and use it only for the purpose it was collected. When the matter is resolved or completed, we will retain the details in accordance with our retention schedule and then destroy them.

Information we collect via our website

We collect and store personal information via our website for a number of reasons (see above) including to help us provide better services and products to existing and potential service users. The information we collect fits into two categories:

  1. personal information entered into online forms by visitors to this website
  2. anonymous statistical information collected by cookies.

If you request a brochure, call back or information from us via an email, online form or register your interest in a service, we will use your information to fulfil that request. We may also ask if you would like to receive regular marketing emails. You can choose to opt out at this point and you will be given the opportunity to opt out every time we contact you.

Use of cookies via our website

Exemplar Health Care is committed to preserving the privacy of all visitors to www.exemplarhc.com. All data is collected and processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act. Data submitted through the online forms will be incorporated into the Exemplar Health Care database and used for future marketing purposes, and will not be passed to any third party.

The Exemplar Health Care website uses cookies to improve its functionality and to monitor site performance. Information on the cookies used by this site can be found table below.

Category: Necessary (7)

Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

CCTV

Some of our properties have CCTV in public areas to deter crime and anti-social behaviour and to promote public safety by helping to identify and prosecute criminal offenders. You can ask for a copy of any CCTV images taken of yourself by making a subject access request. See the 'Accessing your information' below.

Sharing your information

Your personal information will be kept secure and confidential. Usually we will not disclose personal data without consent, but we may share information between with third parties and other agencies we work with, including local authorities, social services and the NHS, when Exemplar Health Care believes it is in your or the public's interest to do so, or as required by law.

Consent

We may ask for your consent to store or process your personal information for specific purposes. This will be on an opt-in basis. Consent will not be assumed by default. However, we may store and process your personal data for specific purposes where we have a legitimate business interest to do so. 

Accessing your information

Please contact us if you would like copies of some specific information from your files, and we will provide it as quickly as possible. 

If you require a substantial amount of your personal information, there is a formal process for this, under Data Protection legislation, known as a Subject Access Request (SAR). 

What you need to know about making a subject access request

You can write to us or email us with your request, or download the subject access request form for your convenience, which you can post or email back to us.  Please write to:

Legal Director
Exemplar Health Care
Ferham House
Kimberworth Road
Rotherham
S61 1AJ

Email: infosec@exemplarhc.com 

Tel: 01709 565 795

We may require proof of your identity and address – we will let you know this when we receive your request. There is more information on this on the subject access request form (above).

There is no charge for servicing a normal subject access request under data protection legislation. However, there is provision in the legislation for Data Controllers to make a charge where a request involves disproportionate effort to recover and provide the information required.

When we receive your valid request, with proof of identity and address if required, we will respond and provide your information within one calendar month at the latest.

You can request to see any of the information that we may hold about you, including CCTV images, but the more specific you can be about what you require, the quicker we can respond to your request.

If you are requesting CCTV footage of yourself, please specify the time, date and location of the footage, and supply a clear photograph so that we can find you on the footage.

Please be aware that we may need to edit some information out, if it relates to other people, as we must protect the privacy rights of all individuals.

If you have any queries about accessing your information please  email infosec@exemplarhc.com or call on 01709 565 795.

Security of information

For further information on how we maintain the security of your information, please see our Data protection and informational governance policy.

Changes to our privacy notice

This privacy notice will be updated to reflect changes either to the way in which we operate or changes to the data protection legislation. To make sure that you keep up to date, we suggest that you revisit this notice from time to time.

Links to other websites

The notice is limited to this website only. If you follow a link to an external site, we recommend that you check the privacy notice of that site before giving any personal details.

Contacting us

We welcome any queries you may have regarding this privacy notice, or any information we hold about you. Please contact us at infosec@exemplarhc.com or on 01709 565 795.