Introduction
We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us or the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the event you have a complaint.
We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation, which applies across the European Union (including in the UK) and we are responsible as controller of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.
About us
When we say “we” or “us” in this privacy policy, we mean The Ackerman Clinic. You can contact us at:
Address: Suite 2, 1 Ashley Road, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 6BA
Tel: 01425 628 987
Email: info@theackermanclinic.co.uk
Personal information we collect about you
We may collect and use the following personal information about you:
- your full name
- your email and phone number
- your postcode
- information about your appointment with us, including what orthodontic services you have requested
- limited information about your health (such as previous orthodontic work) in connection with your appointment
- information about how you use our website
- information about the device and programmes you are using to use our website such as your browser and operating system
This personal information is required to provide services to you. If you do not provide personal information we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.
How your personal information is collected
We collect personal information directly from you, whether via our website or when contacting you about your appointment.
We may also collect personal information from cookies on our website (more information is set out in section 10 below) and from our IT systems (such as appointment logs, automated monitoring of our websites, instant messaging systems) and CCTV.
How and why we use your personal information
Under data protection law, we can only use your personal information if we have a proper reason for doing so, e.g.:
- for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract (such as arranging your first appointment);
- to comply with our legal and/or regulatory obligations;
- for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
- where you have given consent.
A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.
If you are interested in booking an appointment with us, we will need to collect personal information from you in order to take steps necessary to process your appointment and to provide you with the services you have requested from us.
The technical information gathered from the use of our website (including through our use of cookies) which may include personal data, is used for our legitimate interest of ensuring that our website is functioning properly and to help us make business decisions about the information to be provided on our website.
Marketing Communications
We may use your personal information to send you updates by email, text message, telephone or post about our services, events, news and promotions.
We may send marketing communications to you as an existing customer about similar products we think you may be interested in, however we will always give you the opportunity to opt-out or unsubscribe from these communications if you wish.
We will always treat your personal information with the utmost respect and never share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.
You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by using the “unsubscribe” link in emails or contacting us at the details above.
We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.
Who we share your personal information with
We routinely share personal information with:
- third parties we use to help deliver our services, e.g. IT and digital service providers, such as our supplier who hosts this website and data collected from it on our behalf and helps us co-ordinate and send marketing communications.
- our professional services advisers (such as lawyers, accountants and auditors)
- Google Analytics: we work with Google Analytics to automatically collect information including: IP address; MAC (Media Access Control) address; unique identifier or other persistent or non-persistent device identifier; device software platform and firmware, mobile phone carrier and geo location data to help us understand your use of our website such as how often you return, what parts of the website you visit, how you use the website and how long you spend on the website. This third-party provider is prohibited from using your data for any other purposes. Go to http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.htmlto read the Google Analytics Privacy Policy.
- Sendgrid: this is the system we use to send email notifications from our website, which is needed to ensure that email notifications get to delivered to their intended destination and minimize the chance of them being blocked by spam filters. This includes sending you email confirmations where required or requested; for example, if you have requested to download a guide, we will then send you an email containing the guide, or a link to view the guide. SendGrid does not store the content of the emails, but information such as your email address, and time the email was sent, which is required for it perform its functions.
We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you.
We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
We may also need to share some personal information with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised, but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.
How long your personal information will be kept
We will keep your personal information for as long as is necessary:
- to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf
- to show that we treated you fairly
- as required by law.
We will not retain personal information for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal information, we will delete or anonymise it.
Please note that different retention periods apply to different types of personal information held. Further details on this are available on request.
Transferring your personal information out of the EEA
It is sometimes necessary for us to share your personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA), e.g. with our service providers located outside of the EEA.
These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law.
These non-EEA countries do not have the same data protection laws as the UK and EEA. We will, however, ensure the transfer complies with data protection law and all personal information will be secure. Our standard practice is to ensure that any US-based suppliers are certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield scheme, or alternatively to use standard data protection contract clauses that have been approved by the European Commission.
If you would like further information on international transfers of data, this is available on request.
Cookies
A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your computer (or other electronic device) when you access our website. We use cookies on our website to:
- recognise you whenever you visit our website (this speeds up your access to the website as you do not have to log in each time);
- obtain information about your preferences, online movements and use of the internet;
- carry out research and statistical analysis to help improve our content; and
- make your online experience more efficient and enjoyable.
In most cases we will need your consent in order to use cookies on this website. The exception is where the cookie is essential in order for us to provide you with a service you have requested.
If you visit our website when your browser is set to accept cookies, we will interpret this as an indication that you consent to our use of cookies and other similar technologies as described in this policy. If you change your mind in the future about letting us, use cookies, you can modify the settings of your browser to reject cookies or disable cookies completely.
The table below provides some information on the cookies which we use on our website:
