Privacy policy

Last updated: ​​26 November 2024

Who we are

Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care

Registered Office: Peace Hospice, Peace Drive, Watford, WD17 3PH

Charity No: 1201713

Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care is a Company limited by guaranteed and registered (England and Wales) 14355610

ICO Registration Number ZB397182

Rennie Grove Hospice Care is regulated by the Care Quality Commission and the Fundraising Regulator.

Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care is a charity providing care and support for adults and children diagnosed with a life-limiting illness and support for their families. We rely on the generous support of our local community to fund over 85% of our annual running costs to ensure that we can continue to provide our vital care for all who need it in our catchment area in Herts and Bucks.

In the course of delivering our services and raising the funds needed to sustain them, we develop relationships with a large number of people and organisations in the local community which involves collecting and using personal information. Personal information, or personal data, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). This Privacy Notice details how and why we collect and use this information and how we keep it safe. We also explain your rights and choices and how to get in touch with us.

Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care is the Data Controller for this personal information.

We may update this Notice, so please check this page from time to time. We will place a notice on our website to let you know about major changes.

Our commitment to you
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use the personal data that we collect in line with all applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

We are also committed to respecting your wishes and would like to communicate with you in the way that you would prefer to enable us to build a good relationship. You can change your contact preferences at any time here or by calling us on 01442 890222 or emailing preferences@renniegrovepeace.org. You can contact our data protection officer at: dpo@renniegrovepeace.org.

Please note: we will action your request as soon as we can but it is possible that you may receive further contact such as mailings which are already in progress for up to 28 days.

Click on the following to read more about the data we process and store:

Patients and Families
If you, your child or a friend or family member are receiving care or support from one of our services, the information we hold about you will be used only for the purpose of providing care and support and information about our services.

The information we collect about you

This could include:

basic details which identify you and/or your child, or next of kin and family members such as your address, contact numbers, date of birth and email address (with consent)
details of visits we have made to you at home
details of other visits/services received
notes and reports about your/your child’s health and treatment which may include information from other healthcare providers
information provided by your family or those who care for you and know you well
information about your story and your experience of our care
How we collect this information

directly from you, verbally, on paper or digitally or through the use of our website
from your GP, hospital doctor or other healthcare professional either by telephone, paper notes or through the referral systems or shared access to medical records
from discussions with your carers, friends or members of your family
when you complete our patient/carer survey (either online via an online survey or on paper)
from Care Opinion (the UK’s independent non-profit feedback platform for health and social care)
Why we need this information

Having up-to-date information about your health and your treatment is essential to meet the needs of our patients and their carers, friends and family members and provide high quality, safe and appropriate care.

Our legal bases for processing this information

We are allowed to process your information for one or more of these reasons:

to provide direct care and administration relating to care
we have your consent to use your information for the provision of healthcare and support or to use your story to evidence our care
we have a legitimate interest in providing family and friends with information about the support and services we offer
it is necessary for compliance with a legal or contractual obligation to which we are subject (for example a change in the law)
where we have your consent, we will provide limited information to medical insurers to obtain a contribution towards the costs of your care
we are required to disclose your information by law, for example to law enforcement agencies or government bodies
it is in the public interest, for example a Notification of Infectious Diseases (NOID) which must be reported to the relevant authority
How we use this information

to inform, plan and carry out your treatment and provide advice
to make sure that your wishes are taken into account where we provide treatment or advice
to ensure that all treatment is safe and effective and that advice is appropriate for you
to provide all healthcare providers involved in your care, which may include GPs, hospital-based clinicians, nurses in the community and health visitors, with up-to-date and accurate information about your health and care so that, working together, we can make the best decisions about diagnosis, treatment and care.​
to ensure that all professionals involved in your care have up-to-date and accurate information so that we can work effectively together to care for you
to help us improve our services or investigate concerns or complaints
sometimes we will ask you permission to share your story and experience of our care for the purposes of publicising the work we do and for fundraising
We will contact your next of kin or other people important to you express a preference to be contacted by other services and/or receive a newsletter by post, they will be added to our database
Sometimes we use anonymised data (where identifying personal information has been removed) for clinical audit or research purposes and to evidence the care we provide.

How we keep your information safe

In accordance with NHS guidance, Rennie Grove has appointed its Director of Nursing and Patient Services as a Caldicott Guardian. Our Caldicott Guardian is responsible for protecting patient confidentiality and enabling the appropriate sharing of information. The sharing of sensitive personal information is strictly controlled by law. At our first meeting with you we will outline how we share information and ask for your consent. If you are unable to consent for any reason we will only share information where it is in your best interests to do so.

Measures that we use to protect your information include:

we store your information on a patient record system called Infoflex.
we are able to view the patient record systems of other providers and we are aiming to enable other healthcare professionals to view Infoflex to support the co-ordination of your care across organisations. Most patients find that this is helpful in managing their care.
we use security technology to safeguard personal data and have procedures in place to ensure that both paper records and computer systems and databases are protected against unauthorised access, disclosure, loss or damage.
staff and volunteers are appropriately trained in data protection and security and only have access to your information if needed for a proper purpose..
third parties retained by Rennie Grove to provide technical support will only have access to personal data if necessary to perform their role and will be bound by contractual confidentiality agreements.​
all staff have a duty to record your personal information and information about your care accurately and to keep it secure and confidential.
on the rare occasions that confidential data is stored on a mobile device, eg memory stick, it is always securely encrypted.
if you choose to participate in video based counselling or therapies, some data may be collected by the video hosting organisation. We recommend you check their privacy policy for more information and if you have concerns, please contact the Rennie Grove Data Protection Officer by emailing dpo@renniegrovepeace.org.
How long we keep your information

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Your rights

You have the legal right to confidentiality and the following additional rights under current data protection law:

The right to be informed – in this Privacy Notice we are letting you know about how we handle your personal information.

The right of access – you can request a copy of the information we hold about you and we will respond within 30 days.

The right to rectification – if you consider any information we hold about you is inaccurate, you can ask us to correct it, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide.

The right to erasure – if we have no lawful basis for keeping your personal data, you can ask us to delete it. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

The right to restrict processing:

you can withdraw your consent to the processing of your information at any time
you can also withdraw your consent to the sharing of your Health Records with other healthcare professionals
you can also tell us that you do not wish any details about your health to be discussed with your family members/carers.
We will comply with your wishes and where we have no legal basis for retaining your data we will stop processing your data according to your request. However, if you do this, please be advised that we may not be able to provide you with safe and informed care. Please note that this will only affect new activity and does not mean that processing carried out before you withdrew your consent is unlawful.

The right to data portability – in some circumstances, you may be entitled to have the personal data you have provided to us sent to you in an electronic form that enables you to make further use of it.

The right to object and complain – you can object to us processing your information if the processing is carried out in our legitimate interests. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. We hope that if you have a complaint you will come to us first and we will always do everything we can to help you. You can find our complaints procedure here. However, if you would like to complain to the ICO, you can find information on how to do this at www.ico.org.uk.

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – which we do not carry out.

Checking your identity

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). If you ask a representative to make a request under this Privacy Notice, we will ask them to prove they have your permission to act.

Fees

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (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.