Community Services privacy notices

Elmbridge Borough Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. This privacy notice explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy. 

Who we are and what we do 

A Social Prescribing officer is employed by Elmbridge Borough Council to work for your surgery. 

When a health professional can see there are external factors affecting health and wellbeing, they may decide to refer you to a Social Prescriber to help you identify whether there are any local services in the area that we might be able to connect you with. 

What personal information we need 

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you: 

• identity data includes: first name, maiden name, last name, marital status, title, nationality, date of birth, gender and next of kin  
• contact data includes: your address, email address and telephone numbers, next of kin and other contact person data 
• marketing and communications data includes: your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences

We also collect where required information which is categorised as Special Category Data under the Data Protection Act. This includes: 

• health information (NHS number, medical conditions and needs, carer needs, GP surgery) 
• ethnicity 
• religion 
• sexual orientation 
• Which parts of the Data Protection Act allow us to use your data 
• necessary to carry out our public task (Article 6) (h) 
• necessary for reasons of substantial public interest (health and social care) (Article 9) 
• consent (Article 6) 

Why we need your personal information 

We need to collect personal information from you to deliver our services. We will only collect what we need to process your referral, assess your suitability to use our services and to ensure we can accommodate your needs safely and effectively.

We collect next of kin and emergency contact details so we can contact them in case of an emergency or if we are unable to contact you. We also collect GP name/surgery and details of any other agencies involved in supporting you and their contact details. 

We collect health information including health conditions and medication and functional abilities, mobility and identified needs so we can assess your suitability to use our services and ensure any specific needs are appropriately catered for when you use our services. 

We also use your personal information to maintain our database of customers and plan our services. We may also contact you regarding other Community Support Services which may be of interest and when we conduct customer surveys.

What we use your information for

We use your information for:

• client registration 
• service delivery 
• service monitoring 
• communicating with you 
• safeguarding obligations

Who we share your personal information with

Your personal information such as name, address and telephone numbers may be given to appropriate organisations as part of the service. 

In the event of an emergency we may share your GP or emergency contact details and health information with health agencies or Adult Social Care. 

In the event of a civil emergency affecting your area, such as flooding, we may share your name, address and date of birth with Surrey County Council Emergency Planning Services or Emergency Services. 

Your rights when your data is shared

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. 

We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions and data protection laws. 

They are also obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data. 

The organisation will not transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area. 

We will never share your information for marketing purposes. 

How long we keep your personal information 

Your personal information will be held on file while you are a customer of our services. We will hold your data on file for 7 years after your case is closed. In the event of a safeguarding or health and safety issue we will keep your personal information for as long as required for safeguarding purposes or to fulfil legal obligations.

How we handle data breaches 

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so. 

How long will we retain your information for? 

We will only retain your personal data for as long as we need to and for any legal, accounting, or reporting needs. By law we have to keep basic information about our customers (including contact and identity data) for 7 years after they cease being customers for internal administration purposes. 

What are my rights with regards to data? 

You have the right to opt out of the Social Prescribing Service at any time, to do this please email gmckenzie@elmbridge.gov.uk or phone 01372 474537. 

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data. You also have the right to ask what data we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if it is incorrect. To exercise these rights you can contact the Data Protection Officer at Elmbridge Borough Council by emailing dataprotection@elmbridge.gov.uk.

We have a Data Protection Officer who makes sure we respect your rights and follow the law. If you have any concerns or questions about how we look after your personal information, please contact the Data Protection Officer, at dataprotection@elmbridge.gov.uk or by calling 01372 474474 and asking to speak to the Data Protection Officer. 

To see more about your rights regarding data please see our corporate privacy notice.