1. INTRODUCTION

Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery is committed to protecting your privacy and security. This policy explains how and why we use your personal data, to ensure you remain informed and in control of your information.

The Practice will ask its clients to “opt-in” for communications. This is due to a change to the rules which govern how we can communicate with you and a new regulation on personal data (the General Data Protection Regulation) coming into force in May 2018. Therefore we are introducing a new approach that relies on you giving us your consent about how we can contact you. This means you’ll have the choice as to whether you want to receive these messages and how best you want to receive them (email, phone, SMS or post).

You can decide not to receive communications or change how we contact you at any time. If you wish to do so please contact us by emailing info@stationbridgevets.co.uk or telephoning 01733 615447 (Open 8:30am – 7pm, Mon – Fri).

We will never sell your personal data, and will only ever share it with organisations we work with where necessary and if its privacy and security are guaranteed.

2. WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Personal data you provide
We collect data you provide to us. This includes information you give when joining or registering, placing an order or communicating with us. For example:

    • personal details (name, email, address, telephone etc.) when you register.

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Information created by your involvement with Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery

Your activities and involvement with the Practice will result in personal data being created. This could include details of comments/feedback you have provided to us about your pets progress.

Information from third parties
We sometimes receive personal data about individuals from third parties. For example, if we request your pet’s clinical history from another Veterinary Practice.
We may collect information from social media if you choose to post on one of our social media pages.

Sensitive personal data
We do not not ask for, collect or store sensitive personal data (such as information relating to health, beliefs or political affiliation) about our clients. 

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Accidents or incidents
If an accident or incident occurs on our property, at one of our events or involving one of our staff then we’ll keep a record of this (which may include personal data and sensitive personal data).

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3. HOW WE USE INFORMATION

We only ever use your personal data with your consent, or where it is necessary in order to:
    • enter into, or perform, a contract with you;
    • comply with a legal duty;
    • protect your vital interests;
    • for our own lawful interests, provided your rights don’t override the these.

In any event, we’ll only use your information for the purpose or purposes it was collected for (or else for closely related purposes):
Marketing
We use personal data to communicate with people, for;
    • Vaccination Reminders
    • Flea/worm treatment reminders
    • Appointment reminders
    • Medication/Prescription Reminders
    • Updates of services that we offer
      
Administration
We use personal data for administrative purposes (i.e. to carry on our daily work). This includes:
    • maintaining client/patient databases;
    • fulfilling orders for goods or services (whether placed online, over the phone or in person);
    • helping us respect your choices and preferences (e.g. if you ask not to receive marketing material, we’ll keep a record of this).

4. DISCLOSING AND SHARING DATA

We will never sell your personal data. If you have opted-in to communications, we may contact you with information.
We may share personal data with other practices and referral centres who provide us with services. For example, if you are referred to a specialist we will provide that referral centre with the clinical history for your pet, which may include contact details for yourself.

 

5. MARKETING

What does ‘marketing’ mean?
Marketing does not just mean offering things for sale, but also includes news and information about:
    • our role in educating the public in areas of pet health and welfare;
    • benefits and offers;
    • our events, and activities;
    • products, services and offers (our own, and those of third parties which may interest you);
      
6. RESEARCH AND PROFILING

This section explains how and why we use personal data.

Anonymised data
We may aggregate and anonymise personal data so that it can no longer be linked to any particular person. This information can be used for a variety of purposes, to identify trends or patterns within our existing client base.  This information helps inform our actions and improve our products/services and choice of medication.

7. YOUNG PEOPLE

Photographs, pictures, stories and competitions
We want young people to join in with pet health and welfare, and occasionally there are opportunities for young people to share their photos, stories and pictures. If we publish your child’s picture, photo or story, we’ll usually include their first name and age with it.
If your child enters a competition and is one of the lucky winners or runners-up, we’ll publish their name and winning entry alongside the other winners.
Parental permission: If your child is under 18 then we’ll need permission from you as their parent or guardian for them to enter one of our competitions or to share a picture, photo or story with us.

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8. HOW WE PROTECT DATA

We employ a variety of physical and technical measures to keep your data safe and to prevent unauthorised access to, or use or disclosure of your personal information. 
Electronic data and databases are stored on secure computer systems and we control who has access to information (using both physical and electronic means). Our staff receive data protection training and we have a set of detailed data protection procedures which personnel are required to follow when handling personal data.
Of course, we cannot guarantee the security of your home computer or the internet, and any online communications (e.g. information provided by email or our website) are at the user’s own risk.
CCTV
Some of our premises have CCTV and you may be recorded when you visit them. CCTV is there to help provide security and to protect both you and the Practice. CCTV will only be viewed when necessary (e.g. to detect or prevent crime) and footage is only stored temporarily. 
We put up notices so you know when CCTV is in use.

9. STORAGE

Where we store information
We store our data within the European Union. Some organisations which provide services to us may transfer personal data outside of the EEA, but we’ll only allow them to do if your data is adequately protected.
For example, some of our systems use Microsoft products. As a US company, it may be that using their products result in personal data being transferred to or accessible from the US. However, we’ll allow this as we are certain personal data will still be adequately protected (as Microsoft is certified under the USA’s Privacy Shield scheme).

How long we store information
We will only use and store information for so long as it is required for the purposes it was collected for. How long information will be stored for depends on the information in question and what it is being used for. For example, if you ask us not to send you marketing emails, we will stop storing your emails for marketing purposes (though we’ll keep a record of your preference not to be emailed).
We continually review what information we hold and delete what is no longer required. We never store payment card information.

10. KEEPING YOU IN CONTROL

We want to ensure you remain in control of your personal data. Part of this is making sure you understand your legal rights, which are as follows:
    • the right to confirmation as to whether or not we have your personal data and, if we do, to obtain a copy of the personal information we hold (this is known as subject access request);
    • the right to have your data erased (though this will not apply where it is necessary for us to continue to use the data for a lawful reason);
    • the right to have inaccurate data rectified;
    • the right to object to your data being used for marketing or profiling; and
    • where technically feasible, you have the right to personal data you have provided to us which we process automatically on the basis of your consent. This information will be provided in a common electronic format.
Please keep in mind that there are exceptions to the rights above and, though we will always try to respond to your satisfaction, there may be situations where we are unable to do so.

Complaints
You can complain to the practice directly.
If you are not happy with our response, or you believe that your data protection or privacy rights have been infringed, you can complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office which regulates and enforces data protection law in the UK. Details of how to do this can be found at www.ico.org.uk

11. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

Links to other sites
Our website contains hyperlinks to other websites. We are not responsible for the content or functionality of any of those external websites (but please let us know if a link is not working by using the 'Contact us' link at the top of the page).

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12. USE OF COOKIES

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We use cookies to enable you to set preferences for how it runs when you visit.

When you fill in a web form such as those found on contact pages, cookies may be set to remember your user details for future correspondence.

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13. THIRD PARTY COOKIES

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In some special cases we also use cookies provided by trusted third parties. You might encounter some of the following cookies on this site.

• This site uses Google Analytics to help us understand how you use the site and ways that we can improve your experience. These cookies may track things such as how long you spend on the site and the pages that you visit so that we can continue to produce engaging content. We don’t use Google Analytics to store personal information about visitors to the website.

• In addition to Google Analytics we use other tools to track and measure how people use this site, with the aim of keeping the site relevant and engaging. These tools use cookies to measure how long visitors spend on the site and how they use it. We do not capture personal information about visitors to the website with these tools.

• We use social media buttons and/or plugins on this site that allow you to connect with your social network in various ways. For these to work, the social media sites - including Facebook and Twitter - will set cookies through our site which may be used to enhance your profile on their site. They may also contribute to the data they hold for various purposes outlined in their respective privacy policies.

• We use 'Vetstoria' to enable clients to book appointments online. Vetstoria have their own cookies and policies.

 

14. DISABLING COOKIES

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You can prevent the setting of cookies by adjusting the settings on your browser (read your browser ‘Help’ section for how to do this). Be aware that disabling cookies will affect the functionality of this and other websites that you visit. Disabling cookies will usually result in also disabling certain functionality and features of this site. Therefore, it’s recommended that you don’t disable cookies.

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15. QUERIES REGARDING COOKIES

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You can ask us any questions regarding the way we use cookies by emailing us at info@stationbridgevets.co.uk or by post at:

Station Bridge Veterinary Surgery

1 Station Bridge

Yaxley

Peterborough

PE7 3EL

16. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY AND COOKIE POLICY

We’ll amend the Policy from time to time to ensure it remains up-to-date and accurately reflects how and why we use your personal data. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. The current version of our Policy will always be posted on our website.
This Policy was last updated on April 2022.

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