- How we use your data
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At Stoke-on-Trent City Council we take your privacy seriously and will only keep and use your personal information for reasons law requires or allows. We are a data controller for the personal information responsible for the way information is held and used in relation to the Telecare and Lifeline Service. In order to comply with data protection legislation we must be sure you understand how we use this information.
When you use the Telecare and Lifeline Service we collect information about you, including your name, address, date of birth, your GP surgery, people who provide care for you, the issues you face in carrying out your daily living activities, and what equipment we are able to provide for you. If we provide a key safe for you we will also record the access code for that key safe. We only keep this data for the time specified in our retention schedule. If we provide equipment to you, we will retain your information for as long as you need the equipment. Once you no longer need the equipment we will keep your information for a further 8 years before deleting it securely.
The purposes for which the data will be used are: to assess what telecare equipment you might require to meet your needs and keep you safe and independent at home. If you consent to us installing equipment, we also record information on what supports we have provided – this is to ensure we can support you if you activate your telecare equipment, so we can repair/replace the equipment if it requires it in future, and to make sure we review your support where needed. We are able to do this because the law on Social Care (the Care Act 2014) says we must do it if you request an assessment from us. It is therefore part of our “public task”.
We may share some parts of your information with other organisations, if it is necessary to do so to ensure your safety. For instance we may make referrals to your GP or other Health professionals, if we are concerned for your wellbeing. If other agencies who are involved with you contact us with concerns about your safety, we might share some basic information about whether you have had any recent telecare equipment activations, or the name and number of your contacts so the agency can check information with them. This includes relevant public authorities and voluntary agencies who we know will handle your information properly. If the Fire, Ambulance or Police services need emergency access to you home, we may share your keysafe number with them if we have it. When you provide contact details of other people to us you should make sure they know you have and they should also read this notice.
We are required by the government to hold and use some of your information for statistical purposes on the number of people using our services. This data is used by the council’s Performance Team and is made completely anonymous so you will not be identifiable from it.
If you wish to restrict the use of the information (for instance by stipulating someone with whom you do not want the information sharing) please tell your assessor and we will document this. We will seek your permission wherever possible before transferring any information to any other organisation (such as asking your doctor for further information in support of your assessment) but where we use your information because we are concerned about you we may not be able to do so.
If we receive information about you from other sources (such as your GP) we will follow exactly the same rules as if you had given us the information yourself. We will also inform you what information we have received and from whom.
Data protection law provides you with certain rights, however not all of these rights will be available to you in all situations. Where we are under a legal duty to use data for a particular purpose you will not have the right to prevent it being used in that way.
A full list of the rights you may have, under data protection law, is given below:
- You can ask to see the information we hold about you.
- You can ask what is being done with the information we hold about you.
- You can ask to have some of the data we hold about you deleted.
- You can ask us to review a decision made about you by a computer, and ask for a new decision to be made by a person.
- You can ask us to stop processing the data we hold about you
- You can ask us to make changes to data about you that you believe is inaccurate.
- In some circumstances you can ask us to help you move your information to another organisation.
- You can ask us to restrict or limit what we do with your data, for example if you believe the data we hold is inaccurate, or if you believe the processing in unlawful.
- Who to contact if you have questions
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If you wish to speak to us in relation to this service please contact Peter Ball, Telecare and Rehabilitation Services Manager on 01782 237146 (or via email peter.ball@stoke.gov.uk). If you wish to contact us in relation to any of your information rights, email foi@stoke.gov.uk or write to Information Rights Team, Floor 2, Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 1HH.
Complete the online form
If you wish to complain about how your personal information has been handled by Stoke-on-Trent City Council then please contact the Information Rights Team in the first instance using the details above. If you are not satisfied you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or you can visit their website at ico.org.uk.
If you wish to complain about how your personal information has been handled by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, contact the information rights team in the first instance using the details above. If you are not satisfied you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, or call 03031231113Information Commissioner's Office website
You can find details of how we handle your personal information here