Ampthill Veterinary Centre understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used. We respect and value the privacy of all our clients and will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here, and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law.
1. About Us
Ampthill Veterinary Centre is a trading name of Pet Care Ventures Limited, a limited company registered in England under company number 12722008.
2. What Does This Notice Cover?
This Privacy Information explains how we use your personal data: how it is collected, how it is held, and how it is processed. It also explains your rights under the law relating to your personal data. It should be read in conjunction with our Terms of Business.
3. What Is Personal Data?
Personal data is defined by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (collectively, “the Data Protection Legislation”) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified in particular by reference to an identifier’.
Personal data is, in simpler terms, any information about you that enables you to be identified. Personal data covers obvious information such as your name and contact details, but it also covers less obvious information such as identification numbers, electronic location data, and other online identifiers.
The personal data that we use is set out in Part 5, below.
4. What Are My Rights?
Under the Data Protection Legislation, you have the following rights, which we will always work to uphold:
- The right to be informed about our collection and use of your personal data. This Privacy Notice should tell you everything you need to know, but you can always contact us to find out more or to ask any questions using the details in Part 11.
- The right to access the personal data we hold about you. Part 10 will tell you how to do this.
- The right to have your personal data rectified if any of your personal data held by us is inaccurate or incomplete. Please contact us using the details in Part 11 to find out more.
- The right to be forgotten, i.e. the right to ask usto delete or otherwise dispose of any of your personal data that we hold. Please contact us using the details in Part 11 to find out more.
- The right to restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data.
- The right to object to us using your personal data for a particular purpose or purposes.
- The right to withdraw consent. This means that, if we are relying on your consent as the legal basis for using your personal data, you are free to withdraw that consent at any time.
- The right to data portability. This means that, if you have provided personal data to us directly, we are using it with your consent or for the performance of a contract, and that data is processed using automated means, you can ask us for a copy of that personal data to re-use with another service or business in many cases.
- Rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling. We do not use your personal data in this way.
For more information about our use of your personal data or exercising your rights as outlined above, please contact us using the details provided in Part 11.
It is important that your personal data is kept accurate and up-to-date. If any of the personal data we hold about you changes, please keep us informed as long as we have that data.
Further information about your rights can also be obtained from the Information Commissioner’s Office or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
If you have any cause for complaint about ouruse of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. We would however welcome the opportunity to resolve your concerns ourselves, so please contact us first, using the details in Part 11.
5. What Personal Data Do You Collect and How?
We may collect and hold some or all of the personal and non-personal data set out in the table below, using the methods also set out in the table in order to provide the best care possible for your pet. We do not collect any ‘special category’ or ‘sensitive’ personal data or personal data relating to children or data relating to criminal convictions and/or offences.
| Data Collected | How We Collect the Data |
| Identity Information including your name and title. | Website forms, hard-copy forms, telephone, in-person. |
| Contact information including your address (and postcode), email, address and telephone numbers. | |
| Business information including business name, job title and profession where you represent a supplier or another veterinary practice. | Telephone, correspondence, in-person, business documents and other written sources including websites. |
| Payment information including cardholder and card number, bank account numbers, associated address details, insurance information. | Website forms, other electronic and hard-copy forms, by telephone or in-person. |
| Profile information including marketing preferences, passwords to access our website or other online services, information on how you use our website or other services (e.g. viewing and response times, search requests, errors and interaction information such as page views and clicks) | Website forms, other electronic and hard-copy forms, website cookies, by telephone or in-person. |
| Technical information collecting on visiting our website or other online services such as Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser and version, time zone operating system and browser plugins. | Web browser request data and metadata, website forms, server logs. |
| If applicable, information on conduct (i.e. aggressive or violent behaviour. | In-person, telephone. |
| Information on bad debts. | Internal accounting and practice management system records. |
| Data from third parties which may include current and/or previous address, email address, phone number, information concerning previous insurance claims, bad debts, and any record of aggressive or violent behaviour, where applicable. | Clinical notes requested from another veterinary surgeon as part of our registration process or where those notes are required to provide a secondary or another opinion. |
| CCTV recordings of your image. | Your image may be captured on closed circuit television (CCTV) within the practice. |
| Telephone recordings of your voice. | All phone calls to the main practice number are recorded. |
6. How Do You Use My Personal Data?
Under the Data Protection Legislation, we must always have a lawful basis for using personal data. The following table describes how we may use your personal data, and our lawful bases for doing so:
| What We Do | Our Lawful Basis |
| Identifying you as a client. | Necessary to perform our contract with you. |
| Provision of clinical services. | Necessary to perform our contract with you. |
| Managing payments for our products and services, including our pet health scheme. | Necessary to perform our contract with you. |
| Communicating with you (including by email, post, telephone, text message or other means) regarding the provision of services, excluding marketing information. E.g. appointment management, inpatient updates, updates on our service provision. | Our legitimate interests – necessary to ensure that services you would expect can be properly provided to you. |
| Supplying you with information by emailand post that you have opted-in to (you may opt-out at any time by contacting the practice by telephone, in person, by post or by email to [email protected]). | Your consent. |
| Records of the retail supply of POM-V and POM-VPS (Prescription Only) medicines. | Legal obligation. |
| Processing of insurance claims. | Our legitimate interests – necessary to ensure that services you would expect can be properly provided to you. |
| Collection of debts | Our legitimate interests – reasonable expectation that we may pursue debts. |
| Fraud detection and prevention | Our legitimate interests – fraud prevention. |
| Defence of legal claims | Our legitimate interests – necessary to protect our business interests. |
| Provision of clinical notes to another veterinary practice where requested or necessary to provide emergency cover. | Our legitimate interests – necessary to ensure that services you would expect can be properly provided to you; necessary to perform our contract with you. |
| Provision of clinical notes to a secondary or another opinion. | Our legitimate interests – necessary to ensure that services you would expect can be properly provided to you. |
| Disclosure where required by law | Legal obligation |
| Maintenance of practice records to enable us to monitor your pet’s health and communicate with you. | Our legitimate interests – accurate record keeping; necessary to ensure that services you would expect can be properly provided to you. |
| Recording aggressive or violent behaviour | Our legitimate interests – for protection of our staff. |
| Recording bad debt status on records. | Our legitimate interests – necessary to protect our business interests. |
| Internal and external laboratory testing | Necessary to perform our contract with you. |
| IT support and third-party software suppliers during maintenance and testing. | Our legitimate interests – IT security and data integrity. |
| Recording of all incoming phone calls and CCTV. | Our legitimate interests – to ensure the safety of our staff, prevention of crime and to help monitor and improve our service. |
| Disclosure of data to relevant bodies where we have reasonable grounds to suspect animal cruelty or abuse, or immediate risk of harm. | Our legitimate interests – reasonable expectation to prevent animal harm; legal obligation. |
| Reporting prescription misuse. | Our legitimate interests – necessary to protect our business interests. |
| Reporting of notifiable diseases | Legal obligation |
With your permission and/or where permitted by law, we may also use your personal data for marketing purposes, which may include contacting you by email,telephone, text messageorpost with information, news, and offers on ourproductsandservices. You will not be sent any unlawful marketing or spam. We will always work to fully protect your rights and comply with ourobligations under the Data Protection Legislation and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and you will always have the opportunity to opt-out.Wewill always obtain your express opt-in consent before sharing your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes and you will be able to opt-out at any time.
Wewill only use your personal data for the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected unless wereasonably believe that another purpose is compatible with that or those original purpose(s) and need to use your personal data for that purpose. If wedo use your personal data in this way and you wish usto explain how the new purpose is compatible with the original, please contact ususing the details in Part 11.
If weneed to use your personal data for a purpose that is unrelated to, or incompatible with, the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, wewill inform you and explain the legal basis which allows us.
In some circumstances, where permitted or required by law, we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent. This will only be done within the bounds of the Data Protection Legislation and your legal rights.
7. How Long Will You Keep My Personal Data?
We will not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected. Your personal data will therefore be kept for the following periods (or, where there is no fixed period, the following factors will be used to determine how long it is kept):
| Type of Data | How Long We Keep It |
| Identity Information including your name and title. | If you have not visited us for a period of 3 years, we will delete your personal data and deregister you as a client. In the sad event that you pet passes away and you have no other pets registered with us, we will delete your personal data and deregister you as a client after 1 year unless you register a new pet with us. These periods may be extended under certain circumstances, for instance if there are unpaid fees on your account, a complaint or legal action in progress. In the case of records of the retail supply of POM-V and POM-VPS (Prescription Only) medicines, we are required to retain records which may include your personal data for 5 years. |
| Contact information including your address (and postcode), email, address and telephone numbers. | |
| Profile information including marketing preferences, passwords to access our website or other online services, information on how you use our website or other services (e.g. viewing and response times, search requests, errors and interaction information such as page views and clicks) | |
| Technical information collecting on visiting our website or other online services such as Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser and version, time zone operating system and browser plugins. | |
| If applicable, information on conduct (i.e. aggressive or violent behaviour. | |
| Information on bad debts. | |
| Data from third parties which may include current and/or previous address, email address, phone number, information concerning previous insurance claims, bad debts, and any record of aggressive or violent behaviour, where applicable. | |
| Business information including business name, job title and profession where you represent a supplier or another veterinary practice. | 1 year following the end of the time of last supply, or provision of services, unless an ongoing dispute. We are required to retain data in certain documents for longer as a result of tax/accounting obligations, e.g. VAT invoices. |
| Payment information including cardholder and card number, bank account numbers, associated address details, insurance information. | Retained only for as long as is necessary for the payment of one-off or ongoing services, e.g., pet health plan. |
| CCTV recordings of your image. | No longer than 12 months, unless required to respond to a complaint or legal action. |
| Telephone recordings of your voice. | No longer than 12 months, unless required to respond to a complaint or legal action. |
8. How and Where Do You Store or Transfer My Personal Data?
Wewill only store your personal datawithin the European Economic Area (the “EEA”). The EEA consists of all EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. This means that your personal data will be fully protected under the EU GDPR and/or to equivalent standards by law. Transfers of personal data to the EEA from the UK are permitted without additional safeguards.
9. Do You Share My Personal Data?
Wewill not share any of your personal data with any third parties for any purposes, subject to the following exceptions.
| Recipient | Activity Carried Out | Sector | Location |
| Debt collection agencies | Collection of outstanding debts where this has not been possible internally. | Financial | United Kingdom |
| Payment processors, including Stripe and Square | Administration of payments, collection of pet health plan payments. | Financial | United Kingdom |
| Veterinary referral centres | Referring your pet for specialist veterinary care. | Veterinary | United Kingdom |
| Out of hours provider | Provision of out of hours emergency care | Veterinary | United Kingdom |
| Vetstoria | Appointment booking and communications management | Online | United Kingdom |
| IDEXX Animana | Practice Management System | Online | The Netherlands |
| Legal advisors | Legal advice | Legal | United Kingdom |
| Laboratory services | External laboratory testing services. | Veterinary | United Kingdom |
If any of your personal data is shared with a third party, as described above, wewill take steps to ensure that your personal data is handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the third party’s obligations under the law, as described above in Part 8.
If any personal data is transferred outside of the UK, we will take suitable steps in order to ensure that your personal data is treated just as safely and securely as it would be within the UK and under the Data Protection Legislation, as explained above in Part 8.
If wesell, transfer, or merge parts of ourbusiness or assets, your personal data may be transferred to a third party. Any new owner of ourbusiness may continue to use your personal data in the same way(s) that wehave used it, as specified in this Privacy Policy.
In some limited circumstances, wemay be legally required to share certain personal data, which might include yours, if we are involved in legal proceedings or complying with legal obligations, a court order, or the instructions of a government authority.
10. How Can I Access My Personal Data?
If you want to know what personal data wehave about you, you can ask usfor details of that personal data and for a copy of it (where any such personal data is held). This is known as a “subject access request”.
All subject access requests should be made in writing and sent to the email or postal addresses shown in Part 11. There is not normally any charge for a subject access request. If your request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’ (for example, if you make repetitive requests) a fee may be charged to cover ouradministrative costs in responding.
Wewill respond to your subject access request within 14 days and, in any case, not more than one month of receiving it. Normally, weaim to provide a complete response, including a copy of your personal data within that time. In some cases, however, particularly if your request is more complex, more time may be required up to a maximum of three months from the date wereceive your request. You will be kept fully informed of ourprogress
11. How Do I Contact You?
To contact usabout anything to do with your personal data and data protection, including to make a subject access request, please use the following details:
Email address: [email protected].
Telephone number: 01525 582002.
Postal Address: Ampthill Veterinary Centre, 2 Church Street, Ampthill, Bedford MK45 2EH
12. Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time. This may be necessary, for example, if the law changes, or if we change our business in a way that affects personal data protection.
This Privacy Notice was last updated on 16 December 2021.