Protecting your Privacy

We use your personal information to provide and improve our services.

Please read the following privacy policy so you understand what inforamtion we collect and how we use and protect the information that you provide to us. We know that you care how information about you is stored and used and we will make every effort to ensure we look after your personal data carefully.

As part of the services we offer, we are required to process personal data about our staff, our service users and, in some instances, the friends or relatives of our service users and staff. “Processing” can mean collecting, recording, organising, storing, sharing or destroying data.

We are committed to being transparent about why we need your personal data and what we do with it. This information is set out in this privacy notice. It also explains your rights when it comes to your data.

Data Controller

MET Medical Ltd of Unit 3a, Smallford Works, Smallford Lane, St Albans AL4 0SA are data controllers of personal information collected and processed through this website. By using this website you consent to MET Medical Ltd collecting, using and transfering personal data that you provide to us in accordance with the terms of this policy.

We reserve the rights to change the contents of this website, including this privacy policy at any time, by posting such changes on the website. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with this policy regularly to ensure that you are aware of any changes. Your continued use of this website following the posting of any such changes will constitute your acceptance of the revised privacy policy.

We will process your data in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018). The purpose of the privacy policy is to inform you as a user of the site about what information we collect when you visit the site, how we use the information, whether the information is disclosed, the ways in which we protect users' privacy and how you can remove your data from our systems should you wish to do so.

What Personal Information do we collect when you visit our website or use our services

Information you give us:

We receive and store information in relation to the services we provide. This may include:

• Your name, job title, contact information including email address, postal address, details about a patient or their medical conditions, mental health, demographic information when you contact us to request a service, quotation, help or information through this website.

• Your other basic details such as next of kin and NHS number

• Other information relevant to customer surveys, questionnaires or offers

• Your name and email address when you sign up to receive newsletters or further information

• Information about your employment and work history

• Information about your purchase history when you make online purchases

Why do we have this data?

We need this data so that we can provide high-quality care and support. By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

We process your data because: you may not use all of these lawful bases or may use different ones, change as appropriate.

·      We have a legal obligation to do so – generally under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 or Mental Capacity Act 2005.

We process your special category data because

·      It is necessary due to social security and social protection law (generally this would be in safeguarding instances);

·      It is necessary for us to provide and manage social care services;

·      We are required to provide data to our regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as part of our public interest obligations.

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent at any time. 

Automatic Information:

We automatically receive and store certain types of information when you use this website, such as information about your use. Like many websites, we use cookies and other unique identifiers and we obtain certain types of information when your web browser or device accesses our servers. This may include:

• Your computers IP address

• Your location

• The type of your device or browser

• The Search terms you used

• The full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our website (including date and time); cookie number; products and/ or content you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs).

If you register with our website, or if you fill in a form on the website, you may be asked to provide information about yourself (including your name and necessary contact details) or patient information in order to allow us to process your request. The individual form will explain what we will do with your data and we will ask for your consent each time you submit information.

If you are uncomfortable about the use of cookies, you can disable cookies on your computer by changing the settings in the settings or options menu in your Internet browser.

Where do we process your data?

So that we can provide you with high quality care and support we need specific data. This is collected from or shared with:

1.     You or your legal representative(s);

2.     Third parties.

We do this face to face, via phone, via email, via our website, via post, via application forms.

Third parties are organisations we might lawfully share your data with. These include:

·      Other parts of the health and care system such as local hospitals, the GP, the pharmacy, social workers, clinical commissioning groups, and other health and care professionals;

·      The Local Authority;

·      Your family or friends – with your permission;

·      Organisations we have a legal obligation to share information with i.e. for safeguarding, the CQC;

·      The police or other law enforcement agencies if we have to by law or court order.

How we use this information?

We use the data you provide us to deliver our services.

We store cookies if you consent for us to do so.

We also analyse the data we collect to both directly and indirectly to monitor how effective our website is and to help us identify ways to improve it, and make the content more relevant for our users.

We collect and share some data for example some user information may be shared with Google which can be used for the personalisation of ads. We never share your personal information or medical information with Google.

We store some personal information when we deliver health services and are required to do so by law. You can opt out of us sharing information for things like research, however, there is some information we have to share where there is a legal mandate/direction or an overriding public interest e.g a pandemic. If we provide medical service on behalf of an NHS body health records may be shared with them in accordance with a legal agreement. We may also share data for things like safeguarding.

We may also use data for other purposes, which we would identify to you at the point we collect the information and request you to formally opt-in and agree to your data being used for that specific purpose such as for the purposes of providing you with further information or a quotation or medical care.

Why do we have this data?

We require this data so that we can contact you, pay you and make sure you receive the training and support you need to perform your job. By law, we need to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data.

We process your data because

·      We have a legal obligation under UK employment law;

·      We are required to do so in our performance of a public task;

·      We are required to provide data to our regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as part of our public interest obligations.  

If we request your criminal records data it is because we have a legal obligation to do this due to the type of work you do. This is set out in the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. We do not keep a record of your criminal records information (if any). We do record that we have checked this.

We may also process your data with your consent. If we need to ask for your permission, we will offer you a clear choice and ask that you confirm to us that you consent. We will also explain clearly to you what we need the data for and how you can withdraw your consent.

Links to external sites, including social media

This website contains links to other websites, both those of government departments and of other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to this website, so when you are moving to another site which collects personal information you should always read the privacy policy relating to that website.

The social media sites that we link to are third-party sites and MET Medical does not have any control over the way that these sites use your personal information. If you choose to access these sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect information from you that may be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours.

Will we sell your information?

As a trusted and regulated Ambulance Service, we do not share data with other organisations unless the law permits us to do so. We do not sell individual information. We will share it only with our authorised Data processors, who must act at all times on our instructions as the Data Controller under the Data Protection Act (2018). Before you submit any information, we will notify you as to why we are asking for specific information and it is up to you whether you provide it.

We may give you access to your information

You are entitled to know whether we hold information about you and, if we do, to have access to that information and require it to be corrected if it is inaccurate. You can do this by contacting dataprotection@met-medical.co.uk

You have the right to withdraw consent for information sharing

You are entitled to withdraw your consent regarding to sharing any personal data you have provided us at any time with other agencies.

If you wish to discuss this or withdraw your consent to the MET Medical processing your personal data please contact dataprotection@met-medical.co.uk

Right to erase personal information

If you feel that we should no longer be using your personal information, or that we are illegally using your data, you can request that we erase the personal information we hold on you. When we receive your request, we will confirm whether the personal information has been deleted or tell you’re the reason why it cannot be deleted. There may be legal reasons why we need to keep your personal information.

If you want to request that we erase your personal information, please contact us using the details above.

Data security

We take all appropriate and proportionate steps to maintain the security of your data on our website. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not always not entirely secure. All of our forms are encrypted whenever data is transmitted using TLS 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 protocols and online purchases are secured via SSL, the same technology banks use. Once we have received your personal information, we will use all appropriate security procedures aimed at preventing any unauthorised access, unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage.

IP addresses

IP addresses are used by your computer every time you are connected to the Internet. Your IP address is a number that is used by computers on the network to identify your computer. IP addresses are automatically collected by our web servers so that data (such as the web pages you request) can be sent to you.

Data Protection Officer

If you wish to contact our Data Protection Officer, please email dpo@met-medical.co.uk