Care Finder Assist: Your Privacy Matters

– A Plain English Guide​

 

Hello, and welcome to Care Finder Assist!

We're dedicated to helping you find the right care, and that includes looking after your personal information. This document explains how we collect, use, and protect your data, including how we share it and our use of cookies. We've written it in plain English, so it's easy to follow.

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1. Who We Are and What We Do

Care Finder Assist Ltd, is here to help you find suitable care options, whether it's a care home or care at home. Because we handle sensitive information, we take our responsibility to protect your privacy very seriously. This document, our Privacy Policy, explains everything you need to know.

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2. Who's in Charge of Your Information?

Raaj Purohit, Director at Care Finder Assist Ltd, is the "data controller." This means he's the person responsible for deciding what happens to your data. If you have any questions, you can contact us:

Care Finder Assist Hardwick House 2 Agricultural Hall Plain Norwich NR1 3SF

Tel: 0330 043 8832

email: DPO@carefinderassist.com

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3. What Information Do We Collect?

We only collect information that's relevant to finding the right care for you or the person you're enquiring about. We keep it to the minimum we need. This includes:

• Information about the Person Needing Care: This is often quite sensitive, and we handle it with extra care. It includes things like:

  • Full name

  • Address

  • Email address

  • Phone number

  • Gender

  • Date of birth

  • Nationality (if it's relevant to their care)

  • Detailed information about their health and social care needs. This might include:

    • Physical health conditions (like mobility issues or diabetes)

    • Mental health conditions (like dementia or anxiety)

    • Disabilities

    • Specific care requirements (like needing help with dressing or medication)

    • Medical history

    • Medications they take

    • Allergies

    • Dietary needs

    • Social care needs and preferences (like wanting to be near family)

    • Information about their lifestyle (like hobbies or interests)

• Information about the Person Making the Enquiry: This is usually a family member, friend, or someone else acting on behalf of the person needing care. It includes:

  • Full name

  • Their relationship to the person needing care

  • Address

  • Email address

  • Phone number​

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4. How Do We Collect Your Information?

We collect your information in a few different ways, always aiming to be clear and upfront about it:

• Our Website: If you fill in a form on our website.

• Email: When you email us.

• Phone: When you call us.

• Video Calls: If we have a video consultation.

• Face-to-Face Meetings: If we meet in person.​

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5. Why Do We Collect Your Information, and What's Our Legal Basis?

We use your information for specific reasons, and we're only allowed to do so if we have a proper legal basis. Here's why we collect your data and the legal reasons:

• To Work Out What Care is Needed: We need this information to understand the care recipient's needs and find the best match. The legal basis is either your consent (if the person needing care can give it) or, if they can't, our "legitimate interests" (provided the person enquiring has the right to act on their behalf).

• To Find Suitable Care Providers: We share relevant information with care homes or home care agencies so they can assess if they can provide the right care. The legal basis is the same as above – consent or legitimate interests.

• To Help Everyone Communicate: We help you, the care recipient (if appropriate), and the care providers to communicate with each other. The legal basis is consent or legitimate interests.

• To Provide Support to You: We use your information to give you support and guidance during the care finding process. The legal basis here is our legitimate interests.

• To Follow the Law: Sometimes, we need to keep records to comply with legal requirements. The legal basis here is "legal obligation."

• To Improve Our Services: We might use anonymised data to see how we can improve our service. The legal basis here is our legitimate interests.

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6. Who Do We Share Your Information With?

We only share your information with people who need it to provide or arrange care:

• Care Providers: We share relevant details with care homes and home care agencies so they can assess if they can meet the care recipient's needs. We only share what's absolutely necessary.

• Other Professionals: Only if absolutely necessary and with your explicit consent or if we are legally required to: For example, social workers or other healthcare professionals. This would only happen if you give us clear permission or if the law says we have to.

We have contracts with anyone who handles data for us to make sure they follow the same data protection rules. We never sell your information to anyone for marketing.

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7. How Do We Keep Your Information Safe?

We take the security of your information very seriously. We use a range of measures to protect it from unauthorised access, use, or disclosure:

• Encryption: We encrypt your data, which means it's scrambled and unreadable to anyone who shouldn't see it, both when it's sent over the internet and when it's stored.

• Strong Passwords: We use strong, unique passwords to protect our systems.

• Restricted Access: Only authorised staff can access your information, and only when they need it for their job.

• Regular Backups: We regularly back up your data to a secure, encrypted, and separate location.

• Security Checks: We regularly check our security systems to make sure they're up to date and effective.

• Staff Training: All our staff are trained on data protection and security.

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8. How Long Do We Keep Your Information?

We only keep your information for as long as we need it for the purposes we collected it for. We have a data retention policy which sets out the specific periods. For example:

• Care Recipient Data: 7 years after the last contact or service provided, unless a longer period is required by law.

• Enquirer Data: 7 years after the initial enquiry, unless a service agreement is in place. This is attached to care recipient data.

 

9. Your Rights

You have several rights regarding your personal information:

• Right to Access: You can ask to see what information we hold about you.

• Right to Correction: You can ask us to correct any inaccurate information.

• Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): You can ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances.

• Right to Restrict Processing: You can ask us to limit how we use your information in certain circumstances.

• Right to Data Portability: You can ask us to provide your information in a format that you can easily transfer to someone else.

• Right to Object: You can object to us using your information in certain circumstances.

• Right to Withdraw Consent: If we're using your information based on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

 

10. How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us in writing at the address above. We will respond to your request within one month. We may ask you to prove your identity before we can deal with your request.

 

11. Cookies and Tracking

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users and to enhance your browsing experience. Cookies are small text files which a website may put on your computer or mobile device when you first visit a site or page. The cookie will help the website, or another website, to recognise your device the next time you visit. We use the term “cookies” in this policy to refer to all files that collect information in this way, including web beacons or other similar files.

We use cookies for the following purposes:

• Essential Cookies: These cookies are necessary for our website to function properly.

• Analytics Cookies: These cookies help us understand how people use our website (e.g., which pages are visited most often). We use: Google Analytics and Wix analytics.

• Functionality Cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (e.g., language preference).

You have the right to choose whether or not to accept cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. You can also delete cookies that have already been set.

 

12. Transferring Data Outside the UK

We do not transfer your data outside the UK.

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13. Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.