Our Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

• Who we are

  The Hospice of St Francis is a registered charity (Charity No. 280825) and company limited by guarantee (company No. 1507474). Hospice of St Francis Trading Limited (company No. 06140240) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the charity. Both the Charity and the Trading Company are data controllers under Data Protection law.

• Care and support services – separation of data

  If you, a relative, or friend are cared for or supported by The Hospice of St Francis, the personal and/or sensitive personal information you provide to us will be used only for the purposes of providing you with services, or training or monitoring the quality of our services.  The Hospice of St Francis will not disclose your personal information to any third party without your consent, except to professional bodies, or otherwise as required by law, regulation or codes of practice. If you are receiving care as a patient, The Hospice of St Francis will not disclose your personal information to any third party without your consent except to healthcare professionals and organisations involved in the provision of care.

  The Hospice of St Francis is part of My Care Record, an approach to improving care by joining up health and care information. Health and care professionals from other services will be able to view information from the records we hold about you when it is needed for your care. Please see www.mycarerecord.org.uk for more information.
  
  

• How the NHS and care services use your information

  The Hospice of St Francis is one of many organisations working in the health and care system to improve care for patients and the public.
  
  

  Whenever you use a health or care service, such as attending Accident & Emergency or using Community Care services, important information about you is collected in a patient record for that service. Collecting this information helps to ensure you get the best possible care and treatment.
  
  

  The information collected about you when you use these services can also be used and provided to other organisations for purposes beyond your individual care, for instance to help with:

  • improving the quality and standards of care provided
  • research into the development of new treatments
  • preventing illness and diseases
  • monitoring safety
  • planning services
    
    

  This may only take place when there is a clear legal basis to use this information. All these uses help to provide better health and care for you, your family and future generations. Confidential patient information about your health and care is only used like this where allowed by law.
  
  

  Most of the time, anonymised data is used for research and planning so that you cannot be identified in which case your confidential patient information isn’t needed. You have a choice about whether you want your confidential patient information to be used in this way. The Hospice of St Francis has put processes in place to be compliant with the NHS National Opt-out Policy which applies your choice to any confidential patient information we use or share for purposes beyond your individual care. If you are happy with this use of information you do not need to do anything. If you do choose to opt out your confidential patient information will still be used to support your individual care.

  
  

  To find out more or to register your choice to opt out, please visit www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.  On this web page you will:

  • See what is meant by confidential patient information
  • Find examples of when confidential patient information is used for individual care and examples of when it is used for purposes beyond individual care
  • Find out more about the benefits of sharing data
  • Understand more about who uses the data
  • Find out how your data is protected
  • Be able to access the system to view, set or change your opt-out setting
  • Find the contact telephone number if you want to know any more or to set/change your opt-out by phone
  • See the situations where the opt-out will not apply
    
     

  You can also find out more about how patient information is used at:

  https://www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients/ (which covers health and care research)
  

  https://understandingpatientdata.org.uk/what-you-need-know (which covers how and why patient information is used, the safeguards and how decisions are made)

  
  You can change your mind about your choice at any time.
  
  

  Data being used or shared for purposes beyond individual care does not include your data being shared with insurance companies or used for marketing purposes and data would only be used in this way with your specific agreement.

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• Information held by our Trading Company

  Personal information held by the Trading team is used for the purposes of claiming Gift Aid on donations of goods made by supporters to our charity shops and e-bay. We send information to HMRC in order to make these claims, and we also confirm the amount of tax we have been able to reclaim on sales of their donated goods to supporters, as well as confirming receipt of new donations under the Gift Aid scheme. All supporters completing a gift aid form are given the option to find out more about the Hospice and join our main supporter database. If you are a supporter of our shops and would like to join this database, and receive more information about the hospice, please complete our supporter preference form.

• Information we collect

  We obtain personal information about you when you enquire about our activities, register with us, make a donation or otherwise provide us with personal information.

  We may collect the following information which you provide to us:
  

  • Name and date of birth
  • Contact information including address, telephone number and email address
  • Demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests
  • Credit and debit card details
  • Other information relevant to donations, Gift Aid, surveys and/or events

  We do not collect “sensitive personal data”  about you such as race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, health information or political affiliation unless there is a legitimate reason for this – for example, you may wish us to know that you are currently coming to a support group at The Spring Centre. 

  We may add to what you have told us in the following ways:

  • By recording your use of our websites and services: for example, if you watch one of our videos on YouTube or if you engage with content on our website – tracking this helps us create more of the content that our supporters want to see.
  • By adding to what you have told us with information from third parties: for example, we may use the Post Office’s National Change of Address database if you have registered with that service, in order to ensure we do not lose touch with you when you move house.

  Like all organisations we are able to confirm what web browser you are using and your IP address, in order that we can improve the quality of the service that we provide to you. (For more on this please see the section below - How we use Cookies on our website).

• What we will not do with your information

  • We will not sell your data to a third party.
  • We will not swap your data with a third party.

• How we use information about you

  We use your information to understand your needs and interests and to provide you with the best service we can. We want to have the best relationship we can with you and for you to enjoy your interactions with the hospice. In particular we use your information in the following ways:

  • to provide you with services, products or information you have requested;
  • to provide further information about our work, services, activities or products;
  • to process donations or payments we have received from you;
  • to further our charitable aims, including for fundraising activities;
  • to fulfil sales made online or through our shops;
  • to invite voluntary participation in research or surveys;
  • to register and administer your participation in events for which you have registered;
  • to analyse and improve our work, services, activities, products or information (including our website) or for our internal records;
  • to use IP addresses and monitor website use to identify locations, block disruptive use, record website traffic or personalise the way information is presented to you;
  • for administration purposes (e.g. to keep an up to date record of your Gift Aid status);
  • to process your application for a job or volunteer role with us
  • for fraud prevention, credit risk reduction or otherwise as required by law or regulation.
  • for internal record keeping, including recording the ways in which you wish to be hear from us and your interests regarding our work

• How we use Cookies on our website

  Our website uses cookies to help you in your interactions with the site. Most cookies are session cookies, lasting only for the duration of your visit and are deleted when you close your browser. No personally identifiable data is collected. Examples of the sort of information that is collected via session cookies are provided below. This list is not exhaustive:

  • The last search term that you used within the site
  • Your preference in terms of accessible viewing options
  • A unique ID to track your session from page to page
  • Which page you are looking at within a multi-paged index of content, or search results. 

  Certain cookies are persistent, meaning that they last beyond your session, enabling an enhanced user-experience when you return to the site. Again, a non-exhaustive list of examples of the use of persistent cookies includes:

  • The option to “Remember my username” when signing-in to the site
  • The fact that you have voted in a poll, so that you are prevented from voting multiple times

  Our website uses Google Analytics (www.google.com/intl/en_uk/analytics) to allow us to track how popular our site is and to record visitor trends over time. Google Analytics uses a cookie to help track which pages are accessed. The cookie contains no personally-identifiable information, but it does use your computer’s IP address to determine where in the world you are accessing the site from, and to track your page visits within the site.

  From time to time, we may embed external content from third-party websites (e.g. Facebook, YouTube) within our website. These websites may utilise cookies and the Privacy Policy that will apply to such third-party content will be that published on the website of that third-party content provider.

  You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline or delete cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

• Tracking your use of our websites

  We also make use of selective remarketing features likes pixels, tags and web beacons which are available on third party websites including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Instagram.

  These features allow us to understand what actions people have taken on our website, create custom audiences of people who may have visited our website and to track conversions from promotions. We use this information to re-target people with similar advertising content about our work and services, targeted to users’ interests.

  Details of how these third parties use your data, cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to collect or receive information, how they use this information and how you can opt-out plus and their privacy policies are available on their websites.

• Security

  We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

  If you use a credit or debit card to donate or to pay for goods and services we will ensure that processing is done in accordance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

  You can find out more about PCIDSS at: https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/index.php

• Fundraising and wealth profiling

  At The Hospice of St Francis we are extremely grateful for donations of any size. Approximately 70% of our income comes from our wonderful community of supporters; from bake sales, to participation in fundraising events, gifts to our appeals, or in memory of loved ones, gifts from companies or Trusts and Foundations, and gifts in Wills. All of this support enables us to keep going and to keep providing the support we deliver for families in our area.

  Some people are in the fortunate position of being able to make large gifts and are kind enough to consider doing so. It is important for us to be able to identify which of our supporters might be able to help in this way and to develop a personal relationship with them in a way which suits the supporter.

  One of the most effective ways of identifying people who may have the means to support us with larger donations, is to build a profile of supporters by using the information they have given us and adding publicly available information to this (such as information from Companies House or news sites), to help us make relevant tailored fundraising proposals to these individuals. We would then establish whether these supporters would like to meet with us and if so thank them for their support and talk to them about their preferences for the ongoing relationship with the hospice and opportunities to support our work which may interest them.

  In order to identify which people might benefit from this personal approach, we may screen our fundraising database. This process would start with a large number of supporter records – including yours potentially – and would result in a few hundred people with whom we would try and arrange a meeting.

  We believe that supporting the hospice is rewarding for donors and that it is important that we make people aware of opportunities to help fund the work of the hospice. Acknowledging the benefit to both supporters and the Hospice of such philanthropic relationships we are proud to ask for larger sums in the right way, and at the right time, from those who we identify and who then indicate that they may wish to help us with big gifts.

  If you would rather we did not use your personal data in any wealth profiling exercise we may undertake in the future, please complete this form.

• Legal basis for communications

  When writing to you by post we rely on the legitimate interest basis – that is, we believe that you have an interest in seeing the hospice continue to flourish and to be there for the families that need us, and the hospice has an interest in staying in touch with you and securing your ongoing support. If you have given us your telephone number we may use the ‘phone to contact you too.

  For email and SMS (text messaging), we will only contact you by these means if you have given us explicit permission to do so.

  If you ever wish to stop hearing from us, or to change the communications you receive from the hospice you can do so at any time, by completing the supporter preference form.

• Disclosure of information

  We work with trusted partners to manage your information and to do some of the processing work we could not undertake without specialist support. For example:

  • Mailing houses print and fulfil the fundraising appeals which we send to supporters by post
  • Direct Debit bureaux help us receive the donations that our committed givers make from their banks on a regular basis
  • Data bureaux help us to maintain the quality of supporter information (for example removing people from our database who are deceased)

  All of these activities are subject to our controls which are protected by contracts with suppliers and subject to data protection laws.

• Under 18s

  Some of our activities are targeted at families, particularly fundraising events, like the Bubble Rush. If you are under 18, please let us know when you sign up for events and ensure that you have the consent of a parent or guardian before giving us your details. We will ensure that your information is only used for the purposes it has been provided.

• Offensive or inappropriate content

  If any users of our website or social media channels post content that we believe to be inappropriate, offensive or illegal, we will remove this immediately and we may alert the relevant parties such as your internet provider and law enforcement agencies.

• Your right to access the information we hold about you

  You are entitled by law to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and you can also ask us to erase some or all of your non-clinical information and to limit the processing we undertake or object to it.

  Should we wish to exercise these rights please write to the Data Protection Officer, Hospice of St Francis, Spring Garden Lane, Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 3G. We require you to provide two pieces of identification, one of which must be a copy of a passport or driving licence. We will respond within 30 days of your request, and it would be helpful if you would give us as much detail about yourself as you can, to enable us to locate your records.

  You may of course, withdraw your consent to receive further contact from the hospice at any time, or amend your preferences by completing the supporter preference form.

• Keeping your information

  We keep your personal information only for as long as it is necessary, and for compliance purposes (for example we are required to keep details of donations made under the gift aid scheme for 6 years after the tax year in which they were made). Where your information is no longer required, we will ensure it is disposed of in a secure manner.

• Changes to this privacy policy

  This privacy policy is subject to change, so we advise supporters and web users to check back from time to time. When we make changes to our privacy policy which we feel are more significant, we will notify you by email of the changes and ask you to have a look at the changes and ensure that you are comfortable with them. If you continue to use the website or access our services you will be deemed to have accepted them.

• Feedback

  If you have any feedback about this policy, your support for The Hospice of St Francis, complaints, praise of things you feel we should know, please do drop us a line at donorcare@stfrancis.org.uk