Privacy Notice

How we look after your personal information

This notice explains how Healey House and HRVAB collect, use, share and protect personal information, and the rights you have under UK data protection law.

Who we are

Healey House is a residential care home run by Hastings and Rother Voluntary Association for the Blind (HRVAB). HRVAB is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice, which means we decide how and why it is used and we are responsible for looking after it.

  • Organisation Hastings and Rother Voluntary Association for the Blind (HRVAB)

  • Registered charity 1102016

  • Company number 03636957

  • ICO registration ZB271506

  • Address Healey House, 3 Upper Maze Hill, St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex TN38 0LQ

How to contact us

If you have any questions about this notice or about how we use your information, or if you would like to use any of your rights, please contact the Home Manager:

Whose information we hold

  • Residents, people who stay with us for respite and people thinking of moving in

  • Family members, friends, representatives and people with Lasting Power of Attorney

  • Visitors to the home

  • People who contact us by phone, email or through the forms on this website

  • People who apply for a job or volunteer role with us

  • Health and social care professionals we work with

What information we collect

Residents

To provide safe, personal care we hold information such as your name, date of birth, contact details, next of kin, GP and NHS number, and details of your health, care needs, medication, preferences, background, beliefs and wishes, including your wishes for the end of your life. We also hold records of the care we give, and information about fees and funding.

Families, representatives and visitors

We hold names and contact details, your relationship to the resident and, where relevant, details of any Lasting Power of Attorney or deputyship. We may keep a record of visits.

Enquiries and website forms

When you contact us or use a form on this website, we receive the information you give us, such as your name, email address, phone number and message.

Job and volunteer applicants

When you apply, we receive your name, contact details, CV and anything else you choose to tell us. If we offer you a role, we will also carry out pre-employment checks, including references, an enhanced DBS check, identity and right to work checks, and checks of qualifications.

Why we use it and our legal basis

Data protection law says we must have a lawful reason to use personal information. The main reasons we rely on are:

  • Providing care To assess, plan and deliver care and support, we rely on legitimate interests and on providing health and social care. For health information, which is special category data, we rely on Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR: the provision of health or social care.

  • Contracts To manage your place at the home, fees and funding, and employment or volunteer arrangements.

  • Legal duties To meet our obligations, for example to CQC, under safeguarding law, employment law and health and safety law.

  • Vital interests To protect someone’s life in an emergency.

  • Legitimate interests To answer enquiries, run the home well and keep the website working.

  • Consent For a small number of things, such as using a photograph of you, we will ask for your consent, and you can withdraw it at any time.

Who we share it with

We only share information when we need to, and only what is needed. Depending on the situation, we may share information with:

  • GPs, district nurses, hospitals, pharmacies and other NHS services involved in a resident’s care

  • East Sussex County Council and other local authorities, including Adult Social Care and safeguarding teams

  • The Care Quality Commission

  • A resident’s family or representative, in line with the resident’s wishes or legal authority

  • Emergency services, when someone’s safety is at risk

  • Organisations that provide services to us, such as IT, care records, training and website providers, who may only use the information on our instructions

  • The Disclosure and Barring Service and referees, for job and volunteer applicants

We never sell personal information, and we do not use it for marketing without your consent.

Our website

This website is hosted by Squarespace. When you use a form on the website, the information you enter is sent to us by email and stored securely by Squarespace on our behalf. Squarespace may process data outside the UK; where this happens, appropriate safeguards are in place as required by UK data protection law.

The website uses cookies that are needed for it to work, and may use analytics cookies to help us understand how visitors use it. You can control cookies through your browser settings.

How we keep it safe

We protect personal information with appropriate security, including access controls, secure storage of paper and electronic records, and data protection training for our team. Only people who need information to do their job can see it.

How long we keep it

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it. Care records are kept for the periods recommended in the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care. Other information, such as enquiries and job applications from people who are not offered a role, is kept for a limited time and then securely deleted.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

  • Access Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you.

  • Rectification Ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete.

  • Erasure Ask us to delete information, where we no longer have a reason to keep it.

  • Restriction Ask us to limit how we use your information.

  • Objection Object to us using your information where we rely on legitimate interests.

  • Portability Ask for information you gave us in a format that can be passed to someone else.

  • Withdraw consent Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

To use any of these rights, contact the Home Manager. We will usually respond within one month. There is normally no charge.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please tell us first so that we can try to put things right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

  • Website ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

  • Helpline 0303 123 1113

  • Post Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

Changes to this notice

We review this notice regularly and will update it if the way we use personal information changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.