Giving Your Consent For Us To Hold Information About You
In order to give you the best service, we record information about you. This document tells you what we collect, how we store it, who can access it and when it will be deleted. This is done so that we comply with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and so you can be absolutely clear what giving your consent means.
What We Record
At first contact, with your permission, we record your basic details in terms of name, address, contact details, equality and diversity information and a basic outline of what has happened to you. If you have been referred by someone else, we will have checked with them that we have your explicit consent for them to do so and to provide us with this basic information.
When you come in for an initial assessment with us, we record a lot of sensitive information about what has happened to you, the impacts on your life now, the details of any other professionals in your life and information about any risk to you. At the end of this appointment you will be asked to read the assessment form we have completed, add or amend it and then sign it to say it is accurate.
We also record every session of support and every communication we have with you to ensure we can give you the best service.
How We Store The Information
All information you give us is stored on our secure database with strict security processes in order to access it.
Some information, is also kept in paper form in locked filing cabinets in our Exeter office, where access is tightly controlled.
Who has access to your information
• The organisation; Information we have your consent to store can only be accessed by authorised members of the organisation who have to keep to strict security measures. Authorised members are paid staff, that is, not volunteers or trustees.
• You; You are able to ask to see all the information we have about you.
• Other organisations; Sometimes other organisations ask us for information about you. This might be an organisation we are referring you to, the police or the Crown Prosecution Service. We will always check that you consent to us sharing before we do so and you have the right to say no. Very occasionally, a court may make an order that we have to disclose information and, whilst we will have to comply, we would always seek your consent first and keep you informed.
Sharing Your Information With Others
We have clear procedures in place before we share your information with other people.
How Long Do We Keep Your Information
We will keep information about you for 10 years and then destroy it. The reason we keep it for this length of time is in case you come back in the future for another service, or in case another organisation may need it.
How To Withdraw Your Consent
You have the right to withdraw your consent for us to share information at any stage and if you do, we will delete any paper or electronic records that identify you.
We can only deliver a service if we can retain data as this ensures that we can maintain your safety and well being.