Mental health service privacy notice

This Privacy Notice is designed to help you understand how and why the Mental Health Service processes your personal data. This notice should be read in conjunction with our corporate privacy notice.

Who are we?

North Yorkshire Council is a ‘data controller’ as defined by Article 4(7) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The mental health team collects and processes data in order to facilitate the care and support of adults receiving these services.

We have appointed Veritau Ltd to be our data protection officer.

Their contact details are:

Information Governance Office

Veritau

West Offices

Station Rise

York

North Yorkshire

YO1 6GA

Email: infogov@northyorks.gov.uk

Tel: 01904 552848

What personal information do we collect?

The council’s mental health service may collect the following information about you:

  • name, address, date of birth and contact details
  • social care ID and NHS ID
  • family composition, family history, relationships information, lifestyle information and social circumstances
  • personal referees
  • financial information
  • visual images, personal appearance and behaviour

The service may also collect certain ‘special category’ information such as:

  • physical and / or mental health details
  • racial or ethnic origin
  • religious or philosophical beliefs
  • social care assessed needs and support outcomes
  • criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences

Why do we collect your personal information?

Without your data we would not be able to assess your care needs, or be able to arrange or provide our services to you. Therefore we require your personal data in for:

  • service delivery
  • service planning/improvement
  • research (using anonymised data only unless we specifically request your consent to use identifiable personal data)

Who do we share this information with?

In order to deliver the best possible service, the Team will often need to disclose your personal data to other organisations. This could include, but not necessarily limited to:

  • NHS Agencies (GPs, hospitals, ambulance, health visitor), mental health services, and other health providers
  • education providers
  • domiciliary care, residential/nursing care, and day care providers
  • local and central government agencies (such as the department of health and department of work and pensions)
  • substance misuse agencies
  • advocacy services
  • prepaid card providers
  • direct payment support services
  • housing associations
  • careline

Use of your NHS Number in adult social care

If you are receiving support from adult social care then the NHS may share your NHS number with us. This is so that the NHS and adult social care are using the same number to identify you whilst providing your care. By using the same number we are able to work together to improve your care and support.

How long do we keep your information for?

The following table details the retention periods for records relating to care and support service:

Data held

Retention period

All records relating to the management of Mental health support

Retain from last contact with client for 20 years.

What is our lawful basis for processing your information?

The mental health service processes your personal data in order to comply with a legal obligation or because processing is in the public interest. The team may also process your special category data as it has a legal obligation to provide mental health services.

For more information about how we use your data, including your privacy rights and the complaints process, please see our corporate privacy notice.