- Who we are. Smilespark Ltd, trading as Smilespark Dental Practice, 2 Gallions Road, London SE7 7FU. We are the data controller for the information described here.
- What we collect. The details you give us when you enquire (name, contact details, the treatment you are interested in and your message), a note of how you found our website, and, with your permission, website analytics.
- Why. To answer your enquiry, arrange your appointment, run the practice, and understand which of our marketing is working.
- Who helps us. Our marketing partner Sonat Digital Marketing Ltd operates the website and our enquiry system on our behalf. We never sell your information.
- Your choices. You decide which cookies we use and whether you receive marketing, and you can ask to see, correct or delete your information at any time.
1. Who we are
Smilespark Dental Practice is run by Smilespark Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 13987179) with its registered office at 2 Gallions Road, London SE7 7FU. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under reference ZB465270, and the practice is registered with the Care Quality Commission.
If you have any questions about this policy or how we use your information, please contact us:
Smilespark Dental Practice
2 Gallions Road, London SE7 7FU
Email: info@smilespark.co.uk
Telephone: 020 8175 4878
2. What this policy covers
This policy explains how we use personal information collected through smilespark.co.uk and when you contact us about treatment, whether through our website, by email or by telephone.
Once you become a patient, your dental and clinical records are covered by our patient privacy notice, which is available at the practice. That notice sets out how we handle your health records, NHS and insurance information, and the longer retention periods that apply to clinical records.
3. The information we collect
Information you give us
When you send an enquiry, request a callback or book a consultation, we collect your name, telephone number, email address, the treatment you are interested in, your preferred dates or times, and anything you write in your message. Because we are a dental practice, what you tell us may include information about your dental or general health. We treat all of it as confidential.
How you found us
When you arrive at our website we make a note of how you got here: for example, the website that linked to you, a search engine, or the campaign details in an advert link you clicked. If you then send us an enquiry, that note is stored with it so we can tell which of our marketing actually leads to people getting in touch. This is explained further under Cookies.
Information collected automatically
With your consent, we use Google Analytics to understand how our website is used, including the pages visited, how long people spend on them, the type of device and browser used, and approximate location based on IP address. This data is aggregated and does not identify you to us.
Information from other sources
If you contact us through social media, Google or an online directory, we receive the details you choose to share through that platform. If you are referred by another practice or clinician, we receive the information they pass on with your agreement.
4. How we use your information, and why we are allowed to
UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each way we use your personal information. Because information about your health is a special category of data, we also need an additional condition to handle it, which we have set out below.
| What we do | Information involved | Our lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Respond to your enquiry and arrange your appointment | Your contact details, the treatment you are interested in, your message | Taking steps at your request before entering into a contract with you. For any health information: the provision of health care by a regulated dental professional, under a duty of confidentiality. |
| Send you a confirmation that we have received your enquiry | Your name and email address | Our legitimate interest in confirming your message reached us. This is a one-off service message, not marketing. |
| Keep a record of enquiries and follow-ups in our enquiry system | Your enquiry, our notes of calls and messages, appointment details | Our legitimate interest in running the practice properly and responding to you consistently. |
| Understand which marketing brings people to us | How you found the website, campaign and advert references, the page you landed on | Our legitimate interest in spending our marketing budget sensibly. You can turn this off under Cookie preferences. |
| Send you offers and news by email | Your name and email address | Your consent, which you give by ticking the marketing box on our forms and can withdraw at any time. |
| Measure and improve the website, and measure our advertising | Analytics and advertising cookies | Your consent, given through the cookie banner. |
| Protect the website and our systems | IP address, technical and security logs | Our legitimate interest in keeping the website secure and preventing spam and abuse. |
| Meet our legal and regulatory obligations | Records required by the CQC, the GDC or HMRC | Compliance with a legal obligation. |
We do not use your information to make automated decisions about you, and we do not sell it to anyone.
6. How long we keep your information
- Enquiries that do not lead to treatment are kept in our enquiry system for up to two years from our last contact with you, so we can respond if you get back in touch, and are then deleted.
- Enquiries that lead to treatment become part of your patient record and are kept in line with our patient privacy notice and the retention periods that apply to dental records.
- The website’s own copy of each enquiry is deleted automatically after twelve months.
- How you found us is held in a cookie for up to 90 days, and with your enquiry for as long as the enquiry is kept.
- Marketing consent is kept until you withdraw it, after which we keep a record of your withdrawal so we do not contact you again.
- Analytics data is retained by Google for the period set in our Google Analytics account, currently 14 months, after which it is kept only in aggregated form.
7. Marketing
We only send marketing emails if you have asked for them, by ticking the marketing box on one of our forms. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can also ask us to stop at any time by emailing info@smilespark.co.uk. Confirmations, appointment reminders and replies to your enquiry are service messages, not marketing, and are not affected by your marketing choice.
We do not pass your details to other businesses for their marketing.
9. Your rights
You have the following rights over your personal information. They apply whether or not you become a patient.
- Access. Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you.
- Correction. Ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate or incomplete.
- Deletion. Ask us to delete your information where we no longer need it. (Some records, such as clinical records, must be kept by law.)
- Restriction. Ask us to limit how we use your information while a query is resolved.
- Objection. Object to our use of your information where we rely on legitimate interests, including for marketing analysis.
- Portability. Receive the information you gave us in a format you can reuse.
- Withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent, withdraw it at any time. This does not affect what we did before you withdrew it.
To exercise any of these rights, email info@smilespark.co.uk or write to us at the practice. We will respond within one month, and we may ask you to confirm your identity first so that we do not disclose your information to someone else. There is normally no charge.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
10. How we keep your information safe
Enquiries are sent to us over an encrypted connection and stored in systems protected by access controls, so that only the members of our team who need to respond to you can see them. Every time a member of staff views or exports an enquiry it is recorded. We review who has access regularly and remove it when someone leaves. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, but we take care to protect your information and will tell you and the ICO if a breach affects you.
11. Children and young people
Our website is intended for adults. If you are under 18 and would like to enquire about treatment, please ask a parent or guardian to contact us on your behalf. If we learn that we have collected information from a child without a parent’s or guardian’s agreement, we will delete it.
12. Changes to this policy
We review this policy regularly and will update it if the way we use your information changes. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. If a change is significant and we hold your contact details, we will let you know.
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