Privacy Policy

We are Virtual Pharmacist Ltd (a private limited company registered with company number: 13258094) (“Virtual Pharmacist”, “we”, “us”, “our”). Our registered office is located at Queen Street Chambers, 68 Queen Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, S1 1WR.

We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of:

• the personal data of users who visit our website Virtual Pharmacist – Fully Managed Clinical Pharmacist Services (“Site”);
• the personal data of representatives from GP practices, pharmacies or any other clinical service providers (“Service Users”) who engage us to provide our fully managed pharmacy-led virtual clinical services for the benefit of their patients (“Services”); and
• the personal data of patients and other individuals we interact with through our arrangements with our Service Users (“End User”).

This Privacy Notice is addressed to the individuals falling into the categories discussed above, whose personal data we collect, store, use, and/or share (all of which we refer to as “processing”), and we refer to each such individual in this Privacy Notice as “you”.

The Privacy Notice describes how we collect, use and look after your personal data and also tells you about your rights and how the law protects you.

1 Important Information

1.1 Supplemental Terms – This Privacy Notice supplements the other notices and terms published on our Site (including our Terms and Conditions and Cookies Policy) and is not intended to override them.

1.2 Controller – Where we collect personal data through our website, for administrative purposes, or through direct correspondence, we are the data controller of that personal data and are responsible for it. Where we access your personal data (as an End User) at the request or direction of, or in order to comply with our contractual obligations with, a Service User for the provision of our Services, we and the Service User are each independent data controllers in respect of your personal data and operate under a controller-to-controller Data Sharing Agreement. You should therefore also review the Service User’s privacy notice or policies (in addition to this Privacy Notice) for further information on how they handle your personal data.

1.3 Understanding – To assist you further in understanding this Privacy Notice, we have set out in the Schedule a glossary of terms used in this Privacy Notice, examples of types of personal data we collect, how we use it, the lawful basis for processing such data and further details of your rights.

1.4 Questions – If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our data protection officer (“DPO”) in writing, either by:

• Email: [email protected]; or
• Post: Queen Street Chambers, 68 Queen Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, S1 1WR

1.5 Complaints – You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”) (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

1.6 Changes to your personal data – It is important that the data we hold about you is accurate and current, therefore please keep us informed of any changes to your personal data.

1.7 Third-party links – Our Site may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. By clicking on these links or enabling connections you may be allowing third parties to collect or share your personal data. We have no control over these third-party websites, plug-ins or applications and are not responsible for their privacy notices, therefore you should read their privacy notices to understand what personal data they collect about you and how they use it.

2 The Personal Data We Collect

2.1 We may collect, use, store and transfer the types of personal data about you listed in Part 1 of the Schedule.

2.2 We also collect, use and share aggregated data. However, if we combine aggregated data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat this as your personal data.

2.3 We collect special categories of personal data. Due to the nature of our Services, we collect sensitive personal data of the End Users, including medical history, and current medical conditions. The exemptions we rely upon to process such special categories of personal data are set out in Part 2 of the Schedule.

2.4 Where required under applicable law or for purposes of regulatory compliance (for example, Disclosure and Barring Service checks on pharmacists or other clinical personnel), we may process Criminal Offence Data relating to our own personnel. We do not process Criminal Offence Data relating to End Users.

3 How Personal Data Is Collected

We collect personal data in the following ways:

Direct interactions

You may provide personal data when you complete our online enquiry form, or otherwise correspond with us (by post, phone or email).

Provision of our Services

We collect personal data (including special categories of personal data) of an End User when performing the Services (which shall include recordings of medical consultations with End Users), as requested by the Service User.

Automated technology

We automatically collect personal data (technical and usage) when you browse or interact with our Site, by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive technical data about you if you visit other websites which use our cookies. Please see our Cookies Policy for further details.

Publicly available sources

We may collect personal data about our business contacts and Service User representatives from publicly available sources such as the Electoral Register and credit reference agencies, based inside the UK. We do not use these sources to collect or enrich the personal data of End Users (patients); clinical data is accessed only through the Service User’s approved clinical systems.

Third parties

We may receive personal data from (a) third parties who provide an End User’s personal data on their behalf such as the Service User, (b) analytics providers, and (c) our suppliers such as website support and maintenance providers.

4 How We Use Your Personal Data

4.1 We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data:

• 4.1.1 to perform the contract we are to enter into or have entered into with the Service User for the provision of the Services;
• 4.1.2 to comply with a legal obligation; or
• 4.1.3 where it is necessary to carry out our legitimate interests (or those of a third party), and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

4.2 Part 2 of the Schedule sets out the lawful basis we will rely on to process your personal data.

4.3 Please note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using such data.

4.4 Marketing – Service Users will only receive marketing communications from us if:

• 4.4.1 you have engaged with us for the provision of the Services; or
• 4.4.2 you have provided your consent to receive marketing communications;

and you have not opted out of receiving marketing communications, unsubscribed from our mailing list or withdrawn your consent. Personal data of End Users processed under our controller-to-controller Data Sharing Agreement with the relevant Service User is not used for marketing purposes.

4.5 We will not share your personal data with third parties for their marketing purposes.

4.6 How to opt out – We are compliant with the following two different types of data-sharing opt-out options in respect of personal data you have shared with Service Users and NHS England:

4.6.1 Stop Your GP Surgery From Sharing Your Data. This is called a Type 1 Opt-out. To do this a patient will need to fill in an opt-out form and return it to their general physician. Only their general physician can process this opt-out form. They will be able to tell you if, and when, you have been opted out. If you choose a Type 1 Opt-out, your GP will not share your data for research and planning. However, NHS England will still be able to collect and share data from other healthcare providers, such as hospitals.

4.6.2 Stop NHS England And Other Health And Care Organisations From Sharing Your Data. This is called the National Data Opt-out. If you choose this opt-out, NHS England, and other health and care organisations will not be able to share any of your personal data with other organisations for research and planning, except in situations as required by law.

4.7 You can opt out of email marketing by clicking the unsubscribe button within the particular marketing email. You can also withdraw your consent to receive marketing communications and asked to be removed from our mailing list at any time by contacting us.

4.8 Even if you opt out of receiving marketing communications, we may still use your personal data for other purposes provided we have a lawful basis to do so.

4.9 Change of purpose – We will only use your personal data for the purpose that we originally collected it for, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose or we have a lawful basis to change the purpose.

4.10 If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to use your personal data in this manner.

4.11 We may process your personal data (without your knowledge or consent) where this is required or permitted by law.

5 Disclosure Of Your Personal Data

5.1 We may share your personal data with the Third Parties set out in Part 4 of the Schedule. We require all Third Parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with applicable law. Where a Third Party processes your personal data on our behalf as a processor, it may only do so for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. Where a Third Party (such as a Service User) processes your personal data as an independent controller, it is responsible for its own processing and you should refer to that party’s privacy notice for further information on how it handles your personal data.

6 International Transfers

6.1 Some Third Parties may be based outside of the UK, therefore your personal data may be transferred outside of the UK.

6.2 Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• 6.2.1 we will only transfer personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data;
• 6.2.2 we use UK International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTA) or the UK Addendum to Standard Contractual Clauses, which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK with our service providers;
• 6.2.3 the transferee has binding corporate rules or other appropriate safeguards in place pursuant to the applicable Data Protection Legislation; or
• 6.2.4 a specific derogation under the applicable Data Protection Legislation applies to the transfer.

7 Data Security

7.1 We operate appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. Access to personal data is restricted to individuals who have a business need to know it, are under confidentiality obligations, and are authorised to process it only within the scope of their role and the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice.

7.2 We have procedures in place to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8 Data Retention

8.1 We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

8.2 We may update our data retention practices from time to time and you can request details by contacting us. However, we are legally required to keep basic information about our Service Users (including contact, identity, financial and transaction data) for six years after the end of the tax year in which they cease to be Service Users, for tax purposes. Clinical and health-related personal data accessed during service delivery is typically held within the Service User’s clinical system (such as SystmOne or EMIS) and is not independently retained by us beyond the period required under our Data Sharing Agreement with the Service User and the NHS Records Management Code of Practice 2023.

8.3 We may also anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes. Anonymised data may be used indefinitely without further notice to you.

9 Your Legal Rights

9.1 Your legal rights in relation to your personal data are set out in full in Part 3 of the Schedule. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us. Where your request relates to clinical personal data held within a Service User’s clinical system (such as SystmOne or EMIS), you should direct your request to the Service User, as they are the independent controller of that data; we can only process rights requests for personal data we hold directly in our own systems. We acknowledge that there may be circumstances where an End User is unable to exercise these rights for themselves, and a Guardian may be permitted to exercise these rights on the Individual’s behalf, where to do so is in the best interests of the Individual.

9.2 You will not have to pay a fee to exercise any of your rights unless your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. In which case, we may charge a reasonable fee for this information or refuse to comply with your request. We may also refuse to comply with a request from a Guardian, where we have evidence that complying with such request would not be in the best interests of the Individual.

9.3 We may ask you to provide further information to help us confirm your identity. This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who does not have the right to receive it.

9.4 We aim to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. If your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests, it may take us longer to respond. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

10 Updates

10.1 We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time by updating this page. Please check it regularly to ensure you are aware of any changes.

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Schedule

Part 1 – Types of Personal Data

Part 2 – Lawful Basis for Processing

The lawful bases upon which we may rely to process your personal data are:

Consent – You have given your express consent for us to process your personal data for a specific purpose or we are relying on the consent of the End User which the Service User has obtained.

Contract – The processing is necessary for us to perform our contractual obligations with the Service User under our contract, or because the Service User has asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract with them.

Legal obligation – The processing is necessary for us to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Legitimate interests – The processing is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interest and your fundamental rights do not override those interests. Before we process your personal data on this basis we make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you, and we will not use your personal data on this basis where such impact outweighs our interest.

Specific Exemption: Processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest or the purposes of preventative medicine, provision of health care or treatment – Where the processing of the special categories of personal data is necessary for the purpose of potentially preventative medicine, medical diagnosis and/or provision of health care or treatment available by the provision of the Services. We rely upon this exemption (available under Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR) in accordance with the further requirements of Article 9(3) of the UK GDPR: the personal data is processed by or under the responsibility of a professional who is subject to the obligation of professional secrecy and confidentiality. Such professionals in this instance are health professionals who are subject to professional obligations of patient confidentiality.

Specific processing activities:

Part 3 – Your Legal Rights

You and (where applicable) your Guardian have the following legal rights in relation to your personal data:

Access your data – You can ask for access to and a copy of your personal data and can check we are lawfully processing it.

Correction – You can ask us to correct any incomplete or inaccurate personal data we hold about you.

Erasure – You can ask us to delete or remove your personal data where: (a) there is no good reason for us continuing to process it; (b) you have successfully exercised your right to object (see below); (c) we may have processed your information unlawfully; or (d) we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. We may not always be able to comply with your request for specific legal reasons, which will be notified to you at the time of your request.

Object – You can object to the processing of your personal data where: (a) we are relying on our legitimate interest (or those of a third party) as the basis for processing your personal data, if you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms; (b) we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms and in such circumstances, we can continue to process your personal data for such purposes.

Restrict processing – You can ask us to suspend or restrict the processing of your personal data, if: (a) you want us to establish the accuracy of your personal data; (b) our use of your personal data is unlawful, but you do not want us to erase it; (c) you need us to hold your personal data (where we no longer require it) as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your personal data, but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request a transfer – You can request a transfer of your personal data which is held in an automated manner and which you provided your consent for us to process such personal data or which we need to process to perform our contract with you, to you or a third party. We will provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.

Withdraw your consent – You can withdraw your consent at any time (where we are relying on consent to process your personal data). This does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent.

Part 4 – Third Parties

Service providers – Acting as processors who provide IT, telecoms, hosting, connectivity and system administration services (including third parties who provide connectivity solutions to the Health and Social Care Network).

The NHS and NHS Digital – Acting in the interests of delivery of public health outcomes and related research.

Professional advisors – Acting as processors or controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.

HM Revenue and Customs, regulators and other authorities – Acting as processors or controllers who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

Other third parties – The Service User (during the provision of our Services), and such third parties to which we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Privacy Notice.

Part 5 – Glossary

Aggregated data – Information such as statistical or demographic data which may be derived from personal data but which cannot by itself identify a data subject.

Controller – A body that determines the purposes and means of processing personal data.

Data subject – An individual living person identified by personal data (which will generally be you or your dependant).

Guardian – An individual with parental responsibility for the End User.

ICO – Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.

Personal data – Information identifying a data subject from that data alone or with other data we may hold but it does not include anonymised or aggregated data.

Processor – A body that is responsible for processing personal data on behalf of a controller.

Special categories of personal data – Information about race, ethnicity, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, genetic, biometric data, sex life and sexual orientation.