Privacy Policy

Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham is a mental health charity, we deliver services mainly in Tower Hamlets and Newham as well as Redbridge and Havering. Many of our services are delivered in partnership with other organisations. If this is the case in a service you are being supported by the team will let you know who our partners are. Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham is a Registered Charity No. 1006927 and a Company Limited by GuaranteeNo. 2643905. Web site: www.mithn.org.uk

The Registered Address for all correspondence is: Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham, 13 Whitethorn Street, London, E3 4DA. Telephone: 020 7510 1081

This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who we support, how we use it, the circumstances under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

We seek information about you prior to providing support to you to enable us to deliver a service to you.

Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham is a publicly funded social care consortium and is required to process personal information in the delivery of our functions. This activity is undertaken under the following articles of the Data Protection Act 2018:-

6(1) (e) ‘……for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’

9(2) (h) ‘…..medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems…’

In addition, if information needs to be shared for the purposes of safeguarding children or adults the following conditions may apply:-

9(2) (b) ‘….is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of….. social protection law in so far as is authorised by Union or Member State Law….’

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, email address, what is important to you and for you, information about your medical and health needs, how you communicate your needs and wishes and what support you need.

This information may be used to:

• Develop a support plan and risk assessment
• To keep you up to date with information about the services we provide

We will hold your personal information on our systems for up to 7 years (if we are still supporting you) or up to 3 years after we cease to support you. This is a requirement of our Insurers.

We will only share your information with partners who ‘need to know’ about your specific needs. This will be staff who are working directly with you or managers within the line management structure. We will only pass on your information to other parties when we are required to do so to maintain your safety and well-being or the safety and well-being of others e.g. health professionals, local authority safeguarding teams, or the police. If this is necessary we will only disclose the personal information that is necessary to ensure that you receive the support you need.

We will not release your information to third parties in any other circumstances unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime. However, we will take steps to ensure that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information that Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham holds about you at any time. To do so you can contact the Manager of your service or Mind in Tower Hamlets and Newham’s CEO.

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Any sensitive information is held on electronic care systems that only staff supporting you and their Managers have access to or hard copies that are kept in locked cabinets when not being accessed by staff.

We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated in May 2018.