1. Who we are
Town & Around Pet Care Ltd is the controller of the personal information described in this notice. This means that we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is used.
You can contact us about your personal information or this privacy notice using:
- Email: admin@townaroundpetcare.co.uk
- Telephone: 07849 485434
- Postal address: Unit 20, The Courtyard, Edward Benefer Way, King's Lynn PE30 2FN
2. Information we collect
Depending on your relationship with us, we may collect and use:
- your name, address, telephone number and email address;
- details of other people you have authorised us to communicate with in connection with your animal;
- information about your animal, including identification details, clinical history, treatment and medication information;
- pet insurance details, including the provider and policy number where you choose to supply them;
- the name and address of your animal's current or previous veterinary practice where you choose to supply these details;
- appointment and service history;
- correspondence with us, including emails, messages and notes of telephone conversations;
- consent and communication preferences;
- technical and security information generated when you use our website registration form, such as your IP address, browser and device information, and security-challenge signals;
- aggregate information about visits to and the performance of our website, such as pages viewed, referring website, browser and device type, and page-load timings;
- billing and payment information, such as invoices, amounts paid and payment references; and
- information relating to enquiries, complaints or claims.
We only collect information that we reasonably need to operate the practice, provide veterinary care and meet our professional and legal responsibilities.
3. How we obtain your information
We normally obtain personal information:
- directly from you, including in person, by telephone, email or through our website;
- from another person acting with your authority; and
- from another veterinary practice or veterinary professional where relevant to the care of your animal.
Where appropriate, we may request your animal's clinical history from a previous veterinary practice. We will only do so where we have appropriate authority to obtain it.
Website registration
Our website registration form sends the complete information you submit to our business email service so that we can process your registration.
We use the email address and first name you provide to send an immediate confirmation that we have received your registration. This confirmation includes general next steps and essential information about our out-of-hours arrangements, including VidiVet. It does not repeat your postal address, telephone numbers, pet details or full submitted record.
We ask you to enter your email address twice so that we can check the entries match. The confirmation entry is used only for that check and is not retained as a separate item of information.
The registration system does not maintain a separate customer database. Information submitted through the form is received in our Google Workspace email account and is then entered into our veterinary practice management system, VetIT.
We use Cloudflare Turnstile on the registration form to detect and prevent automated or abusive submissions. Turnstile processes technical security signals, but Cloudflare states that it does not access the information entered into the registration form or other page inputs.
Website analytics
We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand, in aggregate, how visitors use our website and how well its pages perform. A small analytics script records page views, referring websites, general browser and device information, and page-performance measurements.
Cloudflare states that Web Analytics does not use cookies or browser storage, does not track individual visitors across websites, and does not collect or use visitors' personal data. Although a visitor's IP address is received as part of the connection to Cloudflare, Cloudflare states that it is discarded at the nearest data centre and is not stored in its core databases or logs. The analytics does not receive information entered into our registration form.
4. Why we use your information and our lawful bases
Under UK data-protection law, we must have a lawful basis for using personal information.
We use personal information for the following purposes.
Providing our services
We use your information to:
- register you and your animal with the practice;
- acknowledge your registration and send essential information about next steps and our out-of-hours arrangements, including VidiVet;
- arrange and manage appointments;
- communicate with you about your animal;
- provide veterinary services;
- manage prescriptions, medicines and treatment;
- record insurance information and assist with claims where requested;
- contact another veterinary practice and request relevant clinical history where we have appropriate authority;
- invoice you and record payments; and
- otherwise administer our relationship with you.
Our lawful basis is normally contract, because this processing is necessary to provide services you have requested or to take steps at your request before providing those services.
Website security and abuse prevention
We use technical security information through Cloudflare Turnstile to distinguish genuine visitors from automated traffic and to protect our registration form, clients and systems against spam and abuse.
Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in maintaining the security, availability and proper operation of our website and registration service. Turnstile may prevent a submission where its security check is not completed or accepted, but we do not use it to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about individuals. Please contact us if the security check prevents you from registering.
Understanding and improving our website
We use aggregate Cloudflare Web Analytics information to understand which pages are used and to monitor and improve the accessibility, performance and usefulness of our website. Our lawful basis, to the extent that the information constitutes personal information, is our legitimate interests in maintaining and improving our website. We do not use this information for advertising, individual profiling or tracking people across other websites.
Maintaining clinical and business records
We maintain appropriate client and clinical records to support continuity of care and the proper operation of the practice.
Where specific record keeping is required by law, our lawful basis is legal obligation.
We may also retain records where necessary for our legitimate interests, including maintaining appropriate clinical and business records, managing the practice, resolving disputes and establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.
Professional and regulatory requirements
We may use or disclose information where necessary to comply with our legal, regulatory or professional obligations.
Our lawful basis is legal obligation where the processing is required by law. In other circumstances we may rely on our legitimate interests in operating a safe and properly regulated veterinary practice.
Enquiries, complaints and claims
We use relevant information to respond to enquiries and complaints and to deal with or defend legal or insurance claims.
Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in administering the practice, resolving disputes and protecting our legal rights, or legal obligation where applicable.
Marketing
If we use your personal information for optional direct marketing, we will only do so where permitted by law. Where we rely on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
Service messages relating to appointments, treatment, prescriptions, invoices or the operation of the veterinary service are not marketing messages.
The VidiVet information included in our registration confirmation is essential operational information about how registered clients can obtain veterinary advice during our out-of-hours periods and on nurse-only days. We provide it as part of explaining how our veterinary service operates, rather than for optional direct-marketing purposes.
5. Who we share information with
We do not sell your personal information.
Where necessary, we may share personal information with organisations that help us provide our services or where disclosure is otherwise necessary.
These may include:
VetIT
We use VetIT, provided by National Veterinary Services Limited, as our cloud-based veterinary practice management system. Client, animal, clinical, treatment and transaction records may be stored and processed using VetIT.
VetIT's customer documentation states that its main cloud service is hosted using Amazon Web Services in the UK, with additional encrypted backups stored in another AWS region within the EU for disaster-recovery purposes.
VetIT processes practice information on our behalf as part of providing its practice-management service.
Google Workspace
We use Google Workspace to provide our business email service and SMTP relay, including email sent from noreply@townaroundpetcare.co.uk and the mailbox at admin@townaroundpetcare.co.uk.
The complete website registration is sent to the practice through this service. We also use it to send a confirmation to the email address provided, using the client's first name and email address but not repeating the full registration details.
Personal information may therefore be contained within emails sent to or from us, including information submitted through our website registration form.
Google processes this information on our behalf in providing the Google Workspace service.
Cloudflare Turnstile
We use Cloudflare Turnstile to protect the website registration form from automated and abusive submissions. Cloudflare may process security signals including the visitor's IP address, TLS fingerprint, user-agent, Turnstile site key and the website origin.
Cloudflare acts as our processor when using these signals to secure our form. Cloudflare also states that it acts as a controller when using the signals to improve Turnstile's bot-detection capabilities. It does not use Turnstile signals to identify, profile or target individuals, and does not access the contents of our registration form.
Turnstile may use cookies or similar technologies that are necessary to provide its security function. We do not use Turnstile for advertising. Further information is available in the Cloudflare Turnstile Privacy Addendum.
Cloudflare Web Analytics
We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to receive aggregated information about use and performance of our website. Its browser script sends limited page-view and performance measurements to Cloudflare. It does not use cookies or other browser storage, and Cloudflare states that it does not track individual visitors across its customers' websites.
Cloudflare processes these measurements to provide the analytics service to us. We do not use the service for advertising or to identify individual visitors. Further information is available in the Cloudflare Web Analytics privacy information.
Other recipients
Where appropriate, we may also share relevant information with:
- other veterinary practices, referral providers or veterinary professionals involved in your animal's care;
- veterinary laboratories and other diagnostic or treatment providers;
- insurance companies, brokers or claims administrators;
- professional advisers such as accountants, insurers or legal advisers;
- regulators, public authorities or law-enforcement bodies where disclosure is required or permitted by law; and
- other service providers acting on our behalf where reasonably necessary to operate the practice.
We only share information that is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.
6. VidiVet
We make the VidiVet service available to our clients as part of our out-of-hours arrangements.
If you choose to register for or use VidiVet, you provide your information directly to VidiVet. VidiVet Ltd is responsible for explaining how it collects and uses information provided to its service under its own privacy notice.
We do not send your VetIT client or clinical record to VidiVet simply because we make the VidiVet service available to you.
7. Where your information is stored and international transfers
Some of our service providers operate internationally.
VetIT's documentation states that its main VetIT service is hosted in the UK, with an additional disaster-recovery backup held within the EU.
Google Workspace operates using a global infrastructure. Our Google Workspace subscription does not allow us to specify that all information must be stored only in the UK. Personal information processed through Google Workspace may therefore be processed outside the UK.
Cloudflare also operates a global infrastructure. Technical information processed through Turnstile and Cloudflare Web Analytics may therefore be processed outside the UK.
Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we require our service providers to use an applicable lawful mechanism for the transfer and to provide appropriate protection for that information in accordance with UK data-protection law.
You may contact us if you would like further information about the safeguards used for international transfers.
8. How long we keep your information
We do not keep personal information for longer than reasonably necessary.
Our normal retention period for client and clinical records is 10 years from the last relevant treatment or contact with the practice.
We may retain information for longer where necessary because of:
- legal or regulatory requirements;
- veterinary medicines record-keeping requirements;
- professional or clinical requirements;
- the terms of our professional-indemnity insurance;
- an ongoing complaint, dispute or legal claim; or
- another legitimate reason requiring continued retention.
Information submitted through our website registration form is received by email before being entered into VetIT. Registration emails are deleted once the information has been entered into VetIT and any necessary administrative checks have been completed, normally within three months.
A confirmation email sent to a client is retained in the recipient's mailbox according to the choices and retention arrangements of the recipient and their email provider.
Technical security information processed through Cloudflare Turnstile is retained in accordance with Cloudflare's applicable privacy documentation and only for as long as necessary for providing and improving its security service.
Cloudflare Web Analytics measurements are retained and aggregated in accordance with Cloudflare's applicable service documentation. We can access Web Analytics reporting for the previous six months.
Other correspondence and administrative information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
9. Keeping your information secure
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, loss, alteration or destruction.
We restrict access to client information to people who need it for their work and use reputable service providers to host and process information on our behalf.
No electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we review the measures we use in light of the nature of the information we hold and the risks involved.
10. Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis on which we are processing your information, you may have the right to:
- ask us for a copy of personal information we hold about you;
- ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
- ask us to delete personal information;
- ask us to restrict how we use your information;
- object to certain uses of your information;
- receive or transfer certain information in a portable format; and
- withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent.
Some of these rights are subject to exceptions. For example, we may be entitled or required to retain information despite a request for deletion where it is needed to comply with a legal obligation or establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.
To exercise your rights, contact: admin@townaroundpetcare.co.uk
We will respond to requests in accordance with the timescales required by data-protection law.
11. Complaints
If you have concerns about how we use your personal information, please contact us first so that we can investigate.
- Email: admin@townaroundpetcare.co.uk
- Telephone: 07849 485434
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data-protection regulator:
- Information Commissioner's Office
- Wycliffe House
- Water Lane
- Wilmslow
- Cheshire
- SK9 5AF
- Telephone: 0303 123 1113
You can find information about making a complaint on the ICO website.
12. Changes to this privacy notice
We may update this privacy notice from time to time, for example where our services, suppliers or legal obligations change.
The date at the top of this notice shows when it was last updated.