Riverside

Care and Support services

Our purpose(s) for processing and lawful basis

Riverside provides a wide variety of care and support services offering accommodation and a range of initiatives in conjunction with local authorities and partners to deliver care and support solutions to vulnerable individuals and those at risk of homelessness. Riverside Care & Support operates in over 170 Local Authority Areas, delivering over 340 services, including:

Supported housing, care services, veteran support and housing, retirement housing, young people and families, community services and substance misuse and rehab.

We also conduct, take part in and support a variety of homelessness-related research and reporting activities.

The legal bases which apply to the processing described above are

• Where we need to take measures to enter into and then perform a contract we have entered into with you (provision of services set out in our agreements with you).
• Where we need to comply with legal obligations (e.g. as set out by the Care Quality Commission, health care, health and safety and safeguarding legislation).
• Where the processing is necessary in the public interest or for official purposes set out in legislation (e.g. where we work in partnership with local authorities and the NHS).
• Where we have your consent (e.g. provision of additional benefits and services).
• Where we need to protect your vital interests (or someone else’s vital interests).
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests (e.g. maintaining security and safety of our property, customer satisfaction surveys and market research).

Where possible we will seek your explicit consent to process sensitive personal data. In cases where consent may not be appropriate the following legal bases may apply:

• Where we need to comply with legal obligations in relation to social security and social protection (especially where we act on behalf of local authorities or the NHS including The Care Act 2014; Health and Social Care Act 2008 (regulated activities) Regulations 2014, Mental, Capacity Act 2005 and Mental Health Act 1983)
• Where we need to protect your vital interests (e.g. where your life or that of another individual is in danger and you aren’t able to give your consent).
• Safeguarding of individuals at risk (including children).
• Monitoring equality of opportunity or treatment (where the data isn’t used to make decisions on particular individuals).

To process personal data about criminal convictions or offences we must have both a lawful basis for the processing and either legal authority or official authority for the processing.

Depending on how and when we engage with you, we may also provide you with additional information or privacy notices. For instance if we offer, or you request, further support we may provide you with a privacy notice specific to that service.

How we use your information

We will use your information to:

• Be able to contact you, respond to you directly and verify your identity
• determine your eligibility for care and support services.
• Process requests and administer care and support services, including billing and payment plans.
• Identify your care and support needs and complete our assessments, in order to offer you the safest and most effective service possible.
• Update our records of your care and support needs.
• Complete individual risk assessments and investigate any issues or incidents.
• Share information about your care and support with your family or next of kin.
• Share information with other agencies where we have your agreement, are required to do so, or where doing so gives effect to our agreement with you;
• Monitor our premises and maintain a safe environment for residents and staff.
• Provide information about additional services we offer;.
• Complete consultations and conduct transactional surveys in order to monitor and improve our service and offer you the opportunity to shape current and future services
• Provide assistance to the police in the event of a Missing Person case.
• Monitor equality and diversity.
• Provide reporting to and carry out audits for local authorities and regulators.

If at any point you lack the mental capacity to make a particular decision about your information, and processing it, including sharing it, would be in your best interests, we will process it on your behalf. When we do so we will follow the Mental Capacity Act and its Code of Practice which can be found here in England and in Scotland the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000.

Surveillance in care and support

Care and support services use surveillance as part of service delivery to provide safe care and treatment or to help people stay safe without restricting their activities or movement.

This can be used across a whole service or on an individual need basis and examples include, but are not exhaustive to, technology such as acoustic monitoring, bed sensors and call bell systems such as Tunstall or Nurse Call, and communal CCTV.

Any surveillance that is undertaken within a care and support service, outside the use of communal CCTV usage, is individually risk assessed with each customer and consent clearly recorded.

Usage of surveillance for the provision of care and treatment is managed in line with the Health and Social Care Act, Mental Capacity Act, and guidance on using surveillance published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as well as data protection legislation mentioned and guidance or codes of practice issues by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

CQC do not authorise the use of hidden cameras or other hidden recording equipment within private areas of a registered residential service or customers own home. Covert surveillance may only be used in rare circumstances and for a short period of time, for example, to identify a specific allegation.

Under Sections 62 –64 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, CQC are permitted to have access to information that has been recorded using covert or overt surveillance (or to have access to surveillance systems) where CQC consider it necessary and proportionate to do so to exercise their functions as a regulator.

Who we may share your information with

In most circumstances, we collect personal data directly from you, but we may also obtain personal data from government bodies and local authorities, third-party care and support providers, other persons, or partner organisations involved in your care.

Where authorisation is in place (e.g. Lasting Power of Attorney) we may share personal data with the authorised individuals acting on your behalf. Unless we are certain that you have appointed them or that they are acting in an official capacity, we will not disclose your personal information to anybody who makes a claim to be acting on your behalf.

In some exceptional circumstances we need to share care information with relatives/next of kin without authority or your consent.

In order to provide safe and effective services to you, we may share your data with:

• Any individuals you have nominated or authorised to act on your behalf (including friends, family, MPs and Councillors)
• Local Authorities who have commissioned our services to you under a contract
• NHS Trusts involved in your care, or where our services form part of a contract with a Trust
• Health and Social Care professionals, which may include your GP or Pharmacy
• Third parties that assist us in providing services to you, either in your home or externally (including translators and communications specialists)
• Support Services or organisations involved in your care (including charities, foundations, or other non-NHS bodies)
• Police, fire, or other rescue services
• Law enforcement agencies, or other agencies where we have a legal obligation to share data

How long we will keep it

We retain data for differing lengths of time, dependant on a number of criteria, including:

• The services you have accessed
• Any retention period specified by law, or regulation, or
• Any retention period suggested as best practice by regulators, sector specialists or professional bodies
• If no retention period is specified by law, we will keep it for as long as is reasonable for us to demonstrate we have met the conditions of our service or license agreement with you

You can contact us using the webform about the specific retention periods relating to your information.