Privacy Policy

As a veterinary practice, Morris & Plumley have a legitimate interest in holding certain details of our patients and clients. We understand that in providing us with your personal information, you are trusting us to store it securely and use it for the purpose it is intended.

Morris & Plumley is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy (in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions and any other documents referred to in it) sets out how we will process and protect the information we collect from you, or that you provide to us.

Who are we?

Morris & Plumley is the trading name of Morris & Plumley Ltd, company number 10430394 and is registered in England at The Alnwick Vets, South Road, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 2NZ.

Our Privacy Commitment

You consent, by using our Website; registering with us or by using any of our veterinary services, that the personal information you provide will be held securely by us. The data that we collect is required to treat your animals and is a legal requirement in line with fulfilling our contract with you.

We are fully committed to ensuring that we keep your information secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have in place suitable physical and electronic storage, and managerial procedures to safeguard any information that we hold.

What we collect:

Your name
Contact information (including physical address, email address and phone numbers)
Pet details (including name, breed, age and any previous veterinary history where relevant)
Pet insurance details.
Any other information which is reasonably required in completion of our service.

When we may request this information:

On initial registration.
When making an appointment.
When submitting an insurance claim for your pet.
At the request of a repeat prescription.
If you contact us or send an enquiry.
Any other time as reasonably required in completion of our service.

Why we request this information:

To treat your animal and maintain accurate medical records.
To ensure that your animal’s healthcare is kept up to date by sending reminders for preventative treatment (either via text, email or post).
To contact you about your animal, your account or invoice status, where required.
To obtain any previous veterinary history from another practice.
To process insurance claims on your behalf.
To process payment for any services provided.
To book appointments.
To let you know about changes to our services.
To contact you on occasion with details of any promotional offers that we feel you may benefit from.

In order that we can monitor and improve the Website, we may gather certain information about you when you use it through the use of cookies. First time visitors to our site will be asked to consent or decline the use of Cookies. More information can be found in our cookie policy.

We may send you SMS, post or emails about treatments we consider your animal may require in the best interests of their health (vaccination reminders for example). We may also send you health care advice for your animal. These communications are vital in maintaining the health of your animal and are required for us to offer the level of service we set out as our standard. We therefore, do not consider it necessary to ask you to opt into these communications.

Will we share your data?

We may share your personal information with third parties only as required in the provision of our service to you. We will never sell or lease your data.

We may share your information with:

Law enforcement agencies if requested in order to prevent any unlawful activity.
To communicate any relevant clinical information where your animal is under the care of more than one veterinary surgeon.
Your pet's insurance provider, if applicable.
Microchipping company your animal is registered with.
Other veterinary practices in line with carrying out a service or treatment (for example; referral centres or specialists)
Other veterinary practices on your request (for example, emergency care while you are out of the area)
External laboratories.
Our database provider, if necessary for resolving any technical enquiries.
Relevant drug companies may require pet information for statistical or technical enquiries.
Debt collection agencies assisting us with unpaid debt.

How do we protect your information?

Your electronic data is stored securely on our behalf by Idexx, our Practice Management software providers who act as data processor and joint data controller. We have in place strict security procedures for the storage and disclosure of your information to prevent unauthorised access. The transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure and although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to us via our website. Any transmission is done so at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

We do not keep permanent paper records. Any paper records that are produced in the provision of our service to you, are scanned into our database and subsequently securely destroyed. Interim paper records are only produced when absolutely necessary and we do not have suitable electronic provision to capture the required data.

Your payment information is provided by you when you are required to pay directly for any service we have provided. Your card details are not stored by us or our payment service provider, Barclaycard.

How long do we keep your information?

We store your personal information as long as reasonably required to provide our service to you:

We shall hold your information whilst you are a registered client.
We shall continue to hold your personal information for a reasonable period even if you are no longer a client in order to comply with the requirements of our insurers and our professional regulator.
We will retain your data pertaining to farm animals for a minimum of 5 years after generating records as per the legal requirement.

We may sometimes engage with you through social media channels:

When we do so, we may see the personal information which you have shared with the social media platform, but we do not collect or store this information.
If you communicate with us through a social media platform, for example Facebook messenger, we may retain your messages with the messaging platform for a reasonable period.
We are unable to control who sees information publicly shared with us through social media channels.

What are your rights?

You have a right to access the personal data about you that is held by us. To obtain a copy of the personal information please apply in writing to the practice. The request will be passed onto our data controller and will be made available within 30 days. You also have a right to request we delete your data. It is a legal requirement that we retain your data and we would therefore carefully consider your request and may seek professional advice with regards to any legal requirements to retain any data. We would keep you informed of any decision and the reason behind this within 30 days from receiving your request.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted on the privacy policy page of our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by email. If you have any queries about our privacy policy or how we control your information, please contact us on 01665 600060.