Privacy Policy

At Ardgowan Hospice our aim is that all people living in Inverclyde with a life limiting illness and those close to them have access to the care and support they need, when and wherever they need it.

Our aim is that everyone in Inverclyde should have access to the best care at the point of diagnosis to the end of their lives and together we work closely with the NHS, local authorities and other charities to improve your care experience.

We are independent hospice in Inverclyde and our registered Scottish charity number is SC011541.  We are also registered as a company in Scotland under registration number SC075515.

We collect personal information about you when you interact with us (e.g. by phone or online), use our clinical services, enquire about our activities, make a donation, participate in an event, buy from our shops, apply to work or volunteer with us, visit our website* or otherwise provide us with your personal information.

We may also receive information about you from third parties that we work with, for example, JustGiving, where you have consented to them sending us your information.

If you are using one or more of our clinical services, we will be required to collect ‘sensitive personal data’ which would form your healthcare record. We do not collect ‘sensitive personal data’ about our supporters unless there is a legitimate reason for this (e.g. if you participate in an event for which we may need to provide support).

*Please see Section 14: Cookies & Analytics for more on information gathered through our website.

We use the personal information collected from users for a number of purposes, including:

• To provide you with services, products or information you have requested.
• To provide further information about our work, services, activities or products.
• To process donations or payments we have received from you.
• To further our charitable aims, including for fundraising activities.
• To fulfill sales made online or through our shops.
• To register and administer your participation in events for which you have registered.
• To process your application for a job or volunteer role with us.
• For targeted fundraising activity.
• For fraud prevention, credit risk reduction or otherwise as required by law or regulation.
• To invite voluntary participation in research or surveys.

When you use our secure online donation or payment pages you will be directed to a
specialist supplier company, who will receive your credit card number and contact
information to process the transaction. We do not retain your credit or debit card details.

If you register on our website then the following will also apply:

• Ardgowan Hospice website collects personal information when you donate, shop or register for an event with us, or if you complete a contact us form.
• As part of the registration process we assume that any information you give to Ardgowan Hospice will be accurate, correct and up to date. It is important that we keep your personal information up to date. You can contact us at any time if your circumstances change.
• We use cookies to allow us to store limited information on an individual’s computer to provide you with a good experience when browsing our website and to improve the functionality of our site. Please see Section 14: Cookies & Analytics, for more details.

If you use your credit or debit card to donate to us, buy something or pay for a registration online or over the phone, we will ensure that this is done securely and in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. You can find our more information about PCI DSS here – https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/index.php

We do not store your credit or debit card details at all, following the completion of your transaction. All card details and validation codes are securely destroyed once the payment or donation has been processed. Only staff authorised and trained to process payments will be able to see your card details.

If we receive an email containing any credit or debit card details, it will be immediately deleted, no payment will be taken and you will be notified about this. All purchases or donations should be completed through the donation page or online shop on our website (www.ardgowanhospice.org.uk) or via our fundraising team by calling 01475 726830, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

We have a legitimate organisational interest to respond to you and there is no overriding prejudice to you by using your personal information for this purpose. This is also the case where we process your donations in support of Ardgowan Hospice’s objectives, for our internal administrative purposes, and where we need to take steps to protect our network security or risk of fraud.

In most instances, however, we will rely on obtaining your consent to our use of your personal information. This is the case, for example, where we seek to obtain your consent to receive email marketing about Ardgowan Hospice.

We want to ensure you receive the level of information about Ardgowan Hospice that is right for you.

It is always your choice as to whether you want to receive information about our work, how we raise funds and the ways you can get involved. If you do not want us to use your personal information in these ways please opt in on the form on which we collect your data.

You may opt-out of our marketing communications at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link in at the end of our marketing emails sending us an “opt-out” text message, following the instructions we provide you in our initial text.

You can also change any of your contact preferences at any time (including telling us that you don’t want us to contact you for marketing purposes by telephone, or by post) by contacting our fundraising team on 01475 726830 or fundraising@ardhosp.co.uk.

We will not use your personal information for marketing purposes if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted by us for such purposes. However, we will retain your details on a suppression list to help ensure that we do not continue to contact you.

Ardgowan Hospice may disclose your personal information in the following circumstances:

• To other Ardgowan Hospice entities, trading subsidiaries, suppliers or service providers only to provide the products or services you’ve requested from our site(s) where, for example, we use a separate company to deliver goods to you, for example, Christmas Cards from our online shop.
• To third parties who provide a service to us and are data processors. This would include our trusted partners that work with us in connection with our charitable purposes, and other entities that act as fundraisers for Ardgowan Hospice, sell Ardgowan Hospice products or provide Ardgowan Hospice information and marketing (subject to your communication preferences and our internal policies and procedures). We require these third parties to comply strictly with our instructions and data protection laws and we will make sure that appropriate controls are in place. We enter into contracts with all of our data processors and regularly monitor their activities to ensure they are complying with Ardgowan Hospice policies and procedures.
• Where we are under a duty to disclose your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation (for example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies), or in order to enforce or apply our rights (including in relation to our website or other applicable terms and conditions) or to protect Ardgowan Hospice, for example in cases of suspected fraud or defamation.

Rest assured, we will never share, sell or swap your details with any third parties for the purposes of their own marketing or the monetising of your data. 

If you contact our nursing, clinical or support staff, you may choose to provide details of a personal nature in particular about you or someone else’s health.  Our staff will use this personal information and only for the purposes of responding to your enquiry. They will not pass the personal information on to anyone else without express permission except in exceptional circumstances to comply with the nurses’ code of professional conduct or the law. Your personal information and details of your enquiry will be recorded for quality and monitoring purposes and stored on a secure database. Your details will not be used for marketing purposes. If for any reason you want your details removed from these records, please contact our Data Controller on 01475 726830, or email dataprotection@ardhosp.co.uk.

We are committed to protecting the privacy of the young people that engage with us through our prevention, survival and support services for young people on our website, at events and at schools.

Our fundraising events also request specific information about the age of participants. If you are under 18 and would like to get involved, please ensure that you have consent from a parent or guardian before giving us your personal information. When we collect information about a child or young person aged under 18 we will make it very clear as to the reasons for collecting this information and how it will be used.

If you post or send any content that we believe to be inappropriate, offensive or in breach of any laws, such as defamatory content on our forums or social media pages, we may use your personal information to inform relevant third parties such as your internet provider or law enforcement agencies.

For financial and technical reasons we may, on occasion decide to use the services of a supplier outside the European Economic Area (EEA), which means that your personal information is transferred, processed and stored outside the EEA. This includes countries that the European Union authorities do not consider provides and adequate level of protection for personal data. However we take steps to put in place suitable safeguards to protect your personal information when processed by the supplier such as entering into the European Commission approved standard contractual clauses.

We keep your personal information only for as long as required to operate the service in accordance with legal requirements and tax and accounting rules. Where your information is no longer required, we will ensure it is disposed of in a secure manner.

1. Cookies

To improve user experience on our website, we may use ‘cookies’. Cookies are used by most websites and are small text files that are automatically placed on your computer to help remember your preferences and create a better browsing experience. You can always refuse these cookies, however it is important to note that you may not be able to use our website fully.

• We will never sell your data to a third party.
• We will share information with Google Analytics.
• Will never misuse your information.

2. Google Analytics

Ardgowan Hospice uses Google Analytics. This service gathers website data and transmits them to Google servers in the United States. This anonymous and aggregated data is then used only by Ardgowan Hospice’s digital team*.

What information is collected? If you have consented to cookies, the following information is determined by your browser and IP address: Information about your computer/mobile/tablet device and visits/use of ardgowanhospice.org.uk, information about your browser, your general location, your age group, general interest areas (sports/music).

It is important again to state this data is aggregated and anonymised. Although your IP address is used by Google, this information is regarded as personal data and cannot be accessed by Ardgowan Hospice staff through Google Analytics, ardgowanhospice.org.uk, or any other means.

3. *Why we gather this information

The information we access through Google Analytics allows us to 1) measure the success of campaigns, posts and event launches 2) help us market and communicate effectively with our audience 3) measure and improve upon the usability of ardgowanhospice.org.uk

4. Opting Out

You can block Google Analytics tracking services on ardgowanhospice.org.uk and other websites by installing Goolge’s opt-out plugin linked here.

You can block any cookies by clicking the padlock icon beside the URL at the top of your screen, clicking on “cookies” and then blocking each cookie you wish to remove. Remember, blocking some of these cookies may cause site performance issues.

You can also exit ardgowanhospice.org.uk at any time.

The accuracy of your personal information is important to us. You can edit your Ardgowan Hospice account information, including your address and contact details at any time. If you would like to change your preferences or update the details we hold about you other than online, please contact our fundraising team on 01475 726830 (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm) or fundraising@ardhosp.co.uk or write to Fundraising Team, Ardgowan Hospice, 12 Nelson Street, Greenock, PA15 1TS.

Under GDPR you have more rights and control over how your data is collected, stored and used. You have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. You also have the right to request us to erase your personal information, request us to restrict our processing of your personal information or to object to our processing of your personal information.

Should you wish to exercise these rights we require you to prove your identity with two pieces of approved identification. Please address requests to the Data Controller, Ardgowan Hospice, 12 Nelson Street, Greenock, PA15 1TS and we will respond as soon as possible (within 28 days) after receipt of your written request and confirmed ID. Please provide as much information as possible about the nature of your contact with us to help us locate your records.

Where you have provided your consent for our use of your personal information, you always have a right to withdraw your consent at any time.

We may update the terms of this policy at any time, so please do check it from time to time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address you have provided to us or by placing a prominent notice on our website(s).