We are a Foundation Trust (FT). Foundation Trusts are membership organisations constituted under statute. We must keep membership records for regulatory purposes and also so that we can engage with you and keep you informed about the Trust and its plans and services. Members fall into two categories:
- Public members, who are members of the public residing in one of the Trust's constituencies as defined in our Constitution and who choose to join the Trust as a member.
- Staff members, who are employees of the Trust.
Foundation Trust membership records are held electronically and we have a legal duty to keep these confidential, accurate, and secure at all times in line with UK Data Protection Laws.
We collect your contact details for the purpose of communicating with you about things that are happening in the Trust, inviting you to member's events or meetings, informing you about our Governor elections, or responding to your feedback. We only collect this information with your consent.
Your details will be entered onto our Civica Engage membership database. Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust are the data controllers of the information on the database and Civica act as a data processor. You can find details of Civica's privacy notice.
Our staff are trained to handle your information correctly and protect your privacy. We aim to maintain high standards, adopt best practice for our record keeping, and regularly check and report on how we are doing. Your information is never collected for direct marketing purposes and is not sold-on to any other third parties. We do not process any information overseas.
Information is held for specified periods of time as set out in the Records Management Code of Practice 2021.
Information collected about you as a FT Member is used to assist with:
- any public consultation exercises the Trust is obliged to participate in or service changes the Trust wishes to take members' views on
- reporting statistics on our membership to the Department of Health and other regulatory bodies as required
Foundation Trusts were established under the Health and Social Care Act 2003 (as amended by the Health and Social Care Act 2006 and Health Act 2012) as Public Benefit Corporations with a statutory requirement to have a membership base including public and staff members
If we need to use your personal information for any reason beyond those stated above, we will discuss this with you. You have the right to ask us not to use your information in this way.
Data Protection Laws give you certain rights in respect of the personal information that we hold about you. These are:
- to be informed why, where and how we use your information
- to ask for access to your information
- to ask for your information to be corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete
- to ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it
- to ask us to restrict the use of your information
- to ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way, without impacting the quality of the information
- to object to how your information is used
- to challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making)
Should you have any further queries or concerns on the uses of your information, or no longer want to be a FT member, please speak to our Membership Office on 01273 696 011 ext.1530, or email
Alternatively contact the Data Protection Officer on 01273 666 473 or email
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your enquiry you can write to:
The Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF or phone 01625 545 700.
Contact our Membership Team
For more information contact our Membership Team:
Phone: 01273 696 011 ext. 3115
Email:
