Privacy policy

1. Who we are

Riverview Vets is the data controller for the information described in this notice. That means we decide why and how it is used, and we are responsible for looking after it.

Registered entity

Riverview Vets Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 17121616

Registered office

9 Chapel Road, Rowledge, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4AW

Practice address

Units 1&2 Innovation Place, Douglas Drive, Godalming GU7 1JX

Privacy contact

hello@riverviewvets.co.uk

We are applying to register with the Information Commissioner's Office before we open, and we will publish our registration number here once it is issued. We are not required to appoint a data protection officer; privacy questions are handled by the practice directors.

2. What this notice covers

This notice covers the Riverview Vets website and the registration of interest form on it. It does not cover clinical records, because we are not yet treating animals. Before we open we will publish a fuller client privacy notice covering appointments, clinical records, prescriptions, insurance claims and payments, and we will email it to everyone who has registered their interest.

3. What we collect

Information you give us

Through the registration of interest form: your name, email address, postcode, the type of animal you have, and optionally your phone number and the practice you currently use. We also record whether you asked us to email you about our mobile vet service, and the wording you were shown, so we can show what you agreed to. If you email or message us, we hold what you write and the address you write from.

Information collected automatically

Our form provider receives the IP address a submission was sent from and uses it to work out an approximate location, reads your browser and operating system from your user agent, and records the page you submitted from; it shows us all of that alongside your message, and may keep it as part of its spam controls. Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs. If you consent to analytics cookies, we receive aggregated statistics about how pages are used. See our cookies page for the detail.

We do not ask for special category data, and please do not send us any. We do not knowingly collect information about children; the form is for adults registering their own household.

4. Why we hold it, and our lawful basis

UK GDPR requires us to have a lawful basis for every use of your information. Ours are set out below.

To tell you how to register your pet when we open

Consent, which you give by submitting the form. You can withdraw it at any time and we will stop.

To email you about our mobile vet service

Consent, which you give by ticking the box asking us to email you about it on the form. It is optional and the box is not ticked unless you tick it. We only send these emails to people who ticked it, and you can stop them at any time by unsubscribing or emailing us, without affecting the rest of your registration.

To answer a question you have asked us

Legitimate interests. You have contacted us and expect a reply.

To plan our opening, staffing and the services we offer

Legitimate interests. We look at postcodes and animal types in aggregate; this does not affect you individually.

To keep the site secure and block spam submissions

Legitimate interests in protecting our systems.

Analytics and any advertising measurement

Consent, given through the cookie banner. Nothing non-essential runs until you agree to it. You can take that consent back at any time from the "Cookie settings" button in the footer of any page, and doing so deletes what was stored while you were opted in, as our cookies page explains.

Beyond the message telling you how to register, we will not send you general marketing unless you have separately agreed to it. Every email we send you includes a one-click unsubscribe.

5. Who else handles it

We use a small number of suppliers who process information on our instructions, under contract, and who are not allowed to use it for their own purposes.

Forminit

Receives the registration form and emails it to us. Forminit is operated by UXPLUS LTD, a company registered in England, and stores submissions on servers in the European Union.

Google Workspace

Our email and document storage. This is where your enquiry sits once it reaches us.

ezyVet

Our practice management system, from opening. Your details are transferred into it only when you become a client.

Google Analytics

Aggregated website statistics. Runs only with your consent.

Google Ads

Measures which of our adverts brought someone to the site and which visits led to a registration. Runs only with your consent.

Meta (Facebook and Instagram)

Measures whether our social posts bring people to the site. Runs only with your consent.

We will also share information where the law requires it, for example with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, a regulator or a court. We do not sell your information, and we do not pass it to other companies for their marketing.

6. Information sent outside the UK

Our form provider, Forminit, is a UK company and stores submissions on servers in the European Union. Transfers from the UK to the European Economic Area are covered by the UK's adequacy regulations, so no additional safeguard is needed. Forminit's published list of suppliers includes a small number outside the European Economic Area; it is contractually required to protect your information wherever it is processed.

Google stores data in the United States under the UK extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, to which Google LLC is certified. Meta also stores data in the United States; those transfers rely on the International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission's standard contractual clauses. Both suppliers apply their own security measures in addition. You can ask us for a copy of the safeguards that apply to a particular supplier.

7. How long we keep it

Registration of interest details are kept until you tell us to stop, then deleted within 30 days. If you stop only the mobile vet emails, we keep your registration and record that you no longer want them. If you never become a client we will also review the list annually and remove anyone we have not heard from and who has not opened our emails.

General enquiries are kept for 12 months. Website analytics are kept for 14 months in aggregated form. Once you become a client, clinical records are kept for at least seven years after the last entry, as veterinary practice requires, and financial records for six full tax years.

8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask us to do any of the following. There is no charge, and we will reply within one month.

Access

Get a copy of the information we hold about you.

Rectification

Correct anything that is wrong or incomplete.

Erasure

Have it deleted, where we have no legal reason to keep it.

Restriction

Pause our use of it while a question about it is sorted out.

Objection

Object to uses we base on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.

Portability

Receive the details you gave us in a machine-readable file, or have them sent to another provider.

Withdraw consent

Withdraw consent you have given, including for cookies and emails. This does not affect anything done before you withdrew it.

We do not make automated decisions about you and we do not profile you. To exercise any right, email hello@riverviewvets.co.uk. We may ask you to confirm who you are before we release information.

9. How we protect it

The site is served over an encrypted connection. Access to submissions is limited to the people who need it, on accounts protected by two-factor authentication. Our suppliers are chosen on the basis of their published security measures, and we review that choice if it changes. If a breach happens that puts your rights at risk, we will tell the Information Commissioner within 72 hours and tell you without undue delay.

10. Changes to this notice

We will update this page as the practice opens and our services change. The version number and date at the top tell you which one you are reading. If a change materially affects how we use information you have already given us, we will email you.

11. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, tell us first at hello@riverviewvets.co.uk and we will look into it. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time.