Privacy Policy

At Private Midwives, we’re committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about people who visit our website, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. By using our website, you are agreeing to be bound by this Policy.

Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to info@privatemidwives.com or by writing to DPO, Private Midwives, The Heath Business Park, Runcorn, WA7 4QX. Alternatively, you can telephone 0800 380 0579.

Who are we?

We are Private Midwives - the country’s largest provider of private midwifery services in the UK and Eire. The registered address is The Heath Business Park, Runcorn, WA7 4QX.

Clinical Information & Confidentiality

We strongly advise all our clients to register with their local hospital, so that any problems arising during pregnancy or birth that require hospital input can be managed without undue delay.

For clients who choose our smaller birth packages (for example starting care at 34 weeks of pregnancy) it is essential that you access appropriate care prior to 34 weeks gestation and you are prepared to share details of that care with us.

In some circumstances, if a problem arises during birth at home, your midwife may record what is happening and verbalise her care to you. This is so she can focus 100% on providing you with the best possible care, whilst also maintaining an accurate record of events. Afterwards, this recording will be transcribed within 24hrs and form part of your clinical record. It will then be deleted.

Private Midwives respects your confidentiality and we will not share information about you other than in the following circumstances:

another provider (for example a hospital or your GP) is involved in your care and we need to share information with them, for the safety and well-being of you and your baby
we have a legal requirement to share information – for example when there are safe guarding concerns
as part of an investigation in to your care by us, another health provider or an external regulatory body may need to see your clinical notes
if you raise concerns to us or another provider about your care, we may share information as part of the ensuing investigation into those concerns.

By signing your contract for care with us, you are agreeing to the above.

Private Midwives Caldicott/Information Governance Lead is Pat Barlow, Business Director, Pat@privatemidwives.com

How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you use our website, for example, when you contact us about products and services or if you register to receive one of our newsletters. If you do not wish to be contacted following an initial enquiry there will be an easy opt-out option at the bottom of the email you receive from us and your preference will be updated.

What type of information is collected from you?

The personal information we collect might include your name, address, telephone number, email address, IP address, and information regarding what pages are accessed and when.

How is your information used?

We may use your information to:

process orders that you have submitted;
to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and us;
seek your views or comments on the services we provide;
notify you of changes to our services;
send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you;
Use your details to contact you about promotions and offers, and about our associated companies goods and services;
process a job application.

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

Who has access to your information?

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Third Party Service Providers working on our behalf: We may pass your information to our third party service providers, agents subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf (for example to process orders and send you mailings). However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond the Private Midwives Network for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.

Third Party Product Providers we work in association with: We work closely with various third party product providers to bring you a range of quality and reliable products and services designed to meet the needs of our customers (e.g. scan companies, private laboratories, birth pools, medical gases, cord blood collection). When you enquire about or purchase one or more of these products, the relevant third party product provider will use your details to provide you with information and carry out their obligations arising from any contracts you have entered into with them. In some cases, they will be acting as a data controller of your information and therefore we advise you to read their Privacy Policy. These third party product providers will share your information with us which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation, or if we’re under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or to enforce or apply our terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our supporters and customers. However, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

Your Choices

You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us. If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications from us about our exciting products and services, then you can select your choices by ticking the relevant boxes situated on the form on which we collect your information.

We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message unless you have given your prior consent. We will not contact you for marketing purposes by post if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted. You can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us by email to info@privatemidwives.com or by writing to The Heath Business Park, Runcorn, WA7 4QX. Alternatively, you can telephone 0800 380 0579.

How you can access and update your information

The accuracy of your information is important to us. We’re working on ways to make it easier for you to review and correct the information that we hold about you. In the meantime, if you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please email us at: info@privatemidwives.com or by writing to The Heath Business Park, Runcorn, WA7 4QX. Alternatively, you can telephone 0800 380 0579.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Private Midwives hold about you (in certain circumstances there could charge for information requests in the event that there is large amount of information that needs to be collated which will take some time to put together, the charge would be nominal to cover our costs).

Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, and this can never be guaranteed to be 100% secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Contact & Communication With us

Users contacting with us through this website do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use.

Where we have clearly stated and made you aware of the fact, and where you have given your express permission, we may use your details to send you products/services information through a mailing list system. This is done in accordance with the regulations named in 'The policy' above.

Use of "Cookies"

Like many other websites, the Private Midwives website uses cookies. 'Cookies' are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better more personalised service.

It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. Turning cookies of may result in a loss of functionality when using our website.

Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.

Downloads & Media Files

Any downloadable documents, files or media made available on this website are provided to users at their own risk. While all precautions have been undertaken to ensure only genuine downloads are available users are advised to verify their authenticity using third party anti virus software or similar applications.
We accept no responsibility for third party downloads and downloads provided by external third party websites and advise users to verify their authenticity using third party anti virus software or similar applications.

Social Media Policy & Usage

We adopt a Social Media Policy to ensure our business and our staff conduct themselves accordingly online. While we may have official profiles on social media platforms users are advised to verify authenticity of such profiles before engaging with, or sharing information with such profiles. We will never ask for user passwords or personal details on social media platforms. Users are advised to conduct themselves appropriately when engaging with us on social media.

There may be instances where our website features social sharing buttons, which help share web content directly from web pages to the respective social media platforms. You use social sharing buttons at your own discretion and accept that doing so may publish content to your social media profile feed or page. You can find further information about some social media privacy and usage policies in the resources section below.

CQC & Accessing Data

We are regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) The independent regulator of health and social care in England - as such the CQC may access care records and other personal data as part of their regulatory activity.

The CQC will always make sure that your information is protected and treated securely. Any information about you that they hold, or details you give us, will be held in accordance with:

Data protection law - the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018
CQC's Information Governance Policies
CQC's Code of Practice on Confidential Personal Information.

More information regarding the Privacy Statement from the Care Quality Commission can be found HERE

Review of this Policy

We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated in April 2021.

Resources & Further Information

v.1.2 May 2018 Edited & customised by: Private Midwives

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