The School of Medicine’s Privacy Notice is in accordance with University’s policy which can be found here. The School collects, uses, retains and discloses personal information following the University guidance and the specific elaboration provided below. Personal information is any information that can be used to identify a living individual, directly or indirectly.
Please see the section ‘What personal information do we collect?’ for a description of the personal information we hold about you.
The law says that personal information should be processed fairly:
- Information is used in a way that people would reasonably expect; and
- People know how their information will be used by us.
This means we are required to inform you of the following:
- Why we need your data;
- How it will be used;
- With whom it will be shared; and
- Your rights to control how we use your information.
Please see the University’s Data Protection Policy for further details.
What personal information do we collect?
The types of personal information we collect from you and use for the purposes set out in the University’s Privacy Notice and the School-specific elaborations below include, but are not limited to:
- Names, addresses, telephone numbers, date of birth;
- Family details;
- Financial details;
- Assessment scores and outcomes;
- Photographs, voice recordings, video images recorded through CCTV;
- Responses to surveys; and
- Criminal convictions and offences.
Some personal information is classed as “sensitive personal information”. this includes:
- Racial or ethnic origin;
- Religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature;
- Trade union activities;
- Physical or mental health condition; and
- Sexual life or sexual orientation.
Your sensitive personal information will only be used for legitimate purposes. Please see the section on ‘How do we process personal information about you? ’ for more information.
How do we process personal information about you?
We use your personal and sensitive personal information in connection with the provision of fulfilling our contractual obligations to you. in particular, your personal information may be used by us, our employees, service providers, and disclosed to third parties for the following purposes. for each of these purposes, we have set out the legal basis on which we use your personal information.
| Legal basis for our use of your personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Why we need to process your personal information | Consent | Perform our contract / public task | Comply with the law | Protect your vital interests | Fulfil public task / statutory responsbility | Legitimate Interests |
| Provide you with products and services | ✓ | |||||
| To monitor the quality of educational provision and engagement with that provision | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| To carry out money laundering and fraud checks | ✓ | |||||
| To produce statistics for internal and external reporting purposes | ✓ | |||||
| Data sharing with external organisations, including regulators and NHS Trust partners | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Provide you with student support and services | ✓ | |||||
| In the case of medical emergency | ✓ | |||||
| For staff-led and student-led research projects that aim to provide information to improve the quality of medical education both at the local and national level | ✓ | |||||
Why do we need to process sensitive personal information about you?
| Legal basis for our use of your sensitive personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Why we need to process your sensitive personal information | Consent | Perform our contract with you | Comply with the law | Protect your vital interests | Reasons of substantial public interest | Scientific and historical research or statistical purposes |
| Provide you with student support and services | ✓ | |||||
| In case of medical emergency | ✓ | |||||
| To monitor the quality of educational provision and engagement with that provision | ✓ | |||||
| To produce statistics for monitoring equal opportunities | ✓ | |||||
| For staff and student led research projects that aim to provide information to improve the quality of medical education both at the local and national level | ✓ | |||||
| Data sharing with external organisations, including regulators and NHS Trust partners | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Protecting your interests
We may use your personal or sensitive personal information if it is necessary to protect your vital interests, such as in a medical emergency.
Criminal convictions and offences
Personal information related to criminal convictions and offences will only be used under the control of official authority or where processing is authorised by the law.
Who will we share your personal information with?
For applicants to medical schools and students enrolled on medical courses.
We will share data with placement providers and with the General Medical Council (GMC), the regulator for medical education. We will share your information with the GMC to register you after graduation to practise medicine. We will also share your information with the GMC in order to assist it in its statutory functions. This will include:
- Registration: In your final year we will share information with the GMC to grant you provisional registration. This may include information about Fitness to Practise incidents which the university investigated while you were a student.
- Research: We will share information about applicants and students which will help the GMC to conduct research into medical education, through the UK Medical Education Database (UKMED). This may include demographic data, attainment and exam data, and fitness to practise information. This information will not be used for other purposes by the GMC, will not be used to make decisions about you, and will not be published in a way which could identify you.
The categories of organisations we may share your personal information with include, but are not limited to:
- Statutory bodies, such as:
- The Higher Education Statistics Authority (HESA)
- The General Medical Council (GMC), the General Dental Council, The Nursing and Midwifery Council
- Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)
- The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
- The Scottish Funding Council
- The Student Loan Company
- Employers and other educational providers
- The Medical Schools Council for its own research purposes
- Service providers and professional advisors
- The Home Office
- External organisations processing information on behalf of the University of Liverpool under contract
- The University’s Student Union
- Debt collection agencies working on behalf the University
Where will we use your personal information?
Your personal information will not be transferred outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) unless that country or territory has an adequate level of protection for your rights and freedoms in relation to the processing of your personal information.
How long will we hold your personal information?
The University will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary. Please see the University’s retention schedule for more information.
What are the rights to your personal information?
To exercise your rights to your personal information, please contact the university’s Data Protection Officer.
We are not obliged to comply with your request for erasure or fulfil your rights to your personal information in all circumstances. For example, where research requires the processing of your personal information for carrying out a task in the public interest, it may be exempt from your objections to processing. If we decide to continue using your personal information, then we will tell you why.
Accessing your personal information
You can contact us using the contact details provided in this privacy notice to find out what personal information we hold about you and how it is used, subject to certain exemptions.
Amending or correcting inaccurate personal information
If the personal information held by us are in any way inaccurate or incomplete, then you may contact us to correct the information.
Right to erasure of your personal information
You can request the University to erase your personal information if:
- The processing of your personal information is no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise used;
- The processing of your personal information is based on your consent, then you have the right to withdraw consent at any time but we will only erase the data if we have no other legal ground to hold it;
- You have a legitimate objection to the way your personal information is being used;
- The personal information has been used in an unlawful way; or
- It is necessary to erase your personal information to comply with a legal obligation.
Restricting processing of your personal information
You may request the University to stop processing your personal information if:
- You believe the information to be inaccurate and only for such period of time during which we verify the accuracy of your personal information;
- The processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal information and request that it is suspended instead;
- Processing your personal information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected but the personal information is needed by you for the establishment, defence or exercise of legal rights; or
- You have a legitimate objection to the way your personal information is being used and we are verifying whether our grounds for your use of the personal information override your objection.
Right of data portability
You have the right to obtain your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and for it to be transferred to another organisation, where it is technically feasible. This right only applies where the use of your personal information is based on consent or as part of a contract.
Objecting to the processing of your personal information
You have the right to object to the use of your personal information in certain circumstances. For example, where you have grounds relating to your particular situation and we use your personal information for our legitimate interests or for research purposes.
Complaints
If you have any complaints about how we use your personal information, then please contact us. You can also lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Changes to our privacy policy
Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted on the University’s Data Protection website.
Contact your Year Lead if you find any digital content difficult or impossible to use, either directly or with an assistive technology such as a screen reader. Contact details for all teams and individual staff can be found on the School of Medicine website.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about the privacy notice or how your personal information is used, then please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer: Daniel Howarth.
Email: legalservices@liverpool.ac.uk
Telephone: 0151 794 2148
Address: The University of Liverpool, The Foundation Building, 765 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 7ZX
Privacy notice last updated: 26 July 2022.
Page last updated: 29 July 2022
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