Patient Privacy Notice

About this notice

The Pregnancy Clinic provides consultant-led pregnancy, ultrasound and diagnostic services. For the purposes of data protection law, The Pregnancy Clinic is the data controller of your personal data, and is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration number ZB682803).

This notice explains how we collect, use, store and protect your personal and medical information when you receive care from us.

The standards we follow

We are committed to the highest standards of confidentiality, transparency and data protection, in line with:

• UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
• Data Protection Act 2018
• Common law duty of confidentiality
• Care Quality Commission (CQC) expectations

Personal information

• Name, date of birth and address
• Contact details (telephone and email)
• NHS number, where relevant
• Identification details, where required

Health information

• Medical and obstetric history
• Pregnancy details and ultrasound findings
• Test results and diagnostic reports
• Clinical correspondence and consultation notes
• Images, videos or recordings from scans or procedures

Administrative and financial

• Appointment records
• Billing and payment information
• Insurance or self-pay details

We use your information to

• Provide safe, high-quality clinical care
• Make accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions
• Communicate with you about your care
• Maintain accurate medical records
• Meet legal, regulatory and professional obligations
• Ensure patient safety, audit and quality improvement

What we never do

Your information is never sold or used for commercial profiling.

We will only send you marketing, such as news about our services, if you have agreed to it, and you can opt out at any time.

For your personal information

• Contract (Article 6(1)(b)): to provide the private care you book with us
• Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): for example regulatory, safeguarding and tax requirements
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): to run a safe, effective medical service, such as appointment reminders and clinical audit
• Vital interests (Article 6(1)(d)): in an emergency, to protect your life or your baby’s
• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): where we ask for it, for example for marketing

For your health information

• Health care (Article 9(2)(h)): the provision of medical diagnosis and care by health professionals bound by a duty of confidentiality
• Legal claims (Article 9(2)(f)): where needed to establish or defend legal claims
• Vital interests (Article 9(2)(c)): in an emergency, when you are unable to give consent
• Explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a)): for example using images for teaching

Who we may share with

• Other healthcare professionals involved in your care
• Diagnostic laboratories or imaging providers
• Your GP or NHS services, with your knowledge or where required
• Regulatory bodies where legally required, such as the CQC or for safeguarding
• Professional indemnity insurers, where appropriate

Our trusted service providers

These providers process information on our behalf under written data processing agreements, and may only use it on our instructions:

• Calendly: online appointment booking
• Stripe: deposit payments
• Cognito Forms: secure pre-appointment questionnaire
• Heidi Health: AI-assisted clinical documentation

Online booking and deposit payments

When you book online, you first give us your name, contact details and the type of appointment you need, which are sent securely to our clinic team. You then choose your appointment time through Calendly, our online booking calendar, which holds your name, email address and appointment details to manage your booking and send you confirmations and reminders. Your £25 deposit is taken by Stripe, our payment provider. Your card details are entered directly with Stripe and are never seen or stored by The Pregnancy Clinic; we receive only confirmation of your payment. Stripe also acts as an independent controller for some purposes, such as preventing fraud and meeting its legal obligations, under its own privacy policy.

Pre-appointment questionnaire

Before your appointment we ask you to complete a secure online questionnaire about your health and pregnancy, provided through Cognito Forms. Your answers are encrypted in transit and stored securely, and are accessible only to our clinical and administrative team. Once your consultant has reviewed them, they become part of your medical record, which is kept in line with the retention periods set out below. The copy held by our form provider is deleted within 30 days of your appointment.

AI-assisted clinical documentation

During some consultations, your consultant may use a secure AI-assisted documentation tool, Heidi Health, to help produce accurate clinical notes and summaries. The tool supports note-taking only; all clinical decisions are made by your consultant. Information is processed on secure, encrypted platforms that meet UK data protection and medical confidentiality standards, and Heidi does not use your information to train third-party AI models. You can choose not to have AI-assisted documentation used, in your questionnaire or by telling your consultant at the start of your appointment, and this will not affect your care.

International transfers

Some of our service providers may store or process information outside the UK. Where this happens, your information is protected by safeguards approved under UK data protection law, such as the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement.

Storage and security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including:

• Secure electronic medical record systems
• Controlled access to patient data
• Encryption and password protection
• Confidential disposal of paper records

Access is limited to authorised staff and clinicians only.

Images and recordings

Ultrasound images, videos and recordings form part of your medical record.

• They are used primarily for your clinical care
• They may be given to you as part of your appointment
• Any use for teaching, training, research or marketing needs your explicit written consent

You can withdraw consent for non-clinical use at any time.

How long we keep your information

We keep clinical records in line with the NHS Records Management Code of Practice and professional indemnity guidance.

Maternity and obstetric records, including scan images and reports, are kept for 25 years after the birth of your last child. Some records may be kept longer where required by law. Records are then securely destroyed.