Data Protection Statement

The Northern Ireland Centre for Pharmacy Learning and Development (NICPLD) is required by law to comply with the Data Protection Act, 1998. The following information is the NICPLD's policy in response to the requirements of the 1998 Act.

NICPLD is committed to ensuring that all employees, pharmacists, healthcare professionals, agents, contractors and data processors comply with the 1998 Act, regarding the processing and confidentiality of any personal data held by the Centre. To do this NICPLD must comply with the Data Protection Principles contained within the 1998 Act. In summary these state that personal data shall:

1. be processed fairly and lawfully and only when certain conditions are met
2. only be obtained and processed for specified and lawful purposes
3. be adequate, relevant and not excessive
4. be accurate and where necessary up to date
5. be kept for no longer than necessary
6. be processed in accordance with data subjects' rights
7. be protected by appropriate security measures
8. not be transferred outside the European Economic Area, to countries without adequate protection unless the consent of the data subject has been obtained.

NICPLD staff or others, who process or use any personal information on behalf of the Centre, must ensure that they follow these principles at all times.

All staff, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals have an individual responsibility to ensure that they adhere to the University's Data Protection Policy and the 1998 Act.

Any breach of the NICPLD's data protection policy or the 1998 Act by a member of staff or a pharmacist can be considered as a disciplinary matter. It may also be a criminal matter for which NICPLD and the individual concerned could be held criminally liable.

Note that, from the 25th May 2018 the Data Protection Act 1998 has been replaced by the Data Protection Act 2018, which was brought about through the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Click here for further information.