Student Wellbeing Service Privacy Notice

When you engage in any form of support from the Student Wellbeing Service you are deemed to have read and accepted our SWS Privacy Notice.    

Information accessed and held by Student Wellbeing Service:

• The University’s Student Wellbeing Service will use and hold information such as your name, student ID, student status, email address, telephone number, course and year of study, emergency contact information and GP registration details.  This information will have either been provided by you to Student Wellbeing staff directly or drawn from University database(s). This information constitutes your personal data.
• We may also hold information supplied by external parties such as your GP surgery/NHS services or a concerned relative depending on your individual circumstances.
• The Student Wellbeing Service may also hold relevant information from other University services, such as academic departments, who have a duty of care towards you. This information may include (but is not restricted to) data relating to your attendance/engagement with your studies and interventions offered by other University Staff for example Personal Tutors and SEOs. 
• We will also hold details of  the information, advice and support offered to you by the Student Wellbeing Service.
• Information held by Student Wellbeing Service will contain sensitive personal information about you (also known as ‘special category data’), which will include information about your physical and mental health as well as potentially ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs and sexuality.
• Information held is stored on a secure electronic system.

How we use your data:

• We use your data to help you with any issues you bring to SWS.
• Information held is used to provide statistical information to help us to monitor the effectiveness of our services and to identify where our services need to be improved.
• Your data is kept for six years and then securely deleted.

Information sharing within Student Support Services:

The main legal basis for which we process your personal data is contractual. The University has a duty to deliver its educational and pastoral services competently and, in carrying out its services and functions, to act reasonably to protect the health, safety and welfare of its students. The University also has a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to do everything reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of the university community. 

Student Support Services (which includes Student Wellbeing Service) share relevant information about students in order to provide coordinated, effective student support services. Sometimes it may be necessary and beneficial to work with staff in other departments; we will only share the information needed to ensure that appropriate support is in place. 

If we become aware of information that may constitute a student conduct matter under the University’s policies and procedures, we are required to share this information in accordance with those policies.

Additionally, if you are undertaking a course with a placement element and there are concerns regarding your ability to meet professional standards (sometimes referred to as 'fitness to practice'), we may need to share relevant information with appropriate University departments and, where necessary, placement providers. We will always discuss this with you in advance unless there is an immediate risk that requires urgent action.

In accordance with health and safety regulations, we are required to report and record accidents, injuries, and near misses that occur within our service. This may involve sharing relevant details with the University's Health and Safety team to ensure appropriate follow-up and compliance with health and safety obligations.

If we have serious concerns about your safety or the safety of others we may have to share appropriate information with organisations and services from outside the University for example NHS services. Wherever possible we will discuss this with you first and obtain your consent.

When we process your sensitive (special) category data we will also rely on the legal bases that you either:

• Give SWS staff your explicit consent to process your health data, 
• That SWS staff believe the processing is necessary to protect you or someone else from harm, or 
• Where SWS staff are legally required to share information requested by outside agencies, including social services and law enforcement agencies.

Information sharing outside of the University of Portsmouth: 

The SWS work in partnership with a NHS Service called Talking Therapies Portsmouth (Talking Change) and their practitioners will conduct assessments at the Student Wellbeing Service for students who may need specialist support. If you accept an appointment with one of their practitioners, you are consenting to Talking Therapies Portsmouth having access to your records held by the Student Wellbeing Service. For information on how Talking Therapies Portsmouth use your data, please see their data policy here: https://www.talkingtherapiesportsmouth.nhs.uk/policies.

Your information is subject to the University’s overall Data Protection Policy and Privacy Notice: 

https://policies.docstore.port.ac.uk/policy-105.pdf 

https://policies.docstore.port.ac.uk/policy-216.pdf

If you have any queries or concerns regarding how your data is used by the Student Wellbeing Service please contact the Head of Student Wellbeing.