GDPR For Dental Websites

GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION

Are you prepared? On 25th May 2018 GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) will come into force. It will affect all businesses in UK and not just dental practices. Sole practitioners and company directors will need to find out what is involved and how they need to adapt to ensure their businesses comply with GDPR. Failure to make sure the necessary procedures and practices are in place may result in a hefty fine which could be around 4% of your annual turnover.

GDPR FOR YOUR DENTAL WEBSITE

At design4dentists we host and create all kinds of dental websites and all of these will be affected by the new General Data Protection Regulation. Basically, any website that collects and processes personal data will be required to comply so it is highly likely your dental practice website will be affected too. It is not just websites for dentists as many other businesses have tracking facilities and online forms.

So what will you need to do to your dental website in order for it to be compliant? Who can action the changes and how much expense will you incur? I have written below the changes required and who can help you make these as soon as possible.
Is your dental website compliant with GDC and CQC? >

UPGRADE TO A SECURE SERVER

Your website may already be hosted on a secure hosting platform but many dental websites are likely to be on standard website hosting facilities. This is not a GDPR requirement however, internet browsers are already warning their web users (your dental patients) if your website is not securely hosted. The latest version of Google Chrome is now displaying a warning on form fields (see illustration below) if it is not a secure website. Other internet browsers will follow soon, or they may even show users now. It could also be highlighted on the domain address bar and this will deter patients from browsing through your website or making an online enquiry.

Contact your dental marketing company or website hosting provider to find out if your website is securely hosted with an SSL Certificate. They should be able to advise you of the other GDPR requirements for your website as well. The cost of upgrading to secure hosting is likely to be double what you are paying for now but ask yourself an important question; what is the cost to your dental practice for every patient NOT clicking through to your website or filling in an enquiry form? Many website hosting companies are offering one year deals to help step up to a secure hosting platform.

Contact design4dentists for secure website hosting >

ONLINE ENQUIRY FORMS

Most dental websites offer patients the opportunity to contact the practice through an online enquiry form or contact form. Some clinics like to invite patients to sign up for regular news updates and many specialist dental practices have a patient referral form or request information to in order to perform a specific action. These blank data fields will notify the user (patient) if your dental website is NOT secure. See the example illustration below:

As illustrated by The Hacker News >

In order for your website to comply with GDPR, you must also ensure your online forms have an ‘opt in’ or ‘opt out’ check box advising them what you intend to do with the users information i.e. keeping their data for marketing purposes by sending them emails, special offers, or promotions.

Prevent your new patients from clicking away from your website by refreshing and updating your website as soon as possible.
Refresh and update your dental website >

COOKIES & PRIVACY POLICY

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) also requires your dental website to make sure the Cookie Law notification highlights a choice of whether the user can accept recorded tracking or not. Most websites have a tracking facility such as Google Analytics which records the history of the user and the pages viewed as well as the actions they have carried out on your website.

More details can be listed in your privacy policy which all websites should contain. This is usually a separate page which is linked to at the bottom of your dental website or in the practice page. You will need to make users aware of how you intend to use the patients data collected from the website, where the information is stored and for how long you intend to keep it.
Find out more about GDPR and website compliance >

PROFESSIONAL DENTAL WEBSITE DESIGN & SEO MARKETING
For more information call Alex Nicolaou on 01923 609770 to find out more about making the most of your dental website and generating a great return on your online investments.
www.design4dentists.com >

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