Data Protection
Introduction
NMBI needs to gather and use certain information about individuals. In particular, NMBI has a statutory duty to collect and process personal data as the regulator of the professions of nursing and midwifery, as set out in the Nurses and Midwives Act 2011, as amended. The data subjects NMBI gather and use information about, includes registrants, student nurses and midwives, suppliers, business contacts, employees and other people the organisation has a relationship with or may need to contact.
National data protection law and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) describes how organisations, including NMBI, must collect, process and store personal information.
Data Protection law
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect on 25 May 2018. The Data Protection Act 2018 was signed into law in Ireland on 24 May 2018.
The GDPR is underpinned by six important principles. These say that personal data must:
- Be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently (lawfulness, fairness and transparency)
- Be obtained only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes (purpose limitation)
- Be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary (data minimisation)
- Be accurate and kept up to date (accuracy)
- Be kept only for as long is necessary (storage limitation), and
- Be processed with appropriate security (integrity and confidentiality).
How to access your data (Data Rights Request)
You may use data protection legislation to access your personal data, held by NMBI. These are detailed below.
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a 'data subject access request': This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you: This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
Request erasure of your personal data: This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data: This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data's accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; or (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party: We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
To request a copy of your personal data, you can:
Once the request has been received, NMBI must respond to your request within one month. NMBI will always verify the identity of anyone making a request before handing over any information.
For more on how we process your personal data, please read our privacy policy.