This privacy notice sets out how the Royal Borough is working in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to deliver a local, community testing service with lateral flow antigen testing devices. The personal data of residents will be used for our Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) as part of a nation-wide effort to combat and contain the further spread of COVID-19 within the borough.
Who we are
Royal Borough Lateral Flow Testing Team.
Town Hall St Ives Road
Maidenhead SL6 1RF
Email: LFDT@rbwm.gov.uk
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is the data controller for the purposes of administering lateral flow testing at all sites within the Royal Borough. The Lateral Flow Testing Team is run by the Royal Borough’s Public Health and Communities Teams and the Leisure Focus Trust.
How we use information about you
COVID-19 is an infectious disease affecting the whole of the country. The virus that causes COVID-19 is a coronavirus. Infectious diseases present a serious and ongoing threat to public health. If not controlled, they can infect large numbers of people and, depending on the disease and other factors, can result in ill-effects ranging from relatively minor symptoms to early death.
Local testing through community testing programmes is an important way of controlling the spread of infectious diseases. Testing will be offered to public facing workers and anyone who is required to leave home for work or a crucial activity, or for the management of local COVID-19 outbreaks.
Public facing workers include:
- Care home staff who cannot access testing at work.
- Charities and voluntary groups.
- Children’s social workers and associated staff.
- Communal living establishments e.g. hostels, YMCA etc.
- Construction workers, trades and delivery drivers.
- Education or childcare settings not covered by existing schools testing e.g. early years and nursery workers, children homes, childminders, school nurses, specialist teachers and service staff (including catering and transport staff not employed directly by a school), volunteers who support these services.
- Emergency workers (police, fire, prison).
- Essential manufacturing and distribution.
- Essential retail – including click and collect venues.
- Health visitors.
- Home care workers.
- Informal carers and support workers.
- Medium sized local businesses (generally businesses between 50 and 250 staff) unable to practically access institutional testing.
- Opticians and optician staff.
- Postal workers.
- Public sector workers e.g. local government.
- Road transport drivers and other drivers and transport operatives e.g. public transport, taxi firms, couriers, community transport etc.
- Religious staff.
- Road maintenance.
- Security and grounds persons.
- Small or local businesses (generally less than 50 staff), sole traders or self-employed citizens.
- Social care workers.
- Supported living workers.
- Undertakers, mortuary, and crematorium assistants.
- Utility workers e.g. telephone, power, and water etc.
- Vets and veterinary staff.
- Waste management e.g. refuse and salvage occupations, street cleaners.
The lateral flow testing (LFT) process aims to identify positive cases of COVID-19 in people who do not have symptoms but who are infected and are infectious, and who could spread the infection to others unknowingly. Identifying and supporting positive COVID-19 cases, and ensuring people with a positive result self-isolate, will reduce transmission to others.
Around one in three people who have COVID-19 are asymptomatic, which means they have COVID-19 and are infectious, although not showing symptoms. These people are highly likely to spread the virus to others. LFT is a new kind of technology what will enable us to identify and isolate more asymptomatic people. By identifying these asymptomatic positive cases more quickly, we will help to break the chain of transmission.
An LFT detects the presence or absence of coronavirus from a swab sample. The sample is mixed with a solution which releases and breaks up virus fragments. Some of the solution is then dropped onto the lateral flow device. The sample runs along the surface of the device's absorbent strip, and 30-60 minutes later it will display either a positive or negative test result for COVID-19.
The lateral flow testing will take place at Braywick Leisure Centre and Windsor Leisure Centre, seven days a week; 6am to 8pm weekdays and 10am to 4pm on weekends. Testing will be free.
There will also be mobile testing units moving to locations across the borough. Public facing workers in the Ascot area will be able to use a joint testing site at Bracknell Rugby Club, which is being run by Bracknell Forest Council.
The testing programme will be delivered in collaboration with Leisure Focus Trust, who we have engaged to help us roll out the testing programme at their sites.
Lawful basis for processing information
The law on protecting personally identifiable information, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), allows the Royal Borough to use the personal information collected for the purposes of conducting lateral flow testing.
Our lawful basis for conducting lateral flow testing is in accordance with GDPR Article 6(1)(e) where processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.
We also rely on GDPR Article 9(2)(i) – processing is necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health, such as protection against serious cross-border threats to health or ensuring high standards of quality and safety of healthcare. Article 9(2)(j) also applies – processing is necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes.
We also rely on Schedule 1, Part 1 (2)(2)(f) of the Data Protection Act to process your personal data, for health or social care purposes.
How we collect information
You can book for an appointment to receive a lateral flow test by completing the booking form on our website. Participation is voluntary, but we encourage you to register for a test, are asymptomatic and fit one of the qualifying occupations listed above.
At the point of making your appointment, we will ask you to provide your name, address, phone number, email address and the company you work for. Personal data collected at the point of booking is used solely by the Royal Borough to administer the booking system.
The testing process itself collects sensitive, personal information relating to whether you are currently infectious with COVID-19. At the testing centre, you will be provided with a QR code. You will need to register with the NHS Test and Trace service and provide your contact details so that your result can be sent to you.
We will ask you complete a throat and nose swab yourself, supervised by a trained staff member who can assist if needed. (Full instructions will be provided to you at your visit along with the test kit.) You will receive your results within 30 – 45 minutes.
Who has access to the information about you
The personal details you provide when booking a test will used solely by the Royal Borough Lateral Flow Test team.
The results of your test will be collected directly by the NHS Test and Trace service for the purposes of monitoring the spread of COVID-19. The results of your test are not collected or held by the Lateral Flow Test Team.
How long we store your information
The personal information collected as part of the test result will only be held as long as directed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), for a maximum of eight years, in accordance with the Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016. For more information about how your personal data is used as part of the national testing programme, visit GOV.UK website.
The information you provide to the Lateral Flow Testing team to book your test will be retained by the Royal Borough during the period of lateral flow testing and will be securely destroyed once local community testing is no longer deemed necessary and the process ceases to run. Statistical data relating to the number of bookings recorded may be retained for analytical purposes following the pandemic, but this information will not contain personal data.