WEST KENT MEDICOCHIRURGICAL SOCIETY DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY POLICY
The Society is committed to protecting our members privacy. This policy explains when and why we collect personal information, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.
Any questions regarding this policy should be sent by email to our membership secretary:
Jean Parker admin@wkmcs.org.uk
How do we collect Information from you
We obtain information from you when you become a member, register to attend meetings/events and receive communications.
The membership secretary is responsible for making changes to the membership list as new information becomes available. This could be directly from the member, indirectly from information given to secretary by member or from other Society members eg. in case of death.
A yearly effort is made to correct email addresses that bounce by paper letter to known home address. The treasurer is responsible for maintaining accuracy of subscription payments
What type of Information is Collected?
The personal data held is name, address, e-mail address, place of work, phone number, job title, any alternative name that might be used on cheques, names of proposers and subscription payment history.
How is your information used
We use this information for the purpose of delivering all aspects of membership benefits such as information about subscriptions, meetings, dinners and trips.
Who has access to you Information
Others that have access to the data are the Treasurer, the Secretary and the current President.
We would never share your personal details with any other third party without your consent.
Your data will only be retained for as long as required for use in connection with the stated purposes.
Security Precautions
WKMCS does not have a named Data Protection Officer but the membership secretary, backed up by council advice, endeavours to comply with the principles and is the named person for GDPR queries/complaints/requests from members.
Personal data is stored in 2 places: on the “Cloud” with access restricted to:
Membership Secretary, Secretary, Treasurer and current President. The Membership Secretary is the administrator. Paper Data (application forms, letters from members etc) are stored securely at the Membership Secretary’s home.
We use encrypted connections (SSL/TLS) for data transmission and implement access controls to protect your information from unauthorized access. However, no method of transmitting data over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security. We therefore try to keep this to a minimum.
Your Rights
Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
• The right to access the data we hold about you.
• The right to correct any inaccuracies.
• The right to request erasure of your data in certain circumstances.
• The right to restrict processing or object to processing.
• The right to withdraw consent (where applicable).
If you believe your data protection rights have been violated, you have the right to file a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk.
Review of This Policy
We review this Policy regularly and may update it to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Please check this page occasionally to stay informed about how we protect your information.
May 2026