Rights, Complaints and File
Privacy
Safe Home South Limburg wants to do its job as well as possible. To perform our tasks, we may need personal information from you. For example, your name, address, place of residence and telephone number. We store this data in an (electronic) file, together with other information that Safe Home South Limburg keeps about you. Only Safe Home employees have access to this file. They handle this file with due care and are bound by confidentiality.
Protection of personal data
How Safe Home South Limburg handles your personal data is regulated in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). That regulation states, among other things, when an institution or organisation may collect personal data, what information it may request and who may use it. By law, the data subject also has a number of rights, such as the right to access your data. All this ensures that your privacy is protected as well as possible.
On the basis of its statutory duties, Safe Home is authorised to request information about you from other agencies and professionals, should there be any concerns about your safety or that of someone in your living environment.
Safe Home South Limburg will only provide information about you to others (such as social workers) with your permission. However, in exceptional cases, Safe Home South Limburg will be authorised to process personal data without your permission. This is the case when, for example, safety is at stake. For example, necessary information about a report is shared with relevant chain partners at the triage consultation table, in order to arrive at a joint safety assessment and a decision on the next steps to ensure safety (see also Collaboration). The data subject will be notified of the consultation in advance, if possible.
Safe Home South Limburg is subject to the rules of the privacy regulations of the South Limburg Regional Health Service and those in the Safe Home South Limburg Action Protocol (PDF, 1852 KB, Dutch).
Recording a conversation: rules
If you’re a client of Safe Home South Limburg and would like to record a conversation with one of our employees, the following rules and agreements apply.
Making audio recordings is allowed, provided you abide by the rules
You are permitted to make an audio recording of the conversation with an employee of Safe Home South Limburg, for example on your telephone. However, we do ask that you notify us in advance. You can either just tell us or notify us in writing. It doesn’t matter whether this concerns recordings at our office or in your home. The assumption is that you make the audio recordings yourself. Distributing the recording outside the home without our permission is prohibited by law.
If other persons are present during the conversation between you and the employee, these persons too must give permission to make an audio recording of the conversation. If one other person does not give permission, you are not allowed to make a sound recording.
Instead of making a sound recording, taking someone with you who will listen in and assist you could be more useful.
Rules for recording a conversation
The main rules for recording a conversation are:
- Safe Home South Limburg allows you to make an audio recording, unless there are compelling reasons not to do so. In that case, the employee will offer an alternative;
- You must tell the employee of Safe Home South Limburg that you intent to record the conversation;
- You will use the audio recording for private purposes only;
- You are not permitted to share the audio recording with others without the employee’s permission;
- Making the audio recording public is prohibited;
- Making changes to the audio recording by, for example, cutting and/or pasting is prohibited;
- You must provide the employee with a copy of the audio recording on request. If the employee makes an audio recording instead, you can ask for a copy as well. This way, both parties have the same information.
Making video recordings is not allowed
Safe Home South Limburg does not allow video recordings because of the infringement of the privacy of employees of Safe Home South Limburg. This infringement is considered disproportionate to the added value these type of recordings has for you, as a client.
If it turns out that you have made video recordings in secret, or that these recordings have been made public, Safe Home South Limburg and/or the employee can report this to the police (Article 139f of the Criminal Code).
File
As a customer of Safe Home South Limburg, you are entitled to information about:
Your file
We store your personal data in an (electronic) file, together with other information that Safe Home South Limburg keeps about you. Various types of data are included in the file, for example about advice given, the report or the results of the safety assessment. When creating a file, certain rules of thumb are observed, which apply to all Safe Home services. Only Safe Home employees have access to this file. They handle this file with due care and are bound by confidentiality.
As a client, you have rights with regard to your file. Since Safe Home South Limburg only creates one file per family, multiple people can exercise their rights with regard to this file. For example, the abuser, the victim and the witness. They cannot exercise any rights over the complete file, but only over data that relate to them.
What are your rights?
As a client (or legal representative of a child or younger client) you are entitled to:
- Inspect the data about you included in the file;
- Copies of the data about you included in the file (transcript). You can ask for an explanation of your file. Safe Home can refuse the right to inspect and copy:
- if this jeopardises the privacy of another person;
- if this hampers Safe Home South Limburg in the performance of its duties. This first and foremost applies to protecting the safety of everyone involved in the violence.
- Correction of your personal data. You have the right to have factual inaccuracies, omissions or irrelevant data (right to restriction of processing) in the file corrected, supplemented, deleted or retracted.
- A personal addition to the file. If you do not agree with the information that has been included about you in the file, you can ask Safe Home to add your own statement about this to the file, clarifying why you do not agree with certain information.
- Right to object: you have the right to object to the processing of data.
- Partial or complete destruction of your file. Safe Home must honour a request for destruction if the outcome of the Safe Home investigation refutes the contents of the report. Safe Home can refuse this request if:
- another person has a substantial interest in keeping the file;
- the principles of providing good care are compromised;
- another law prohibits the destruction.
Sometimes, we cannot fully honour your request. There may be reasons for this. You will be notified about this in our response to your request.
More information about your rights can be found on the website of the Dutch Data Protection Authority.
How can you make a request in relation to your file?
You can submit a request regarding your file by completing an online form (form is written in Dutch but English translation of types of request is provided).
We ask you to send a copy of proof of ID with the application, because we need to establish your identity before we can process your request. You do not have to include all the information from your proof of ID. You can use the Copy ID app issued by the Dutch government (in Dutch) to shield certain information before providing the copy to us. After processing the request, the copy of your proof of ID will be destroyed.
Safe Home will process your request as soon as possible. You will receive confirmation of receipt within a week and we will respond to your request within 4 weeks. Did you book an appointment in relation to your file? Please bring valid proof of ID with you.
How can you make a request in relation to someone else’s file?
A legal representative too has the right to inspection, copy and correction. This can be someone who exercises authority over a minor or over someone who is mentally incapacitated. In this instance too, this only concerns data that relates to their child or client.
Do you represent the interests of someone else and do you want access or a copy of his or her file? This is only possible with a declaration of consent and a copy of valid proof of ID of the person whose data is held on file. Applications can only be submitted in writing. Applications can only be submitted in writing. To submit the request, use the online request form for third-party files.
Clearly state the reason for the request. We ask you to include as an attachment:
- a declaration of consent from the person whose data is held on file
- a copy of a valid ID card of those whose data are held on file
The Ministry of Justice is not required to provide a declaration of consent and/or a copy of the passport..
How long does Safe Home South Limburg retain your file?
Safe Home South Limburg does not retain your file for longer than is legally permitted. The retention period differs per type of file. If you have any questions in relation to this, please contact us.
More information can be found on page 57 of the Safe Home South Limburg Action Protocol (PDF, 1852 kB, in Dutch).
Online forms (in Dutch)
Verzoek mijn dossier (vanaf 16 jaar en ouder)
Verzoek dossier van kinderen tot 12 jaar
Verzoek dossier kinderen van 12 tot 16 jaar
Toestemmingsverklaring dossier van derden
Complaints
Filing a complaint
Everyone wants to be assisted as best as possible, especially when it concerns your health or your safety. Safe Home South Limburg believes it is important that you are satisfied with the quality of its services. Our employees aim to assist you to the best of their ability.
However, there is always the possibility of something going wrong. You can be dissatisfied or have a complaint about:
- the way you have been treated;
- agreements that have not been honoured;
- the information that you have been given.
Please tell us. This way, we can do something about it and improve our services.
As a customer of Safe Home South Limburg, you are entitled to submit a complaint.
Discussing your complaint
Discussing your complaint with the relevant Safe Home employee is always a good first step. Perhaps its merely a misunderstanding that can be easily rectified with a conversation.
It is possible that the conversation with the Safe Home employee was not satisfactory or that you do not want to speak with the relevant employee at all. Feel free to submit a complaint in that case.
The head of the relevant department will then deal with the complaint as soon as possible and contact you. If you have a complaint about the head of a department, the complaint will be dealt with the management board.
Filing a complaint
If you do not want a meeting or mediation or if you believe the matter has not been resolved properly, you can submit an official complaint to the complaints committee by completing the complaints committee form (in Dutch) or send a letter to:
Klachtencommissie GGD Zuid Limburg
t.a.v. de secretaris
Antwoordnummer 4149, 6400 VC Heerlen.
Help with submitting a complaint
If you want advice about submitting a complaint; need help in formulating the complaint; or if you want to discuss options to find a solution for your complaint, you can ask for help in two different ways.
Complaints Officer for South Limburg Regional Health Service (also for Safe Home)
>You can contact the Regional Health Service Complaints Officer/Safe Home at klachtopvangfunctionaris@ggdzl.nl.
State in your e-mail at which telephone number or e-mail address you can be reached, and the complaints officer will contact you as soon as possible (within one week at the latest) to discuss your concerns.
Advice en Complaints Office for Youth Care (AKJ)
>If someone has made a report against you or your family to Safe Home or if you have submitted a report yourself, you can also contact the National Advice and Complaints Office for Youth Care as part of the steps you take to seek support. The AKJ is not only for parents and children, but for everyone, including adults and the elderly.
You can also contact AKJ for a confidential advisor. The confidential advisor is independent, so does not work for Safe Home.
For more information visit the AKJ website or call (088) 555 10 00.
For the complete complaints procedure, click the link (in Dutch).
If you are not satisfied with the handling of your complaint
If your complaint has not been upheld or you are not satisfied with the decision of the complaints committee, you can contact:
- the National Ombudsman, Postbus 93122, 2509 AC Den Haag.
In all cases, you must submit your complaint within one year of the date of the decision of the Regional Health Service/Safe Home.