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Data Protection Notice (Fitness to Practise)

In relation to the management of student self-declarations and/or self-disclosures in relation to the UCC Fitness to Practise Policy

  1. Introduction
  2. Who we are
  3. How we collect your personal data
  4. The purpose and legal basis for collecting your data
  5. Details of third parties with whom we share personal data
  6. Cross-border data transfers
  7. How long we will keep your data
  8. Your rights
  9. Questions or Complaints
  10. Related documents and links
  11. Print this page 

1. Introduction

At University College Cork, we treat your privacy seriously. Any personal data which you provide to the University will be treated with the highest standards of security and confidentiality, in accordance with Irish and European Data Protection legislation.This notice sets out details of the information that we collect, how we process it and who we share it with. It also explains your rights under data protection law in relation to our processing of your data.

2. Who we are

  • University College Cork
  • Specifically: The Head of School in UCC and/or their nominated Fitness to Practise (FTP) administrator(s) and also members of relevant School personnel which may include the programme director.
  • FTP Declarations (Health) Officer, Academic Affairs and Governance
  • FTP Personnel or Relevant Personnel (including Investigators and Committees as appropriate, and in accordance with the UCC Fitness to Practise Policy (UCC FTP Policy)

For more information about us, please refer to our website Fitness to Practise.

3. How we collect your personal data

We collect your data from you when you complete the FTP section at online registration and/or when you submit an FTP self-declaration form and/or an FTP (health) self-disclosure form. It will be used by us only in accordance with the purposes outlined in this notice.

Your personal data will be processed with the utmost confidentially and in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UCC’s Data Protection Policy . All information you provide shall remain confidential for use within the UCC FTP Policy, FTP self-declaration and/or self-disclosure processes. Only persons directly involved with the UCC FTP Policy/process will be given access to confidential information.

4. The purpose and legal basis for collecting your data

Since it is of over-riding importance to protect members of the public from harm and to maintain the trust and confidence of the general public in the professions and the University, it is vital that students are deemed fit to practise while on placement. To describe an individual as ‘Fit to Practise’ in the context of certain professions is to say that he/she possesses the attributes considered necessary in an individual to allow on-going practice as an independent practitioner in the relevant profession.

All students of certain programmes in UCC will be required to comply with the Fitness to Practise Policy and meet the relevant Fitness to Practise standards in order to progress to the next year of their programme. The programmes in question are programmes listed at www.ucc.ie/fitnesstopractise

Your personal data is being collected by the University for the purpose of establishing your capacity to participate safely in professional experience practise placement, and in order to review and make decisions in accordance with the University’s FTP Policy. Your personal data will be kept confidential and will only be used for the purpose for which it is collected.

If you declare/disclose a Health Concern, you will be required to complete and submit a Health Disclosure Form. The returned completed Health Disclosure Form details will be reviewed by an external Occupational Health Service Provider. The external Occupational Health Service Provider will then write to the Head of School/Academic Unit recommending either; (a) that no further Fitness to Practise action is necessary or (b) the concern can be addressed through informal/local supports/action; or (c) the Head of School/Academic Unit invoke the Level 1 Response of the Fitness to Practise Procedures.

If you declare/disclose a Criminal Conviction (or prosecution pending), the matter will be notified to the University’s Admissions Officer who will ensure that the concern is considered under the University’s Student Vetting Policy and Procedures, the outcome of which will be sent to the Head of School/Academic Unit.

Your personal data is processed for the purposes of entering into/performing a contract (Article 6(1)(b)/GDPR). Your health data is special category data and is processed for the purposes of assessing your capacity for clinical placement in accordance with Article 9(2)(h)/GDPR).  Criminal offence/conviction data is collected in accordance with s.55(1)(b) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Link to Data Protection Commission  Guidance on Legal Bases for Processing Personal Data

In addition to the grounds referenced above the processing of your personal data/health data for fitness to practise purposes is also in the public interest/substantial public interest and you provide your explicit consent to this processing.

5. Details of third parties with whom we share personal data

Your self-declaration and/or disclosure may be disclosed to the following persons or organisations (“relevant parties”) as necessary or deemed appropriate:

  • Your self-declaration in relation to a health and/or criminal matter will be shared with relevant personnel in the relevant UCC School running your chosen programme of study.
  • Your self-disclosure in relation to a health matter will be shared with relevant personnel in UCC School running your chosen programme of study.
  • Your self-declaration and self-disclosure in relation to a health matter will be shared with UCC’s appointed Occupational Health Services Provider
  • Your self-declaration in relation to criminal matter will be shared with relevant personnel in the UCC UG Admissions office in accordance with the University’s Student Vetting Policy and Procedures.
  • Third-party placement providers where this data is necessary to enable them to determine if they are in a position to accommodate and provide a professional placement opportunity. Any decision to disclose health information to a third-party placement provider will be notified to you in advance and will be limited to the minimum data necessary.

 We take steps to ensure appropriate technical and organisation measures are in place to safeguard your personal data.

Each School with programmes subject to Fitness to Practise shall submit an anonymised report to UCC’s Academic Council. No student will be identifiable in these reports.

Schools with programmes subject to the UCC FTP Policy are listed in the UCC FTP Policy

The list of programmes subject to the UCC FTP Policy are listed on www.ucc.ie/fitnesstopractise 

6. Cross-border data transfers

No cross-border data transfer in relation to FTP personal will occur.

7. How long we will keep your data

In keeping with the data protection principles, we will only store your data for as long as is necessary. For the purposes described here we will store your data for 6 years. This is to allow for you to complete your programme of studies and to allow time for possible deferrals and/or extensions and/or re-applications for a programme of study and/or other exceptional circumstances.

8. Your rights

You have various rights under data protection law, subject to certain exemptions, in connection with our processing of your personal data, including the right:

  • to find out if we use your personal data, access your personal data and receive copies of your personal data;
  • to have inaccurate/incomplete information corrected and updated;
  • in certain circumstances, to have your details deleted from systems that we use to process your personal data or have the use of your personal data restricted in certain ways;
  • to object to certain processing of your data by UCC;
  • to exercise your right to data portability where applicable (i.e. obtain a copy of your personal data in a commonly used electronic form;
  • where we have relied upon consent as a lawful basis for processing, to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time;
  • to not be subject to solely automated decision;

If you wish to avail of these rights, please write to: The Information Compliance Manager, University College Cork at gdpr@ucc.ie.

9. Questions or Complaints

If you have any queries in relation to the management of your FTP self-declaration(s) and/or self-disclosure(s) in relation to a health matter, please contact Gretta McCarthy FTP Declarations (Health) Officer, Academic Affairs and Governance, UCC at gretta.mccarthy@ucc.ie.

If you have any queries in relation to Student Vetting in relation to criminal offences/ convictions, please contact the UCC Admissions Office using https://www.ucc.ie/en/ask/prospective/   

For more on Student Vetting:

If you have any queries or complaints in connection with our processing of your personal data, you can contact UCC’s Information Compliance Manager by email at: gdpr@ucc.ie  

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission if you are unhappy with our processing of your personal data. Details of how to lodge a complaint can be found on the Data Protection Commission’s website (www.dataprotection.ie), or by telephoning 1890 252 231. 

10. Related documents and links 

11. Print to PDF

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Academic Affairs and Governance

Gnothaí Acadúla agus Rialú

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