Disclosure & Privacy Policy | Registered Dietitian & Nutritionist

Disclosure Policy

As a dietitian, I support transparent and ethical use of information. I am committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of private clients, subscribers and visitors to this website and its corresponding social media channels. Therefore this policy outlines information related to the data processing, background workings, intentions and integrity of this website.

For information about individual consultations please see our dietetic appointment policies.

Please email me with any questions about my disclosure policies: info@marialuceyrd.com

General

I am a Registered Dietitian with CORÚ, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council in Ireland (CORU, membership number: DI019908) and a member of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI, membership number: 1449).
As a registered dietitian, I am bound to a code of professional conduct and ethics for dietitians. I have been trained to translate the science of nutrition into sound and practical nutrition information and aim to use my skills in this area in an accurate and professionally responsible manner.
The information on the Maria Lucey RD website and corresponding social media channels is not to be used as an alternative to personally tailored advice given by your own dietitian, doctor or nurse - or as a substitute for seeing a registered dietitian or another qualified healthcare professional. It does not constitute professional advice. Therefore, we disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by any visitor to this site. Specialist advice must be obtained before taking or refraining to take action on the basis of any content on this site.
Maria Lucey RD does not warrant or guarantee that all services listed or advertised may be available at all times and reserves the right to withdraw or amend any services.

This privacy policy as part of the overall disclosure policy will explain how Maria Lucey RD uses and protects any personal information collected from you when you use our website and services. We advise that you read this Privacy Statement in full to ensure that you are aware of your rights.
By using this website, you are accepting the terms of this Privacy Statement. If you do not agree with, or you do not accept any aspect of the Privacy Statement, you should not use this website.
We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. This policy is effective from the 1st of August 2020.
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Statement as appropriate. Every time you use this website you will be bound by the most recent version of the Statement. Therefore, we recommend that you should review the Privacy Statement each time you use this website.

Who we are?

My name is Maria Lucey and I own a dietetic consultancy under the name of Maria Lucey RD. Our website address is https://www.marialuceyrd.com. Maria Lucey RD is registered with the Data Protection Commission (DPC) in Ireland.

I am committed to protecting the security of your data. At Maria Lucey RD we do not require you to provide personal information unless you wish to contact us or avail of features or services on this website (such as making an appointment). Where you do send us data it will be used for the stated purpose and any other reasonable purposes only. We do not sell or distribute your personal information to third parties for purposes of allowing them to market products and services to you.

What data do we collect and what may it be used for?

You directly provide Maria Lucey RD with most of the data that is collected. We collect data and process data when you:

Access this website via a browser or search engine. No personal information is revealed to us, however certain statistical information is available to us via our internet service provider. This information may include the IP address of the server you are using, the top-level domain name from which you access the internet (for example .ie, .com, etc.), the type of browser you are using, the date and time you access our site and the internet address linking to our site.
Use or view our website via your browser’s cookies. The technical platform of this website uses cookies solely to aid the proper technical functioning of the website. We do not make use of cookies to collect any private or personally identifiable information.
(To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout).
Email us via the contact form on the website or email us directly via info@marialuceyrd.com. If you enquire about or use our services, we may store details relevant to providing you with the service, including contact details, information about the project or service requested and invoicing details.
Choose to subscribe to Maria Lucey RD, your name and email address is added to a secure list within my MailChimp account so that I can send free newsletters to you, as well as information and offers from time to time which I feel may be of interest to you. All subscribers to this email list are clearly informed about how their data will be used, stored, processed and tracked using the MailChimp service on my newsletter sign-up notice before choosing whether to opt-in or not. Subscriber’s email addresses are used for no other purposes than those outlined above, and they are free to opt-out at any time. Verifiable consent is obtained using a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliant sign-up form which stores permission data in list export files (as per the MailChimp service). A double opt-in method is also used to ensure explicit consent is obtained for the subscription.
Avail of any of Maria Lucey RD’s Services. Relevant information which is needed to complete these services may be collected. For example: contact details to facilitate communication, details needed for invoicing or information needed for completing an individual nutritional assessment. Explicit informed consent is obtained prior to gathering any of this information using Maria Lucey RD’s client agreement for individual nutritional advice.
Pay for your consultation or service on our website. We use both Paypal and Stripe Payments Plugin to manage your shopping experience. When you purchase from us, we’ll ask you to provide information including your name, billing address, shipping address, email address, phone number and credit card/payment details. We’ll use this information for purposes, such as, to:
- Send you information about your order
- Respond to your requests, including refunds
- Process payments and prevent fraud
- Comply with any legal obligations we have, such as calculating taxes

Security and storage of your data

Maria Lucey RD is committed to ensuring that all personal information is secure.

In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, Maria Lucey RD has put in place procedures to safeguard and secure any information collected. This includes the security of the electronic devices used to process personal data (via use of a firewall and only password protected electronic devices are used).
We generally store information about you for as long as we need the information for the purposes for which we collect and use it, and we are not legally required to continue to keep it. For example, we will store order information for 10 years for tax and accounting purposes. This includes your name, email address and billing and shipping addresses.
Any information provided by you via email, contact form, video call or telephone that is not linked to an ongoing service relationship will be deleted after 1 year.
By instructing Maria Lucey to provide clinical services to you, your data will be stored for eight years in accordance with the CORU Standards for Records and Record-Keeping (as these are medical records). For clients under the age of 18, records will be kept until your 21st birthday.
Contact details of email subscribers are stored by the Mail Chimp service which is GDPR compliant. This information is kept until the individual unsubscribes or requests that I delete this information
Service providers used to store and process information related to carrying out dietetic services for clients all have robust security procedures in place and are GDPR compliant. These service providers include: Cloud Storage Services (for record-keeping), JotForm for pre-consultation/discovery call forms, 10to8 booking software, Zoom or doxy.me video conferencing software. All information is handled confidentially. CORÚ record-keeping guidelines are strictly adhered to for one to one consultations.
Any contact I receive on social media is also handled securely and confidentially in line with the GDPR. I will delete any social media messages upon request from the individual concerned, and all contact will be deleted within one year following our last correspondence.

Removal of or changes to your personal data

You have the right to access your data and to have any inaccuracies in the details we hold corrected. You also have the right to have the information erased if we do not have a legitimate reason for retaining it.
If you believe that any information we are holding related to you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact me as soon as possible, and I will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.
Please note that there is a legal duty to maintain health records for 8 years from final contact (for adult clients), so removal of data requests from clients who have received one to one nutrition advice will be handled on an individual basis and in accordance with CORÚ guidelines.
I (Maria Lucey) am the data controller and Data Protection Officer (DPO) at Maria Lucey RD, so please contact me on info@marialuceyrd.com with any queries or requests related to your personal data and I will respond promptly. Please be aware that we may require you to provide additional information to enable us to identify your personal data and/or to verify your identity.
Subscribers to my email list can also update your information using the ‘update your preferences’ button provided on each email which is sent, or by contacting myself or Mail Chimp. All contact made via this email subscription list are also provided with an opt out facility (the ‘unsubscribe’ button at the end of all emails).

Sponsorship/Advertising/Reviews

I will always disclose if I have a professional or financial relationship that could appear to influence the content of a post. I pledge to disclose any sponsored posts, advertising and product reviews whether this is monetary or in the form of free products. Any product reviews or posts will be based on my own opinion, even if sponsored. I will not make or support unjustifiable statements relating to products or services (as per INDI guidelines, and food industry regulations). Any potential financial rewards will not play a part in the advice or recommendations of products or services offered. I will only ever review, advertise or feature products or services which I believe could be of interest and benefit to my followers. Mentioning a product doesn’t automatically imply endorsement or recommendation of this product. I will never make or support unjustifiable statements relating to particular products (as per CORU & INDI guidelines) or promote one product over another (as per food industry regulations). I intend to adhere to the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) and Advertising Standards of Ireland (ASAI) guidelines for sponsorship and advertising, which states that it must be made clear when an individual has been paid for a promotional post or product review (i.e. by including #sp or #ad in posts). As per CORÚs code of professional conduct and ethics I will ensure any advertising is truthful, accurate, lawful and not misleading.

Communication Policy

I endeavour to answer all genuine messages and comments which I receive via this website and/or corresponding social media accounts within a reasonable time frame. Where appropriate, I may continue a conversation via email or private message rather than on a social media platform. I do not respond to comments/messages with no connection to nutrition. If I am contacted in relation to a topic which falls outside of my scope of practice or I feel another dietitian may be more suitable for an individuals needs, I will be upfront about this and I may signpost to another professional who has expertise in that specific area. I cannot provide individual nutritional advice unless I have completed a full nutritional assessment. (see my Services Page for more information). However, I may discuss population level health advice, the evidence base in relation to nutrition and where appropriate I may signpost to relevant resources or sources of support. Maria does not provide personal dietary advice to anybody via social media, including current clients. Please note if you have requested Maria to contact you (i.e. for a discovery call) you will contacted from a blocked phone no.

Additional Information

This site contains links to other websites. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that Maria Lucey RD does not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Any changes made to this privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notifications will be sent to subscribers or clients by e-mail. Please check this page frequently to see any updates or changes to Maria Lucey RD’s privacy policy.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Maeve Hanan at "Dietetically Speaking" & " Nutrimote"and Emily Foster at "Glowing Potential" and their Telehealth Toolkit for providing me with the support, guidance and confidence that I needed to set up my online services.