THERE will be no exemption for dental practices in the requirement for all UK primary care providers to have a dedicated data protection officer (DPO).
Government ministers rejected suggested amendments tabled by the Liberal Democrats following representations and lobbying by the BDA and other professional organisations when the Data Protection Bill was debated in Parliament on 9 May.
The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) did not require dental practices to have a DPO, but the UK Government put this duty on NHS primary care providers by including them in its definition of "public authorities".
The suggested amendments would have exempted dentists and other high street primary care providers from what the BDA calls a "huge and needless burden".
DPOs are required to be in place by 24 May 2018 and practices should at least now be taking steps to comply in order to avoid potential penalties.
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