Last updated: 21 September 2026

1. Introduction

This Privacy Policy explains how Day One Midwife collects, uses, stores and protects personal information.

Day One Midwife is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly and in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

2. Who I Am

Day One Midwife is run by Gemma Sharman, a UK-based registered midwife and qualified tongue-tie practitioner providing care to families in their own homes.

For data protection purposes, Gemma Sharman trading as Day One Midwife is the data controller.

You can contact me through the form on this website or by email at info@dayonemidwife.com.

3. Information I Collect

Depending on how you contact me and the care being provided, I may collect:

• Your name, address and contact details
• Your baby’s name, date of birth and other identifying information
• Details of people with parental responsibility
• Information provided through enquiries, booking forms and pre-visit questionnaires
• Appointment details and payment information
• Relevant pregnancy, birth, feeding and medical history
• Clinical information relating to you or your baby
• Assessment findings, treatment details, advice and follow-up information
• Details of your GP, health visitor or other healthcare professionals involved in your care
• Clinical photographs where these are relevant to assessment, treatment or documentation
• Records of emails, messages, telephone calls and other communications
• Information needed for safeguarding, complaints, clinical governance or legal purposes
• Limited technical information about how the website is used, including information collected through cookies where permitted

Information is usually provided directly by you. It may also be provided by another person with parental responsibility, a healthcare professional, a referral source or someone contacting me on your behalf.

Consultation information may be transcribed using clinical documentation software to assist me in preparing an accurate clinical record. I remain responsible for reviewing and approving the final record.

4. How I Use Your Information

I use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries
• Arrange and manage appointments
• Assess whether my service is suitable and safe for you or your baby
• Provide safe and appropriate clinical care
• Maintain accurate clinical records
• Communicate with you about care, aftercare and follow-up
• Communicate with other healthcare professionals where appropriate
• Process payments and maintain financial records
• Meet safeguarding, professional, regulatory and legal responsibilities
• Respond to concerns or complaints
• Support confidential clinical governance, audit and quality assurance
• Maintain the security and operation of my website
• Understand how my website is used where you have accepted the relevant cookies
• Use photographs for education, service information or promotional purposes where separate explicit consent has been provided

I do not sell your personal information. I only share it as explained in this policy or where the law requires or permits me to do so.

5. Legal Basis for Using Your Information

Different legal bases apply depending on why information is being used.

For enquiries, bookings and the provision of services, I generally rely on the need to take steps at your request before entering into a contract and to provide the service you have requested.

For financial and business records, I rely on contractual and legal obligations.

Clinical information is health information and is classed as special category data. I process this information where it is necessary to provide health care and where it is processed by a registered healthcare professional who is subject to professional confidentiality. This is covered by Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR.

I may also process information to meet legal, professional, regulatory, safeguarding and record-keeping responsibilities.

Where information is used for confidential clinical governance, service management or quality assurance, I rely on my legitimate interest in maintaining a safe and effective clinical service together with the relevant condition for processing health information.

Where photographs are used for education, marketing, promotional or social media purposes, I rely on your consent. Where an image could reveal health information, I will request explicit consent.

Where non-essential website cookies or advertising measurement technologies are used, I rely on your consent.

Consent for optional uses can be withdrawn at any time. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of any use that took place before consent was withdrawn.

Consent to the processing of personal information is separate from clinical consent to assessment or treatment.

6. Photographs and Images

Clinical photographs may be taken where they are relevant to assessment, treatment, clinical documentation or follow-up care.

Where possible, photographs will be limited to the baby’s mouth and surrounding area. Names and full facial images will not normally be included. However, a clinical photograph may still be personal information, particularly where it is linked to a clinical record, and it will be protected accordingly.

Clinical photographs will form part of the clinical record and do not require separate marketing consent when they are necessary for care or clinical documentation.

Photographs will only be used for education, service information, social media, the Day One Midwife website, printed materials or other promotional content where separate explicit consent has been given by a person with parental responsibility.

Consent for these additional uses is optional. Refusing or withdrawing consent will not affect the care provided.

Consent can be withdrawn at any time by contacting me. Withdrawal will prevent future use, although it may not always be possible to remove materials that have already been printed or shared by other people.

7. Third Party Services

I use third party services to help operate Day One Midwife. Depending on how you contact me and use my service, your information may be processed using:

• IONOS for website hosting
• SimplyBook.me for appointment bookings and information provided during booking
• Google Forms for the pre-visit questionnaire
• Jotform for media consent forms
• Heidi Health to assist with consultation transcription and preparation of clinical records
• My email, telephone and messaging providers for communication
• Banking and payment providers for processing payments
• Google Analytics and Google Ads for website analytics and advertising measurement where the relevant cookie permission has been given
• Clinical Governance UK when confidential clinical governance or professional support is required

Use of Heidi Health

I may use Heidi Health, an AI-assisted clinical documentation service, during consultations. Heidi Health processes the consultation audio to produce a transcript and draft clinical notes. This may include personal and health information relating to you or your baby.

I will inform you on the day of the appointment before using Heidi Health. You can ask me not to use it, and this will not affect the care you or your baby receive.

The transcript and draft notes are used to help me prepare an accurate clinical record. Heidi Health does not make clinical decisions or replace my professional judgement. I review, amend where necessary and approve the final clinical record.

Information processed within Heidi Health is handled in accordance with Heidi Health’s privacy policy and its privacy, security and data retention arrangements.

These companies process information in accordance with their own terms, privacy policies and data protection arrangements.

Some providers may process or store information outside the UK. Information about where they process data and the safeguards they use is available within their individual privacy policies. You can contact me if you would like further information about a particular service provider.

8. Sharing Information

Personal information may be shared:

• With your GP, health visitor, midwife or another healthcare professional involved in care, where appropriate
• Where you have asked me or consented for information to be shared
• With confidential clinical governance or professional advisers
• With service providers used to operate Day One Midwife
• Where sharing is necessary to protect a child or adult from harm
• Where required by the Care Quality Commission, Nursing and Midwifery Council or another regulator
• Where required by law, a court, the police or another authorised body
• With my professional insurer or legal adviser where necessary to manage a concern, complaint or claim

Where possible, information used for audit, governance or service improvement will be anonymised or limited to what is necessary.

9. How Information Is Stored and Protected

Personal and clinical information is stored using password-protected systems and accounts. Appropriate security measures are used to protect information from unauthorised access, alteration, loss or misuse.

Access to personal and clinical information is limited to what is needed to provide and manage the service.

No electronic system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but reasonable steps are taken to protect the information held.

10. How Long Information Is Kept

Information is not kept for longer than necessary.

Clinical records relating to a child are normally retained until the child’s 25th birthday, or longer where this is required by professional guidance, safeguarding considerations, insurance requirements or legal proceedings.

Information relating to a parent that forms part of the baby’s clinical record will normally be retained with that record.

Financial and accounting records are generally retained for at least six years in accordance with tax and accounting requirements.

Enquiries that do not result in an appointment will normally be retained for up to 12 months after the last contact, unless there is a reason to keep them for longer.

Complaints, incidents and clinical governance records will be retained for an appropriate period depending on their nature and any professional, insurance or legal requirements.

Photographs used for education, service information or promotional purposes will be retained for as long as the relevant consent remains valid and the image continues to be used. A limited record of the consent or its withdrawal may be retained after the image is no longer used.

Information will be securely deleted or destroyed when it is no longer required.

11. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances and the legal basis being used, you may have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of the personal information I hold about you or your child
• Ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected
• Ask for information to be deleted where the right to deletion applies
• Ask for the use of information to be restricted
• Object to particular uses of information
• Ask for certain information to be transferred to another organisation
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Complain about how personal information has been handled

These rights are not absolute in every situation. For example, I may need to retain clinical records even if deletion is requested because of professional, regulatory, safeguarding, insurance or legal requirements.

Requests relating to a baby or child will normally need to be made by someone with parental responsibility.

To exercise a data protection right, contact info@dayonemidwife.com. I may need to confirm your identity before releasing or changing information.

12. Data Protection Complaints

If you are concerned about how your personal information has been used, please contact me at info@dayonemidwife.com.

Please explain what has happened, what information is involved and what you would like me to look into.

I will acknowledge a data protection complaint within 30 days. I will take appropriate steps to investigate it, keep you informed where necessary and provide an outcome without undue delay.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Website: www.ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

13. Cookies and Website Information

The website uses essential cookies needed for functions such as security, remembering cookie preferences and submitting forms.

With your permission, the website may also use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the website and Google Ads technologies to measure whether advertising results in enquiries or bookings.

Advertising and conversion measurement technologies will not be activated unless the relevant permission has been given through the cookie banner.

You can accept or reject optional cookies and change your preferences through the website’s cookie controls. Further details about individual cookies and how long they remain on your device are available through those controls.

14. Providing Information

Some information is necessary for me to assess whether care can be provided safely, complete an appropriate clinical assessment, maintain a clinical record and meet professional requirements.

You are not required to provide information that is unrelated to the service. However, if necessary clinical or identification information is not provided, I may be unable to offer an appointment, assessment or treatment safely.

15. Automated Decision Making

I do not use personal information to make solely automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

16. Changes to This Policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated when the service, the systems used or data protection requirements change.

The current version and the date it was last updated will always be available on this website.