Pet owners entrust the care of their loved pets with a local veterinary practice as they trust in the professional qualifications, career expertise, and the genuine care for animals that vets possess. A lot has been made of the need for medical establishments such as a doctor’s general practice or hospitals to have a confidential shredding service to take care of patient data and sensitive information and the same should be expected of veterinary practices, due to the type of information they process and store at any given time.
Types of Documents to Shred in Veterinary Offices
If you are in charge of managing a veterinary practice you should prepare your documents to be disposed of securely, meeting all regulatory compliance. Every veterinary practice must safeguard any information about clients and operational data. The names, age and illness of the animals being treated at the practice might not be desirable information for cybercriminals, but the personal information, financial data and other bits of information that is held on the human clients, suppliers, and staff members is a potential target and should be treated as such. There are documents containing home addresses, payment details, telephone numbers, business addresses and much more to contend with. In the same way that a medical professional is expected to only store pertinent personal information for a set period of time before it must be destroyed securely, a veterinary practice must do the same.
Benefits of Document Shredding
There are several reasons why a professional and confidential shredding service is desirable for a veterinary practice:
Prevent identity theft
Document shredding is the first priority you should put in place to protect the identities of clients, suppliers and your staff. Any physical documents with this type of information should be shredded to make it virtually impossible to piece back together and for identities to be stolen.
Safeguard information and build trust
Shredding client documents helps to build trust between a veterinary practice and the owners of the animals being treated. It securely disposes of payment information and other personal data.
Choose the right type of shredding
Working with professionals ensures that your practice undertakes the correct type of shredding service, whether that’s a one-time document purge to clear a backlog, scheduled shredding on a regular basis, or a combination.
Train staff on proper handling
Document handling training in conjunction with a document shredding service helps to create an environment where every member of staff understands how to deal with personal and sensitive data and how to comply with data protection regulations.
Document destruction certificates
A professional document shredding service will provide your practice with a certificate, providing piece of mind to you, but also providing proof that client, staff, and supplier information has been handled correctly.
Choosing a Document Shredding Service
When choosing a document shredding service for your veterinary practice you want to ensure that the company you choose has similar ethics to your own. For instance, you might want to choose a service that recycles document waste once it has been securely shredded, helping to reduce the carbon footprint of your company. You might also want to look for a shredding service that has experience within the veterinary field, working with similar practices, and in the process understanding the relevant pressure points and sensitive data that is present. Mainly, it is about trust. Building trust with a shredding company that puts in place clear pick up and/or document destruction processes, with safe storage and transport and the means to give peace of mind, allowing you to focus on the animals being treated.
Conclusion
A comprehensive document shredding process for your veterinary practice is a necessity and lays good foundations for compliance and for building trust with your clients. Utilising the services of a professional shredding and document disposal company in Ireland helps you to maintain high standards of data compliance, to keep a well-run administrative side of the business, and ensures that you are also being environmentally responsible by using eco-friendly shredding and recycling practices.
