Clients have the right to make various requests regarding the personal data your organisation collects and processes, often based on GDPR regulations. These requests can include, among others, the right to erasure (being forgotten), rectification (correction), and data portability (exporting data).

This article describes the Provet functions you can use to manage client data requests.

This article explains how to use Provet features that may help you respond to client data requests. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice nor is it a comprehensive guide to data protection law. Data protection requirements vary between jurisdictions and are subject to change. Your organisation is responsible for its own data collection, processing and storage routines and legal compliance and should seek independent legal advice where needed.

A client has the right to request the permanent deletion of their personal data in certain circumstances. However, veterinary practices must comply with other legal obligations, such as retaining records for a specified number of years for dispensing medications or for financial compliance. When a deletion request is made, your organisation should use its own legal and regulatory obligations to determine which parts of the record need to be retained and which can be deleted. You need administrator user permissions to delete a client.

To permanently delete a client (if legal requirements permit) see Edit, Archive and Delete a Client for detailed instructions.

The Delete client option is unavailable if the client has active consultations, outstanding debt, or if consultation or invoice data is newer than the organisation’s specified retention period.

Retention periods are defined in: Settings > Organization > Organization Settings > Consultation data retention period or Invoice data retention period.

A client may request to correct or update their personal data, such as changing a surname or address.

To update a client’s personal information, see Edit, archive and delete a client.

Practices must be transparent about the data they collect and why they process it. In Provet, you can record that you have informed the client about this if necessary for your data collection routines.

Custom Fields

To remind staff to inform new clients about data handling, you can create a custom field on the client details, such as a mandatory checkbox or text field, visible when registering a new client. For more information about custom fields, see Create a Custom Field.

Forms and E-signature

You can use PDF and Word forms to provide data collection information or consent forms to your clients.

Online Booking

To inform clients how and why private information is handled during online booking, add the information in the Information field in the online booking settings: Settings > General > Clinic location > Online booking.

The Information Field text is displayed on the front page of the online booking interface. Here you can provide your clients with essential information about your online booking but also include a message directing clients to relevant resources (e.g., your website) for detailed information on topics such as GDPR and data collection policies.

For more information, see Overview of Online booking.

If a client requests a copy of their records or asks you to transfer their data to another provider, you can generate this information using several tools in Provet.

Full Patient History and Financial Data Export

The most comprehensive patient-specific record is the full patient history, which can be emailed directly to the client. This includes everything related to that patient in Provet. You can also include all associated invoices and receipts (financial data) in the same email. These documents will also contain information about the client. See View, print and email patient history for more information.

Exporting Client Information

You can export a spreadsheet with client information that includes all saved details, such as phone number, email address, and postal address. You can also include information about communication preferences:

A list of all clients will be created, and you will need to extract the specific client’s information from the file.

To access the settings, you need certain user permissions.

You can manage how clients receive external communications (for example, marketing or newsletters) by creating communication preferences. Clinic staff must manually adjust a client's communication preferences to confirm consent and disable any channels the client does not wish to receive messages through.

To activate the communication preferences setting:

For more information, see Set up communication preferences.