Privacy policy
Customer Privacy Policy
Contact details
What information we collect, use, and why
- We collect or use the following information:
- your name
- your date of birth
- your contact phone number
- your email and postal address
- relevant medical and health history
- your payment details
- information about your employment and lifestyle
- details of any prescription supplied to you by your healthcare professional or medical practitioner
- information that you provide by filling in forms on our website
- any other information you have chosen to give us
We mainly collect this information from you when you have chosen to give it to us. But we may also collect it from other sources if it is necessary and legal to do so, including from:
- the NHS or other healthcare providers
- people who have your permission to provide information on your behalf (e.g. carers, parents or guardians)
- third-party service providers acting on your behalf and
- government, tax or law-enforcement agencies.
Lawful bases and data protection rights
Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.
Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:
- Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. Read more about the right of access.
- Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. Read more about the right to rectification.
- Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. Read more about the right to erasure.
- Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. Read more about the right to restriction of processing.
- Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. Read more about the right to object to processing.
- Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. Read more about the right to data portability.
- Your right to withdraw consent – When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Read more about the right to withdraw consent.
If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.
To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data
Consent
Consent is obtained after providing you with all pertinent information provided in this document. All of your data protection rights may apply, with the exception of the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Contract
We have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. This may include processing transactions when you buy our good or services, to process your credit-card or debit-card information when you are paying for goods and services. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
Legitimate interests
We’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. We collect this personal information to provide you with high quality customer service and hearing care services.
We collect this personal information to understand your hearing health condition, consider contraindications to treatments, and ensure that we use the safest and most beneficial treatment methods. We collect this information to communicate with you to book your appointment and send any reminders as appropriate. We collect this information to be able to make onward referrals where treatment is outside of our scope of practice. This information may also be used to provide you with information updates and marketing. This information may be required to respond to any complaints, queries and claims made against us.
Vital interests
We may collect information regarding your health or mental health and may use this information when someone’s physical health, mental health or wellbeing is at urgent or serious risk. This includes an urgent need for life sustaining food, water, clothing or shelter. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object and the right to portability.
Where we get personal information from:
- Directly from you
- Family members or carers
- Other health and care providers
- Publicly available sources
- Third parties: Solicitors or Medico-legal agencies making a claim on your behalf, Suppliers requesting an appointment on your behalf
How long we keep information
Adult records are kept for a minimum of 8 years. Childrens’ records are kept until the child’s 25th birthday, or 26th birthday if they were 17 years old at the time the record was generated. Use of the record during its retention period could extend its retention.
For more information on how long we store your personal information or the criteria we use to determine this please contact us using the details provided above.
Who we may share information with
Other health providers (eg GPs and consultants)
Other relevant third parties: e.g.Solicitor or Medico-legal representative pursuing a claim on your behalf, a supplier of custom-made earmoulds and hearing aids will require your contact details should you request a device to be sent direct to your address.
Duty of confidentiality
We are subject to a common law duty of confidentiality. However, there are circumstances where we will share relevant health and care information. These are where:
- you’ve provided us with your consent (we have taken it as implied to provide you with care, or you have given it explicitly for other uses)
- we have a legal requirement (including court orders) to collect, share or use the data
on a case-by-case basis, the public interest to collect, share and use the data overrides the - public interest served by protecting the duty of confidentiality (for example sharing information with the police to support the detection or prevention of serious crime)
- If in England or Wales – the requirements of The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 are satisfied or
- If in Scotland – we have the authority to share provided by the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, the Chief Executive of NHS Scotland, the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel for Health and Social Care or other similar governance and scrutiny process.