Your privacy is extremely important to us at Eye Health Clinic.
Our Privacy Policy lets you know how we collect, store and process your personal information and is regularly reviewed to ensure it complies with the latest data protection law, including the new GDPR regulations introduced from the 25 May 2018.

PRIVACY NOTICE FOR PATIENTS OF EYE HEALTH CLINIC

Eye Health Clinic processes personal information that relates to patients and is therefore required by law to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), which protects your privacy and ensures that your personal information is processed fairly and lawfully.

Why We Collect and Process Your Personal Data

Eye Health Clinic (Optician) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This privacy notice outlines how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal data.

We collect and process patients’ personal data for healthcare and marketing purposes. Our legal bases for processing personal data for healthcare purposes, including appointment reminders, are either public task or legitimate interests.

When providing services under the NHS General Optical Services contract (such as an NHS-funded sight test), our legal basis for processing personal data is public task.
In other cases, our legal basis is legitimate interests.
For processing special category data, our condition is the provision of health or social care.

We may also process your personal data for marketing purposes, with your consent or to meet a legitimate interest. This allows us to inform you about eye care products and services that may be relevant to you. If you do not wish to receive marketing communications, please inform us, and we will respect your preferences.

The Data We May Collect and Process

The personal data that we may collect and process includes:

• Your name, contact details, and personal identifiers (e.g., date of birth, NHS number)
• Your general and ocular health history, family medical and ocular history, and any relevant signs or symptoms you share with us
• Details of any medicines, spectacles, and contact lenses prescribed to you
• Information from examinations, healthcare checks, and treatments we provide
• Information relevant to your ongoing care from other healthcare professionals or family members, such as GPs, ophthalmologists, or relatives

IP Addresses and Cookies

We may collect information about your device, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregated data to our contractors and advertisers. This information is statistical and does not identify individuals.

We may also use cookies to improve your experience on our website. Cookies help us to:

• Estimate our audience size and usage patterns
• Store information about your preferences and customize the website to your individual needs
• Speed up your searches

You can refuse to accept cookies by adjusting your browser settings. However, please note that this may affect your ability to access certain parts of our website.

How We Hold and Share Your Personal Data

Your personal data is treated with strict confidentiality. We store your data securely in our filing and electronic systems. Only healthcare professionals working at the practice and those under their supervision have access to your records.

We typically retain personal data for ten years after our last contact with you, as recommended by the College of Optometrists. For patients under 18, we retain data until their 25th birthday, in line with NHS guidelines. In exceptional cases, we may retain data for longer periods, which will be explained upon request.

During the course of providing care, we may share your data with:

• Healthcare professionals at this practice and those under their supervision
• Healthcare professionals at other optical practices, if you specifically ask us to share your data (e.g., your prescription)
• Your GP, ophthalmologists, and other healthcare providers, as well as suppliers of optical products, to support your ongoing care
• Software providers for our patient record and invoicing systems, and financial institutions, for billing and payment processing

Your Rights

You have legal rights concerning the personal data we hold about you. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) provides guidance on the full range of rights. The rights most relevant to how we use your data include:

• The right to be informed: This privacy notice explains how we use your data.
• The right to object: If you object to us processing your data for marketing or healthcare purposes, we will stop unless we can show a legitimate interest that overrides your rights, or we need to continue processing it for legal reasons.
• The right of access: You can request the personal data we hold about you. We will provide this within one month, free of charge (unless it has already been provided, in which case an administrative fee may apply).
• The right to rectification: If your data is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to correct it. We will do so within one month (or discuss further if more time is needed).
• The right to erasure: Also known as the ‘right to be forgotten.’ You may ask us to delete your data, and we will do so if there is no compelling reason to keep it. For healthcare data, we generally retain records for the standard period unless there is a legal reason to keep them longer.

You can exercise your rights at any time by contacting us at info@eyehealthclinic.co.uk.

Feedback

We value your feedback. If you have any questions or concerns about how we collect and process your data, please contact us at info@eyehealthclinic.co.uk or call 01384 936438.

Thank you for choosing Eye Health Clinic . We are dedicated to providing you with excellent care while respecting your privacy.