Privacy Policy

My contact details

cell phone: 072 826 0086
email: bruce@brucemccallumacupuncture.co.za
website: brucemccallumacupuncture.co.za

Overview

This policy covers both the activity on this website and, should you become a patient, information on how I will maintain confidentiality regarding your treatment and your medical notes.

What personal data is collected and why
1. Website – brucemccallumacupuncture.co.za

The privacy measures undertaken in terms of website use:

Cookies

The site collects cookies to enable it to run more efficiently. You can opt out by declining cookies when entering the site. We don’t currently have a blog or allow subscriber login, but may do so in the future in which case the following will apply:

Comments

Contact forms

Contact form submissions (email address and mobile phone number) are kept for contact purposes initially, and if you become a patient after the initial contact your details will be kept indefinitely. I will use your contact details to communicate with you regarding appointments, and all matters pertaining to your treatment. I do not use the information submitted through the contact forms on this site for marketing purposes.

At times, I will ask you to fill in an online form prior to the first treatment. This will involve information about your main compliant, past illnesses, medication and other information pertinent to your case. I use WPForms for this purpose asa they are GDPR, PCI and CCPA compliant,

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Analytics

The only purpose of the web analytics (Google Analytics and wordpress.com) I use is to collect data for tracking this website’s performance, and in which country my visitors are based. Data from analytics is not used for any sort of user profiling, advertising or any other commercial purpose.

2. Patient privacy and confidentiality

During the course of your treatment we may talk about issues relating, among other things, to your health, age, race, gender and sexual preferences. I keep digital patient notes in a password protected database on a password protected computer that I alone have access to. The database is backed up daily on two encrypted backup drives.

Your health/medical information is not shared with anyone and no one has access to your notes. However, with your specific permission, I may share your medical notes with another medical professional that I may have referred you to, or whom you are seeing. I do not share your data with any other person for any other purpose.

Third parties with whom your data is shared

Apart from the sharing of information for professional purposes outlined above, I use your name, address and (if you require invoices and receipts) your email address for accounting purposes. I use xero accounting software for this purpose.

How long your data is retained

On the website, if you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

If you submit your contact information (email address and mobile phone number) through a contact form this data is stored on my smart phone and computer when you become a patient and is stored until you request your information to be deleted. Your contact information is synced between these devices through Apple iCloud.

Patient notes are kept for a period of 7 years from the date of your last treatment.

What rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

While you can request a copy of your medical notes at any time, I’m obliged to keep your notes only for a period of 7 years from the date of your last treatment. All Patient Notes are deleted after 7 years. I will supply you with a copy of your medical notes within three working days of your request.

Where your data is sent

Visitor comments on the website may be checked through an automated spam detection service.

How your data is protected

I am the only person to have access to your data: patient notes are secure within the password protected database and computer. your name, mobile phone number and email address are kept electronically on password protected devices.