Privacy Policy | The Doctors

Introduction

Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited trading as “The Doctors” and “The Doctors online” (“we” / “us”) respects the privacy of its clients, customers, staff, suppliers, and patients (‘you” / “your”). We are committed to protecting Personal Information and privacy rights generally, and will comply with the Privacy Act 2020, and Health Information Privacy Code 2020 at all times.

This Customer Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains how we, The Doctors, our affiliates and related companies and other companies in which we have an ownership interest (together “Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited”) collect and use your personal information in relation to our provision of services, including this website.

For the purposes of this Customer Privacy Policy, Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited includes any medical centres operating under "The Doctors" banner, and any of their affiliates.

For the purposes of applicable privacy legislation, the "Data Controller" in respect of your personal information is Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited.

This policy is subject to change. Any changes will be effective when posted on our website, along with a notice of the change. Your continued provision of information to us and/or use of our website, related online sites or applications and/or health services constitutes your acceptance of any updated policy, and any Personal Information collected or held by us will be subject to any updated policy.

Personal information is any information that relates to an identifiable individual. Given the nature of Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited business, this may include a person's health information.

By providing your Personal Information to us, you authorise members of Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited to collect, use, and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Policy and also to the extent not prohibited by applicable legislation. We will manage your personal information in accordance with the terms of this Policy.

We will collect the personal information you provide us directly, and we may also indirectly collect personal information online from your computer, mobile or other device via our digital media platforms (including websites and apps). In addition, we may collect your personal information from a range of third parties related to our health services and share your personal information (where we determine appropriate) with associated authorised third parties related to supporting your health, and including marketing, data storage and security service providers. We may also share your personal information within the wider Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited group for permitted purposes, including clinical management, clinical governance, quality and administration.

Where we collect personal information from you, we will store it in our secure data storage facilities in New Zealand. Information obtained or utilised by our third-party providers may be stored within offshore storage facilities.

Each time you utilise our services you will be confirming that the information supplied to us is current.

You are entitled to request access or correction to the personal information we hold about you. If you would like to request access or correction to your personal information that we hold, or if you have any questions or concerns in relation to your privacy, please contact us.

The Personal Information We Collect About You

Online information

If you visit or use any Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited owned website, mobile application or mobile website, we and third parties may use cookies or other digital marketing technologies (such as tracking or analysis systems) to collect personal information about you from your computer, mobile or device for the purpose of ensuring appropriate health services provided to you. This information may include IP address, and information about your online activity on our websites, such as web pages viewed, paths you used through our websites, options you selected, and any search terms you used.

Health and other personal information

We collect and use the personal information that you provide to Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited (operating under the Doctors banners) and the information that these affiliated businesses share with us relating to you (for example, your contact details and services used or procured by you). The personal information we may collect about you includes your name, address, date of birth, phone numbers, email address, and any other personal information you may volunteer (or which may be volunteered on your behalf) as part of your engagement with Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited members and/or persons employed by them.

Personal Information we receive from other sources (including social media)

If you are a patient of the Green Cross Health Medical Solutions and hold any customer account associated with us, you acknowledge and agree that we may collect personal information about you, either from you directly or from third parties if the information is publicly or commercially available (such as via social media platforms) and connected to ensuring appropriate health services are provided to you. Such personal information will supplement our customer databases and will be used by us for marketing and business development purposes in accordance with this Policy. Where your personal information is collected from a third party and not directly from you, we will ensure that appropriate notification occurs so that you are aware of this (per Information Privacy Principle 3A).

Health information

We may request and collect (from you, or if the context so requires, your representative) your 'health information' (as defined in the Health Information Privacy Code 2020). Such information includes particulars about your health requirements, your medical and treatment history, disabilities or accidents/injuries, contact with any health or disability service providers and information about donations of blood or organs, for the purpose of helping us provide services to you and to fulfil your needs.

We may disclose your health information to our agents and third parties (such as medical service providers or laboratory testing facilities) for the purpose of providing health services to you to the extent permitted, or as required, by law. Whenever you provide us with health information, you consent to the relevant member of Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited using your health information in accordance with this Policy.

If you advise us that you do not want your health information disclosed to other entities within Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited (other than the Data Controller) then we will endeavour to fulfil your request to the full extent possible.

Serious Medical and other occasions requiring collection or disclosure to third parties

We may collect and disclose your personal information (including sensitive details about your physical and/or mental health) to third party medical, safety and/or security personnel if we believe that the collection or disclosure of the information is desirable to lessen or prevent a serious threat to any individual's life, health or safety or a serious threat to public health or public safety.

Marketing Promotions and surveys

If you complete a survey conducted by or on behalf of a member of Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited we will collect information about you in your survey answers, including your name, unless you choose to answer anonymously.

Our Purposes for Collecting Your Personal Information

We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for various purposes associated with health service provision and digital marketing, including:

to assist in providing the health services you request or require;
to conduct market, product or sales research, data processing and statistical analysis, and business improvement analysis;
to better understand your preferences so that we can improve our products and services to you;
to present you with information about suitable offers and promotions of goods and services (from us and our selected business partners) that might interest you;
to present you with survey requests and to obtain feedback in respect of our products and services;
to measure interest in and improve our products, services and websites;
otherwise, to conduct and develop our business; and
any other use that you authorise.

If deemed necessary, a unique identifier may be allocated to you in order for us to carry out one or more of our business functions.

Electronic Communications

Unless you ask us not to use your personal information for marketing purposes, you acknowledge and agree that by providing us with your email address and/or phone number we and our third-party business partners may send you electronic messages for the purposes set out in this Policy.

You have the right to ask us not to collect, use or disclose your personal information for marketing purposes. You can exercise your right to ask us not to process your personal information for marketing purposes at any time by contacting us or by unsubscribing to our marketing emails.

Who Do We Disclose Your Personal Information To?

We may disclose your personal information:

to members of Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited (including, for the avoidance of doubt to employees of a member of Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited who are involved with the provision of services to you, or the administration and monitoring of the quality of services provided to you);
to authorised third party service providers to facilitate your specific requests or to assist us in providing products or services to you or improving our products or services;
to governmental agencies, law enforcement agencies, safety and security personnel, if required to do so by law, court order, or other legal process or where we are requested to do so by an authorised governmental or law enforcement authority;
to governmental, security, safety, law enforcement agencies and medical agencies if we believe in good faith that disclosure is desirable to lessen or prevent a serious threat to an individual's life, health or safety or a serious threat to public health or public safety;
to our professional advisers and business partners who support us in providing our products and services;
our assignees or potential assignees;
your nominated next of kin and/or general practitioner (if applicable to the services being provided to you); and
emergency services (if applicable to the services being provided to you).

We may also disclose your personal information to third parties:

in the event that we buy or sell any business assets, in which case we may disclose your personal information to the prospective seller or buyer of such business assets;
if Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited (or any of its subsidiaries) or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal information held about its customers will be one of those transferred assets; and
if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation (to the extent not specified above) or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions.

Your Obligations Regarding The Information You Provide Us About Others

If you provide us with personal information about another person then you are responsible for ensuring you have authority to do so and that the person consents to our collection and use of their personal information as set out in this Policy. You must make that person aware that you have disclosed their personal information to us and that we will use their personal information in accordance with this Policy.

What Happens If You Choose Not To Provide Us With Your Personal Information?

If you choose not to provide us with the personal information that we request or require, then we may not be able to offer or continue our services and products to you.

If you choose to limit the amount of personal information that can be collected by us from your computer, mobile or other device, you can do this by restricting cookies on your computer or device. However, this may significantly reduce the functionality of our websites and we may not be able to process your online requests or services.

Access To and Correction Of Your Personal Information

Under the Privacy Act 2020, you are entitled to request access or correction to the personal information held by us. You may request access to the personal information that we hold about you by contacting us. We will respond to any such requests as required by law.

Where applicable, we may charge a fee for responding to a request for access to and/or disclosure of personal information.

Security

We will take reasonable precautions to keep your personal information secure. However, you acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for the security of any online accounts you have with us and the security of your computer, mobile phone, tablet or other device. You acknowledge that the internet is inherently insecure. In sharing your personal information with us, you accept the risk that any information stored or transmitted on the internet or through email or any other digital channel may be intercepted or subject to unauthorised access or fraudulent behaviour by any other party.

We will retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to carry out the purpose for which the information was collected, subject to the Health (Retention of Health Information) Regulations 1996.

To protect your own privacy, you should not share your account password information or personal identification numbers (PINs), mobile device passcodes, passwords or access codes with others including third party information aggregators, as the sharing of these details could enable others to access your personal account information on our websites.

Links To Other Websites

Green Cross Health Medical Solutions Limited websites may provide links to other related websites for your ease and convenience. These websites may have different security standards and privacy policies. We recommend that you read the privacy policies for these websites before deciding whether to divulge information to these websites. We are not responsible for the information you choose to divulge to these websites.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We will make changes to this Policy from time to time. When we make changes, we will update the Policy on our websites, and those changes will be effective immediately thereafter.

Contacting Us

If you would like to contact us about anything in this Policy, including requests for access or correction to your personal information, inquiries, complaints, or questions about our handling of your personal information, please contact us as set out below.

If you are making a complaint, you may also contact the Officer of the Privacy Commissioner (www.privacy.org.nz). Freephone (calling within New Zealand): 0800 803 909.

Contact details

The Privacy Officer: Colleen Bowring
Email: privacy@thedoctors.co.nz
Tel: +64 9 300 5076