Privacy Policy

This is the privacy notice of the practice of Dr. Maré Du Plessis (‘we’, ‘our’, or ‘us’).

Our business address is Suite 169, 1st Floor, Mediclinic Milnerton, Racecourse Road, Milnerton, 7441, P.O Box 61, Plumstead, 7801.

If you have any concerns about this notice or your privacy please tell us. You can contact the practice through this website, by post, by telephone or by email. Contact information can be found at the bottom of this page.

Introduction

This notice describes how we process your personal information. It tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

In the context of the law and this notice, ‘personal information’ is information that clearly identifies you as an individual or which could be used to identify you if combined with other information. Acting in any way on personal information, including collecting, storing, transferring and using it is referred to as ‘processing’.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. We undertake to preserve the confidentiality of all information you provide to us and we hope that you reciprocate.

Personal information we process

How we obtain personal information

The information we process about you includes information:

• you directly provide to us
• we collect as a result of monitoring how you use this website

Types of personal information we process directly

When you book or attend an appointment, or if you contact us for any reason, you may provide personal information to us. This may include:

• • • personal identifiers, such as your first and last names, your title and your date of birth
    • contact information, such as your email address, your telephone number and your postal address
    • clinical information that you provide before or during an appointment, such as your medical history or information about your or your family’s past or current health
    • information the person or business that has referred you to us
    • transaction information, such as information about payments or communications to and from you and other information about appointments you have made
    • records of communication between us including messages sent through this website, email messages and telephone conversations
    • your preferences and requests regarding the treatment of your personal information in respect of privacy

Types of personal information we collect indirectly from your use of this website

When you visit this website, we process:

• • • technical information about the hardware and the software you use to access this website, including your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your browser type and version and your device’s operating system
    • usage information, including the frequency you use this website, the pages that you visit, whether you receive messages and whether you reply to those messages

Use of aggregated information

We may aggregate anonymous information such as statistical or demographic information for any purpose. Anonymous information is that which does not identify you as an individual. Aggregated information may be derived from your personal information but is not considered as such in law because it does not reveal your identity.

However, if we combine or connect aggregated information with your personal information so that it can identify you in any way, we treat the combined information as personal information, and it will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

Special personal information

Special personal information is information about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric information. It includes information relating to a child.

In order to provide our services to you, we are very likely to process information that falls into the types classed as special personal information.

Under law, we are able to process special category information where doing so is necessary for health or social care purposes or where you have given explicit consent for us to do so.

If you are a child under the age of 18, we may process your personal information only with the consent of a ‘Competent Person’ such as one of your parents.

If we process special category information relating to you then we ensure that additional care is given in safeguarding it.

If you do not provide required personal information

Where we need to collect personal information by law, or in order to be able to provide services under a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that information when requested then we may not be able to perform that part of or all of that contract. If so, we will notify you of this at the time.

The bases on which we process information about you

The law requires us to determine under which of six defined bases we process different categories of your personal information, and to notify you of the basis for each category.

If a basis on which we process your personal information is no longer relevant then we shall immediately stop processing your information.

If the basis changes then if required by law we shall notify you of the change and of any new basis under which we have determined that we can continue to process your information.

Information we process because we have a contractual obligation with you

In order to provide our services, or in situations where you have requested that we provide our services, we must collect and record your personal information.

As examples:

When you register as a patient we reasonably presume you do so with intention to enter into a contract to become a patient.

When you attend an appointment, you attend as a registered patient who has agreed at a prior time to our terms of service.

In both these examples, your personal information, which includes personal identifiers and contact information, and most likely clinical information, is processed on the basis of contractual obligation.

We continue to process this information until the contract between us ends or until we are otherwise no longer required to keep it.

Information we process with your consent

Through certain actions when otherwise there is no contractual relationship between us, such as when you browse our website or ask us to provide you with more information about our services, you provide your consent to us to process information that may be personal information.

Wherever possible, we aim to obtain your explicit consent to process this information, for example, by asking you to agree to our use of cookies when you first visit this website.

We continue to process your information on this basis until you withdraw your consent or it can be reasonably assumed that your consent no longer exists.

You may withdraw your consent at any time by instructing us at https://drduplessis.com/personal-information-request/. However, if you do so, you may not be able to use our website or our services further.

Information we process for the purposes of legitimate interests

We may process information on the basis there is a legitimate interest, either to you or to us, of doing so.

Where we process your information on this basis, we do after having given careful consideration to:

• • • whether the same objective could be achieved through other means
    • whether processing (or not processing) might cause you harm
    • whether you would expect us to process your information, and whether you would, in the round, consider it reasonable to do so

For example, in situations where processing personal information is necessary to protect someone’s life, where consent is unable to be given and where other lawful bases are not appropriate, we may process personal information on the basis of legitimate interests.

For example, we may inform relevant organisations if we have a safeguarding concern about you.

Information we process because we have a legal obligation

Sometimes, we must process your information in order to comply with a statutory legal obligation.

For example, we may be required to give information to legal authorities if they so request or if they have the proper authorization such as a search warrant or court order.

This may include your personal information.

Information processed through automated systems when you visit our website

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser when you visit a website that uses them. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use at a later date.

They are commonly used to provide you with a personalised experience while you browse a website, for example, allowing your preferences to be remembered.

They can also provide core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility; record how you interact with the website so that the owner can understand how to improve the experience of other visitors; and serve you advertisements that are relevant to your browsing history.

Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one visit (known as a session), one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely until you delete them.

Your web browser should allow you to delete any you choose. It also should allow you to prevent or limit their use. Your web browser may support a plug-in or add-on that helps you manage which cookies you wish to allow to operate.

The law requires you to give explicit consent for use of any cookies that are not strictly necessary for the operation of a website.

When you first visit our website, we ask you whether you wish us to use cookies. If you choose not to accept them, we shall not use them for your visit except to record that you have not consented to their use for any other purpose.

If you choose not to use cookies or you prevent their use through your browser settings, you may not be able to use all the functionality of our website.

The cookies we use and their attributes are described in more detail at https://drduplessis.com/cookie-declaration/

Personal identifiable information from your browsing activity

Requests by your web browser to our servers for web pages and other content on our website may be recorded.

We may record information such as your geographical location, your Internet service provider and your IP address. We may also record information about the software you use to browse our website, such as the type of computer or device and the screen resolution.

We use this information in aggregate to assess the popularity of the webpages on our website and how we perform in providing content to you.

If combined with other information we know about you from previous visits, the information possibly could be used to identify you personally, although we do not use it in such a way.

Control over your own information

Your duty to inform us of changes

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes.

Access to your personal information

At any time you may review or update personally identifiable information that we hold about you.

To obtain a copy of any information you should contact us to make that request.

After receiving the request, we will tell you when we expect to provide you with the information, and whether we require any fee for providing it to you.

Removal of your information

If you wish us to remove personally identifiable information from our records then you should contact us to make your request.

This may limit the service we can provide to you.

Objection to our use of your information

You have a right to object to our processing of your personal information.

If you do so, we shall, whenever possible, no longer process that personal information. However, should we assess that there is a legitimate basis why we need to continue to process the information, we shall notify you of that basis and of the information we shall process under that basis.

If you object to our processing of your personal information, we may no longer be able to provide our services to you.

Verification of your information

When we receive any request to access, edit or delete personal identifiable information we shall first take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting you access or otherwise taking any action. This is important to safeguard your information.

Other matters

Information may be processed outside South Africa

This website is hosted in the Republic of South Africa (‘the Republic’).

We may also use outsourced services in countries outside the Republic from time to time in other aspects of our business. For example, we may use services from Google, which may be hosted in the United States of America.

Accordingly, information obtained within the Republic or any other country could be processed outside South Africa.

Where we use services that may process information outside of the Republic, we take steps to safeguard your personal information by ensuring that those service providers comply with the same obligations as we must under South African law. Such obligations are included in the contracts between us and the processor.

Communicating

When you contact us, we collect the information you have provided in order to reply.

We may keep personal information associated with your message, including your personal identifiers and contact information so as to be able to respond to you.

How you can complain

If you are not happy with our privacy policy or if you have any complaint regarding how we process your personal information then you should tell me.

When we receive a complaint, we record all the information you have given to us. That information may itself comprise personal information. We use that information to resolve your complaint.

If your complaint reasonably requires us to contact some other person, we may decide to give to that other person some of the information contained in your complaint. We do this as infrequently as possible, but it is a matter for our sole discretion as to whether we do give information, and if we do, what that information is.

If a dispute is not settled then we hope you will agree to attempt to resolve it by engaging in good faith with us in a process of mediation or arbitration.

If you are in any way dissatisfied about how we process your personal information, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator. However, we would appreciate that if you have a concern, you raise it with us and allow us to resolve it before complaining to the Regulator.

Retention period for personal information

Except as otherwise mentioned in this privacy notice, we keep your personal information only for as long as required by us:

• • • to provide you with the services you have requested
    • to comply with other law, including for the period demanded by our tax authorities
    • to support a claim or defence in court

Compliance with the law

This privacy policy complies with the Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 (‘POPIA’).

Review of this privacy policy

We may update this privacy notice from time to time as necessary.