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Privacy Policy

Welcome to EyeQ Optometrists Privacy Policy

Your privacy is critically important to us.

The Privacy Notice explains how EyeQ Optometrists obtains, uses and discloses your personal information, in accordance with the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”).

At EyeQ Optometrists we are committed to protecting your privacy and to ensure that your personal information is collected and used properly, lawfully and transparently.

It is EyeQ Optometrist’s policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect and process while operating on our website or through any dealings with us at our physical stores.

This Privacy Policy applies to EyeQ Optometrists as a whole, www.eyeq.co.za and all its domains, email correspondence, telephonic interactions, SMS and WhatsApp and is applicable to all employees at EyeQ Optometrists.

All employees are required to sign and adhere to an Employee Consent and Confidentiality Agreement.

  • The policy applies to any and all actions we take regarding your personal information including:
  • The collection, receipt, recording, organisation, collation, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, alteration, consultation or use;
  • Dissemination by means of transmission, distribution or making available in any other form; or
  • Merging, linking, as well as restriction, degradation, erasure or destruction of information.

Who we are:

EyeQ Optometrists are a group of private Optometric practices. We run our practices according to the requirements set by the Health Professionals Act of 1974 and are subject to the authority of the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Our business is to practice Optometry within the scope and ambit of our competence and training, as defined from time to time. We are bound by a number of ethical rules issued by the HPCSA, most notably the duty to preserve patient confidentiality, unless legislation or a court order compels us to breach this duty. Requesters should note that commercial information and financial information may be withheld on the grounds of sections 63-70 of the PAIA

The type of personal information we collect:

We collect and process your personal information mainly for;

Correct identification, account accuracy, medical aid claims, to be able to contact you in relation to services delivered, to understand your needs to deliver services accordingly and to assist with diagnoses and treatments.

To do this we may need the following;

  • Name, identity number, medical aid details, e-mail address, telephone numbers, address.
  • Information relating to the race, sex, pregnancy, age, ocular history, physical or mental health conditions, medication, well-being, disability, language.
  • The biometric information of the person in the form of prescriptions, lens centration photo (which captures the spectacle wearer’s face), ocular photos, images and scans.
  • Security camera footage.

How we get the personal information and what we use it for:

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

  • For accurate medical and ocular history taking, as regulated and enforced by the Health Professionals Counsel of South Africa (HPCSA) and supplemented by the POPI Act.
  • To more accurately, diagnose, treat or manage any symptoms, signs, diseases, syndromes, abnormalities, etc
  • Medical Aid claims. For EyeQ Optometrists to claim on the member’s behalf or for the individual client/patient to be able to submit to their medical aid.
  • For communication purposes. We strive to inform all clients/patients as to the status of their order, collection, follow-up periods, outstanding balances and other account queries.
  • Financial history with regards to any purchases made at, or through EyeQ Optometrists for warranty, guarantee, debt collecting purposes and fraud prevention.
  • For newsletter communication and promotions.

Processing of your information is necessary for pursuing the legitimate interest of EyeQ Optometrist as stipulated by sections 11 and 27 of the POPI act as well as regulation set out by the HPSCA (see below).

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

  • Website usage information may be collected using “cookies” which allows us to collect standard internet visitor usage information.

We may share this information with:

  • Medical professionals, such as, but not limited to; Ophthalmologist, General Practitioners, Optometric colleagues for the purposes of second opinions, shared history taking (where applicable) and continued practitioner development, training, learning and teaching.
  • Optical frame, lens and contact lens suppliers for the purpose of ordering your optical devices.
  • Medical Aid (where applicable) to facilitate claiming on the patients’ behalf or when invoices and receipts are made up to allow manual claim by the patient.

We will ensure that anyone to whom we pass your personal information agrees to treat your information with the same level of protection as we are obliged to.

When we contract with third parties, we impose appropriate security, privacy and confidentiality obligations on them to ensure that personal information that we remain responsible for, is kept secure.

All reasonable steps are taken by EyeQ Optometrists to de-identify you from your data as well as supplying only the minimum data required to service our client/patient to the best of our capabilities.

When will we process your personal information:

In terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), the justification grounds which we base our processing on consist out of the following:

  • The data subject or a competent person where the data subject is a child consents to the processing. Kindly note that you have the right to withdraw your consent;
  • The processing is necessary to carry out actions for the conclusion or performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party;
  • The processing complies with an obligation imposed by law on the business;
  • The processing protects a legitimate interest of the data subject;
  • The processing is necessary for the proper performance of a public law duty by the business;

Or 

  • The processing is necessary for pursuing the legitimate interests of the business or of a third party to whom the information is supplied.

How we store your personal information:

Your information is securely stored on a server on site, protected by real-time, up-to-date firewalls and anti-virus software. Where necessary, off-site, cloud-based servers are used for long term storage and back-up; these services comply with the South African POPI Act.

Since we are eco-conscious at EyeQ Optometrists we try and keep minimal hard-copies of documents on site and if this is done, documentation is kept secured in locked cabinets. All redundant and unused physical documentation gets shredded on a regular basis.

We keep your information for a minimum 6 years or until the age of consent (21), as stipulated by the HPSCA and the POPI ACT.

When necessary, the information will be disposed of correctly in line with the company’s Data Destruction Policy as well as applicable legislation, ensuring the proper destruction and removal of data in such a way that it will no longer be accessible or retrievable.

Privacy policy pertaining to our website:

The above Privacy Policy, together with the Terms and conditions posted on our website, set forth the general rules and policies governing your use of our website. Depending on your activities when visiting our website, you may be required to agree to additional terms and conditions.

Website Visitors

Like most website operators, EyeQ Optometrists collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. EyeQ Optometrist’s purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how EyeQ Optometrist’s visitors use its website. From time to time, EyeQ Optometrists may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.

EyeQ Optometrists also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on https://eyeq.co.za blog posts. EyeQ Optometrists only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below.

Gathering of Personally-Identifying Information

Certain visitors to EyeQ Optometrist’s websites choose to interact with EyeQ Optometrists in ways that require us to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that EyeQ Optometrists gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up for a blog at https://eyeq.co.za to provide a username and email address.

Security

The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Advertisements

Ads appearing on our website may be delivered to users by advertising partners, who may set cookies. These cookies allow the ad server to recognize your computer each time they send you an online advertisement to compile information about you or others who use your computer. This information allows ad networks to, among other things, deliver targeted advertisements that they believe will be of most interest to you. This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by EyeQ Optometrists and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers.

Links To External Sites

Our Service may contain links to external sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third-party link, you will be directed to that third party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy and terms and conditions of every site you visit. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites, products or services.

www.eyeq.co.za uses Google AdWords for remarketing
www.eyeq.co.za uses the remarketing services to advertise on third party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who haven’t completed a task on our site, for example using the contact form to make an enquiry. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the Google Display Network. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone’s past visits. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and Google’s privacy policy.
You can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Preferences page, and if you want to you can opt out of interest-based advertising entirely by cookie settings or permanently using a browser plugin.

Aggregated Statistics

EyeQ Optometrists may collect statistics about the behaviour of visitors to its website. EyeQ Optometrists may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, EyeQ Optometrists does not disclose your personally-identifying information.

Cookies

To enrich and perfect your online experience, EyeQ Optometrists uses “Cookies”, similar technologies and services provided by others to display personalized content, appropriate advertising and store your preferences on your computer.
A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. EyeQ Optometrists uses cookies to help EyeQ Optometrists identify and track visitors, their usage of http://www.eyeyq.co.za, and their website access preferences. EyeQ Optometrists visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using EyeQ Optometrist’s websites, with the drawback that certain features of EyeQ Optometrist’s websites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.
By continuing to navigate our website without changing your cookie settings, you hereby acknowledge and agree to EyeQ Optometrist’s use of cookies.

Your data protection rights:

You are entitled to access your personal data by sending a written request to Francois du Toit at francois@eyeq.co.za or Winston Davies at winston@eyeq.co.za

We may charge you a fee for this service as set out in terms of Condition 8 of POPIA. You may also request EyeQ Optometrists to correct or supplement any of your personal data which EyeQ Optometrists will undertake as soon as practical.

You may request the destruction of your personal data. Francois du Toit or Winston Davies, our Information Officers, will consider your request in light of any other laws or regulations prohibiting EyeQ Optometrists from destroying your personal data.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.

How to complain:

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us by contacting us at francois@eyeq.co.za or winston@eyeq.co.za you can also complain to the Information Regulator if you are unhappy with how we have used your Information.

Their contact details are as follows:

The Information Regulator (South Africa)

33 Hoofd Street
Forum III, 3rd Floor Braampark
P.O Box 31533
Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017

Complaints email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

Privacy Policy Changes:

Although most changes are likely to be minor, EyeQ Optometrists may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in EyeQ Optometrists sole discretion. EyeQ Optometrists encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.