Privacy Policy

Health information and medical details sent by email

Patients may sometimes send us health-related information by email, including symptoms, scans, reports, medical history, referral letters or other clinical information.

Please be aware that email may not always be a fully secure method of communication. By sending medical or health-related information to us by email, you understand that this information will be processed by the clinic for the purpose of responding to your enquiry, assessing your needs, arranging treatment, or supporting your ongoing care.

We will only use health-related information for appropriate clinical, administrative, legal, insurance or professional purposes connected with your care.

Contact forms

When you submit a contact form on our website, the information you provide is sent to us so that we can respond to your enquiry. This may include your name, contact details and any message you choose to include.

You should avoid submitting highly sensitive medical information through a general contact form unless it is necessary for your enquiry. Where you do provide health-related information, we will treat it confidentially and process it only for appropriate clinic-related purposes.

Payments through the website

Where online payment is available, payments may be processed through a secure third-party payment provider such as Stripe or another payment processor.

We do not intentionally collect or store your full card details on our website. Payment information is processed securely by the payment provider. We may receive limited payment-related information, such as confirmation that a payment has been made, the amount paid, date of payment, and contact or billing details needed for administration and record keeping.

The payment provider will process your data in accordance with its own privacy and security policies.

Cookies and analytics

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies. Cookies are small text files stored on your device when you visit a website.

We may use necessary cookies to make the website work properly. We may also use analytics cookies, such as Google Analytics, to understand how visitors use the website, which pages are visited, and how the site can be improved.

Analytics cookies are not strictly necessary and should only be used where you have given consent. The Irish Data Protection Commission states that consent is required for analytics cookies.

You can control or withdraw cookie consent through the cookie banner or cookie settings on our website, where available. You can also control cookies through your browser settings.

Google Analytics

Where Google Analytics is used, information about your use of the website may be processed by Google to provide website usage statistics. This may include information such as pages visited, approximate location, device type, browser type and interactions with the website.

We use this information to understand website performance and improve the user experience. Google may process this data in accordance with its own privacy policies and terms.

Legal bases for processing

Depending on the circumstances, we may process your personal data on one or more of the following legal bases:

• To respond to your enquiry or take steps at your request before providing a service.
• To provide healthcare, assessment, treatment or related clinic services.
• To comply with legal, regulatory, insurance or professional obligations.
• For our legitimate interests in operating and managing the clinic and website.
• With your consent, for example where analytics cookies are used.

Where health-related information is processed, we rely on an appropriate GDPR Article 9 condition, such as where processing is necessary for the provision of health or social care, treatment, medical diagnosis, or management of healthcare services, where applicable. GDPR Article 9 provides specific conditions under which health data may be processed.

Sharing your information

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share information where necessary with:

• Clinic practitioners or administrative staff involved in your care or enquiry.
• Secure IT, website, email, hosting or software providers.
• Payment processors.
• Professional advisers, insurers or legal representatives where required.
• Regulatory, legal or statutory bodies where we are required to do so.
• Other healthcare providers, but only where appropriate and relevant to your care, or where you have requested or authorised this.

Where third-party service providers process personal data on our behalf, they are expected to use appropriate security and confidentiality measures.

How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including clinical, administrative, legal, insurance, tax and regulatory purposes.

Patient records and health-related information may need to be retained for an appropriate period in line with legal, insurance, professional and clinical record-keeping requirements.

Website analytics data may be retained for a limited period depending on the settings used by the analytics provider.

How we protect your information

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure. This includes appropriate administrative, technical and organisational measures.

However, no website, email system or internet transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Please take care when sending sensitive information electronically.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you may have the right to:

• Request access to your personal data.
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Request deletion of your personal data, where applicable.
• Request restriction of processing.
• Object to certain types of processing.
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
• Request a copy of your data in a portable format, where applicable.
• Lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Commission.

To exercise your rights, please contact us using the details below.

Contact us

For questions about this Privacy Policy or how your personal information is handled, please contact:

Synergy Orthopaedic Clinic
Unit 1 Summerfield, Claregalway, Galway
Eircode: H91 NX79
Email: info@lime-leopard-407355.hostingersite.com
Telephone: 083 332 7969

Complaints

You also have the right to contact the Irish Data Protection Commission if you are unhappy with how your personal data has been handled.

Data Protection Commission
Website: dataprotection.ie