Privacy Policy

Introduction

We ensure that we offer the highest standards of privacy and security to all users of our website and services therein.

The personal information we collect is only done so in order to comply with your request for a consultation, medical advice, and a prescription. We also collect technical information in order to improve the experience of our site.

This policy will cover the data we hold, how we use the data, and what we do to protect your data and privacy.

In this policy, “we”, “us”, and “our” refer to Chemist Doctor trading as www.chemistdoctor.com/uk.

When we use the term “writing” in this policy, we are also including electronic messaging such as emails and text messages.

If you wish to contact us regarding any information pertaining to your rights or the processing of data you provide, you can contact our customer services team:

• Email: support@chemistdoctor.com

Lawful Processing of Data

Personal data relating to health and medical information is classed as “Special category of data”. For that reason, it can be subject to certain exemptions and provisions.

Within the GDPR regulations there is a lawful basis for processing customer data:

• GDPR Article 6 (1)(c): Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.
• GDPR Article 9 (h): Processing of special categories of personal data: “processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, … medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment”.

Chemist Doctor Ltd is legally required to abide by regulations governing healthcare which require accurate information to be held on a patient record.

Privacy Statement

Chemist Doctor are the “data controller” trading as Chemist Doctor in the UK. Please contact us at help@chemistdoctor.com for any issues or information relating to your personal data.

We take your privacy seriously and as such we are transparent about how your data is collected, stored, processed, and shared.

We follow the current GDPR regulations and abide by the Data Protection Act. Our Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) registration number is xxxxxxx.

Information Required to Provide Treatment

At Chemist Doctor, we provide health advice and offer treatment via prescription if deemed appropriate by our online doctor. These medicines are provided via postal service from our fully licensed and regulated UK Pharmacy.

As such, we must comply with the legal requirements for issuing prescription medicines and the collection, processing, and sharing of data. Part of our requirements include confirming your identity, keeping up-to-date personal medical information, and informing your own GP if you give us permission to do so.

Identity Checks

In order for us to verify a person’s identity and verify their age for the supply of a prescription, we require the following information to be correct:

• A full name (forename(s) and surname(s))
• Gender (as assigned at birth)
• Date of Birth
• Address details

If your identity cannot be verified using a credit reference agency (LexisNexis), we will require you to submit proof of identity before a prescription can be provided.

Medical Records

In order to create an account with Chemist Doctor, we require some basic medical information such as blood pressure, allergies, etc. This is to build your core medical record. To then further order a prescription for a medicine, you will be required to answer specific medical questions relating to that product and associated medical condition.

The answers to these are recorded and form part of the overall consultation process with our doctor. Our panel viewable for our doctor contains full history provided, answers to specific questions for that medicine, and any previous order history or advice provided. All of these in combination are used by the doctor to make a decision for issuing a prescription to the pharmacy.

If a doctor requests more information from a patient, this is passed to the customer service team confidentially, who then forward this request to the patient. Any reply with information is again confidentially passed to the doctor and forms part of the medical record.

Your GP Details

We strongly advise patients to inform their local GP of any consultations taken online and any resulting prescription issued by our online doctor. If you choose to include your GP, you will be asked to provide their details, allowing us to notify them directly via letter or email.

Pharmacy Records

Our partner pharmacy, Inspire Pharmacy, enters relevant information you provide into a patient medication record (PMR) system. This PMR system acts as an independent record of any treatment supplied and is required for all UK pharmacies.

The pharmacy will also print a paper copy of your prescription, which is stored on premises for 2 years as per GPhC Standards.

With your permission, the pharmacy may also carry out SCR searches, which match your details correctly to your NHS record to ensure continuity of information across healthcare providers.

Communication

In order to ensure effective healthcare treatment remotely, we require excellent communication facilities. This is done by patients providing their email address and phone numbers. Our primary form of contact will be email, with secondary contact made via telephone or SMS.

Messages from doctors and the admin team will be submitted via email and will be visible on your account. Sensitive information will not be sent via email unless requested by the patient via email, where consent to reply via email is implied, unless indicated otherwise.

Addresses

In order for medicine to be provided via post and for payment to be taken, we require billing and shipping addresses to be provided. Each address is stored and recorded on your customer account.

Emails

We use automated emails to inform you of your order.

Automated notification emails will be sent to patients in the following circumstances:

• When placing an order
• When your order is at a pre-approval stage
• When the representative requires further information to verify your identity
• When your order has changed statuses
• If the doctor requires further information
• If the pharmacy requires further information
• When your order has been shipped

Some automated emails may appear to be sent by our doctor. Just because an email appears to have been sent by our doctor does not confirm that the doctor has reviewed or approved your order.

Supplementary Emails

You may receive automated supplementary emails from TrustPilot and Royal Mail.

We may also send promotional information about products, services, and news. These messages are sent on average once a month using MailChimp software. To understand what data we share with MailChimp, please visit the data sharing policy.

At Chemist Doctor, we reserve the right to send mass emails for important drug safety information and important updates that affect registered users. For example, when a manufacturer recalls a product or stops production, or if the ingredients of a medicine change.

We do not send targeted emails based on previous purchases or online behaviour. Any email you receive from us regarding a product or service you previously used via our website is purely coincidental.

Cookie Policy

Our full cookie policy can be found here.

Please read our cookie policy before using our website. It includes information for removing cookies if required.

By visiting our website www.chemistdoctor.com/uk/, cookies will be stored on your browser on both mobile and computer. Cookies are there to help support your use of the website. By agreeing to this policy and using our website, you consent to cookies being inserted on your device.

Visitor Tracking

Chemist Doctor uses Google Analytics website visitor tracking tools to give an overall understanding of user experience and behaviour. This allows us to improve our service. Information on how this works can be found on the Google Analytics website.

If you wish to opt-out of Google Analytics, you can use Google’s add-on, which prevents your data from being used by Google Analytics. Further information on this add-on can be found here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

We also track using Laravel sessions.

Retaining Your Data

Your data will be retained indefinitely. Please see Data and Payment Security, which highlights the safety measures taken to secure your data. This is done to comply with regulation in healthcare. It is also important for both patient and doctor if an issue ever arises with prescribing or dispensing.

In accordance with UK governance, our pharmacy must retain data from private prescriptions issued through our www.chemistdoctor.com/uk/ service for 2 years after they have been issued.

You can disable your account at any point by contacting our customer service team.

Automated Doctor Questions

The www.chemistdoctor.com/uk/ website contains questionnaires with specific questions designed to exclude some patients from treatment before they reach the doctor for consultation. This is in the interest of patient safety.

Automated Emails and Messages

We use the email you provide to send automated emails to you about your order.

Here are the reasons we may send you an automated email:

• To confirm we have received your order.
• To inform you that the order has been passed to our doctor for review.
• To let you know your order has been dispatched from our pharmacy.
• To let you know about order cancellations and refunds.

Automated messages may be sent to you which appear to come directly from our doctor. This automated message does not confirm the order has been reviewed by the doctor, only that the order has been passed on to the doctor for review.

If you have any concerns about any emails you receive from us, do contact our customer service team by emailing us at support@chemistdoctor.com

Automated Purchase Tracking

Our software is built to ensure that patient safety is paramount. Once you have created your account, this will be fixed, and any new account set up with similar details will be flagged to our customer care team. We also restrict purchases of certain medicines to ensure only a safe quantity of medicines are in a person’s possession at any one time.

If we have reason to believe you have created a duplicate account, we will let you know.

Access to Your Data

Patients can update their details, such as their name or address, by contacting our customer care team by email or telephone with valid reasons.

We may contact you to request information we require for processing.

Patients can also request to view all the data we hold under GDPR legislation. This can be done by contacting support@chemistdoctor.com. We will provide you with the requested information in an easy-to-read and accessible format, in compliance with the GDPR.

You will not be charged for requesting access to the data we have.

Who We Share Your Data With

We only share your data with parties that help us to deliver you the best service online. For full disclosure of who we share your data with, please see our Data Sharing Policy.

With your consent, we will share information you provide during your order.

We will never sell your data to a third party for any reason.

Complaints Regarding Data

For all complaints or concerns relating to data, please forward details in writing to our Privacy Officer at support@chemistdoctor.com.

EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Requests

GDPR is now a legal requirement in the UK from May 2018. This new legislation allows you the following rights:

• The right to be informed – You can ask us how we safeguard your data and protect your privacy.
• The right of access – You can ask to see your personal data held by us.
• The right to rectification – You can ask us to rectify inaccurate or complete incomplete personal data.
• The right to erasure – You can ask us to erase your personal data.
• The right to restrict processing – You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data (subject to Article 9(h) of the GDPR).
• The right to data portability – You can request us to send your personal data to you or an organisation on your behalf.
• The right to object to processing – You can object to the processing of your personal data.
• The right not to be subject to automated decision-making, including profiling – You can request us not to make decisions based on automated profiling services.

In order to exercise any of these rights, or if you have a query relating to this legislation and how it impacts your use of our website, please contact support@chemistdoctor.com.

Please be aware that GDPR provides exceptions including legal retention of data for legitimate medical health records.

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