Privacy policy

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you. When we do so we are subject to the Data Protection Act 2018, which applies across the United Kingdom and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal information for the purposes of such Act.

This policy covers information we collect about you via our website: http://www.vivisol.co.uk/ (our “Website”), through our customer service centre, our agents or otherwise. Please read it carefully to understand how your personal information will be treated.

Key terms

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:

We, us, our - Medical Home Respiratory Care Limited trading as Vivisol

Personal information - Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual

Special category personal information - Personal information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership

Genetic and biometric data

Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation

Personal information we collect about you

We may collect and use the following personal information about you:

• your name and contact information, including addresses (home, daytime and/or part time address), email address and telephone number and/or (if applicable) company details;
• Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth, NHS number and postcode
• your gender information, if you choose to give this to us;
• your billing information, transaction and payment card information;
• your contact history, purchase history and saved items;
• information to enable us to undertake credit or other financial checks on you;
• information about how you use our website, IT, communication and other systems;
• your responses to surveys, competitions and promotions;
• your GP practice and GP’s contact details;
• your prescriber and prescriber center details;
• your prescription information and history;
• your oxygen usage and meter readings from installed equipment;
• your usage of consumables we provide to you;
• your home visits by our technicians; and
• your bank details for electricity rebate payments, including your bank, account name, sort code and account number.

This personal information is required to provide products and/or services to you. If you do not provide personal information we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing products and/or services to you.

How your personal information is collected

We collect most of this personal information directly from you—in person, by telephone, text or email and/or via our website and apps. However, we may also collect information:

• from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry;
• directly from a third party, for example:
• the NHS;
• Vivitravel;
• Oxygen Worldwide; and
• credit reference agencies.
• from a third party with your consent, e.g. your bank or building society;
• from cookies on our website—for more information on our use of cookies, please see our cookies policy;
• via our IT systems, e.g.:
• door entry systems and reception logs; and
• automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, including telephone calls within our telephone system, email and instant messaging systems.

How and why we use your personal information

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal information if we have a proper reason for doing so, for example:

• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
• for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
• where you have given consent.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

The table below explains what we use (process) your personal information for and our reasons for doing so:

The above table does not apply to special category personal information, which we will only process with your explicit consent.

Promotional communications

We may send you direct marketing in relation to our own products and services by phone and post, as long as this is in line with any marketing preferences that you have provided to us.

We will only send you direct marketing in relation to our own products and services by email or SMS:

• where you have consented to this; or
• where you have not objected to this, and we are marketing similar products and services to those which were the subject of a previous sale or negotiations of a sale to you.

Your agreement to the use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes is optional and if you choose not to consent, your visit to and use of our Website will not be affected.

You have the right to opt out of receiving promotional communications at any time by:

• contacting us (see ‘How to contact us’ below);
• using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails; or
• updating your marketing preferences on our website www.vivisol.co.uk

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you instruct us to provide further products and/or services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

Who we share your personal information with

We routinely share personal information with:

• companies within the Dolby Medical group of companies;
• third parties we use to help deliver our products and/or services to you, e.g. payment service providers, warehouses and delivery companies;
• other third parties we use to help us run our business, e.g. marketing agencies or website hosts;
• third parties approved by you, e.g. social media sites you choose to link your account to or third party payment providers;
• our insurers and brokers;
• our bank(s);
• NHS Trusts and Clinical Care Groups;
• fire & rescue services; and
• third parties for delivery of “holiday” oxygen services outside our regions.

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you. We may also share personal information with external auditors, e.g. in relation to ISO or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some personal information with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

We will not share your personal information with any other third party.

Where your personal information is held

Information may be held at our offices and those of our group companies, third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see above: ‘Who we share your personal information with’).

Some of these third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area. For more information, including on how we safeguard your personal information when this occurs, see below: ‘Transferring your personal information out of the EEA’.

How long your personal information will be kept

We will keep your personal information while you have an account with us or we are providing products and/or services to you. Thereafter, we will keep your personal information for as long as is necessary:

• to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
• to show that we treated you fairly; and
• to keep records required by law.

We will not retain your personal information for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of personal information. Further, if your personal data relates to health data, we will follow the processes and procedures set out in the NHS’ Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care.

When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal information, we will delete or anonymise it in accordance with the above NHS Code of Practice.

Transferring your personal information out of the EEA

Where there is an international dimension to the services we are providing to you, it may be necessary for us to share your personal information outside the European Economic Area (EEA):

• with your and our service providers located outside the EEA; and
• if you, or a third person receiving the services are travelling outside the EEA.

These transfers are subject to special rules under European and UK data protection law.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe.
• Alternatively, where there is an absence of an adequacy decision or the appropriate safeguards, we will only proceed with a transfer out of the EEA if:
• having informed you of the possible risks of such transfer, you give your explicit consent to us proceeding with the transfer; or
• the transfer is necessary to protect your vital interests, where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent; or
• the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us; or
• the transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract concluded in your interest.

If you would like further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

Your rights

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below) or see the guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

• email, call or write to us—see below: ‘How to contact us’; and
• let us have enough information to identify you;
• let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
• let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.

The Data Protection Act 2018 also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy notice was published on 21 March 2019

We may change this privacy notice from time to time—when we do we will inform you through our Website.

How to contact us

Please contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.

Our contact details are shown below:

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this notice in another format (for example audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).