Payment & Privacy Policies.

Who we are

Acorn Private Clinic is part of Acorn Diagnostics Ltd, which is the "data controller" responsible for the personal information we hold about you.

Company number

13580139

Registered address

13 Washington Buildings, Stanwell Road, Penarth, CF64 2AD

Contact

029 2199 9300 · contact@acornprivateclinic.co.uk

Our payment policy

We are registered with the following health insurers: Bupa, AXA Health, WPA, Vitality, Aviva, Cigna, Healix, Saga and Allianz.

• If you have a health insurance policy in place, we recommend you notify us at the time of your appointment. We will need your health insurance form or documentation so it can be completed and stamped by our specialists.
• It is your responsibility to check that you have the relevant cover and any necessary authorisation in place before your appointment. If your insurer does not provide cover, you will be liable for the fee.
• All costs must be paid at the time of the appointment. Your specialist will provide the relevant information so you can pursue the claim with your health insurance provider.
• If you have any queries regarding a claim, you can request a call back from our specialists to discuss it further.

Cancellations

• You will receive a full refund if you send us your cancellation request more than 24 hours before your appointment.
• If you cancel within 24 hours of your appointment, a refund will not be provided.
• To change the date of your appointment, request a cancellation of the original booking and then rebook for another date.

Information we collect

We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your information in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Because we are a medical clinic, much of what we hold is health information — known as "special category" data — which we treat with particular care. To provide your care and the services you request, we collect:

• Identity and contact details — your name, date of birth, address and postcode, email address and telephone number.
• Health information — your symptoms, relevant medical and family history, examination findings, scan and test results, reports and any onward referrals.
• GP and referral details — your registered GP practice, and details of any clinician who refers you to us or to whom we refer you.
• Insurance details — where you are claiming on private health insurance, your insurer, policy and authorisation details.
• Payment information — the card details needed to take payment, which are processed securely (see "Keeping it secure").
• Correspondence — a record of any contact you have with us.
• Website and technical data — including your IP address and information about how you use our website (see "Cookies").
• Information about others — if you give us information about another person (for example, when booking on their behalf), you confirm you have their permission and have told them how we will use it.

Why we can use your information

Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for using your information. Depending on the situation, we rely on:

• Contract — to provide the appointments, scans, tests and services you book with us.
• Legal obligation — to meet our legal, regulatory and professional record-keeping duties.
• Legitimate interests — for example, to run and improve our services, manage payments and prevent fraud, in a way that does not override your rights.
• Consent — for marketing, for sharing your results with your GP, and where we otherwise ask for it.

For health and other special category information, we additionally rely on the basis of providing health care and treatment and managing our services, and, where relevant, your explicit consent — as permitted under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

How we use your information

• To provide your care — book and manage appointments, carry out scans, tests and procedures, produce reports and arrange any onward referral.
• To communicate with you — send confirmations, results and reminders, and respond to your enquiries.
• To share reports with your GP or referring clinician, with your consent.
• To take payment and, where relevant, provide the documentation you need to claim on your health insurance.
• To meet our legal, regulatory and professional obligations, including to Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW).
• To run and improve our services, including customer care, feedback and (in aggregated form) understanding how our website is used.
• To prevent and detect fraud.
• To send you marketing about our services where you have agreed to this — you can opt out at any time.

Sharing your information

We treat your information as confidential and we do not sell it. We share it only where necessary, including with:

• your registered GP, or a referring or receiving clinician, so your care can be joined up (with your consent where appropriate);
• diagnostic and laboratory partners who help carry out or report on your tests;
• your health insurer, where you are making a claim;
• our regulators and professional bodies, such as Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, where required;
• trusted service providers who process information on our behalf (for example, our booking and IT systems) under contracts that require them to protect it; and
• other organisations where we are required or permitted to do so by law, or to prevent fraud.

International transfers — where any of our providers process information outside the UK, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place so your information receives an equivalent level of protection.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file placed on your device when you visit our site. On your next visit, the cookie allows us to distinguish you from other users. There are two broad categories: persistent cookies, which remain until deleted, and session cookies, which are deleted when you close your browser.

Cookies we use and why

• Essential cookies — required for our site to operate (for example, to let you log into secure areas).
• Performance cookies — help us count visitors and see how they move around the site so we can improve it. This information is aggregated and cannot identify you.
• Experience cookies — remember the choices you make to provide enhanced, personalised features.
• Marketing cookies — record your visits, the pages you view and the links you follow, so our site and its advertising are more relevant to you.

You can refuse cookies using your browser settings or our cookie banner, though you may then be unable to access all or parts of our site.

How long we keep your information

We keep your personal and medical information only for as long as necessary to provide your care and to meet our legal, regulatory and professional record-keeping obligations, after which it is securely deleted or destroyed. Medical records are retained in line with recognised UK health-records retention guidance. We may be required by law to retain certain records and activity logs, and to disclose them to authorised bodies on request.

Your rights

Under data protection law, you have the right to:

• access the personal information we hold about you (a "subject access request");
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• ask us to erase your information, or to restrict or object to how we use it, in certain circumstances;
• ask us to transfer your information to another provider (data portability), where applicable;
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent; and
• complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

There is no charge for making a request, and we will normally respond within one month. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. Please note that some rights are qualified where we have a legal or professional obligation to keep your medical records.

If you have a concern we have not resolved, you can contact the ICO at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Keeping your information secure

Information security is very important to us. We use appropriate physical, electronic and managerial measures to protect your information against unauthorised access, loss or disclosure. Access to your records is restricted to staff who need it to do their job, and our systems are kept in a secure environment.

• Card payments are processed using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption and handled through secure, established payment systems.
• Where you hold a login with us, keep your password confidential and do not share it; you are responsible for activity carried out using it. If we believe there has been, or may be, a breach of security, we may reset your password and notify you by email.

Links to other sites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. Once you use these links to leave our site, please be aware that we have no control over the other website. We cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information you provide while visiting them, and this privacy policy does not govern them. You should exercise caution and read the privacy policy applicable to the website in question.

Changes to this policy

If we decide to change this policy, we will post the changes on this page and update the "last reviewed" date above, so you always know what information we collect and how we use it. If at any point we decide to use your information in a materially different way, we will tell you and, where required, ask for your consent.