Privacy Policy

Who we are

Simone Vosloo Physiotherapy (Pty) Ltd is the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy. In this policy, "we", "us" and "the practice" mean that company.

This website

This website is hosted by Cloudflare (Cloudflare, Inc., United States), which delivers it from servers around the world. Enquiries you send through the website go to the practice's patient enquiry system, HighLevel (HighLevel Inc., United States). Our fonts, images and the map of our location are served with the website itself, so they are not loaded from Google or font services. Measurement tools from Google and Meta load only if you accept them (see Cookies below). The map is drawn from OpenStreetMap data (© OpenStreetMap contributors).

The body map and the booking questions run in your browser, and nothing you tap or type is kept by the website. Your answers leave your device only when you choose one of these options at the end:

• Submit my details. Your first name, mobile number, optional email, your answers to the booking questions and a record that you gave consent are sent over an encrypted connection to the practice's patient enquiry system, which runs on HighLevel and may store information outside South Africa.
• Send on WhatsApp. WhatsApp opens with your message already written. Nothing is sent until you press send in WhatsApp.

Before either option, you are asked to agree that the practice may use these details, including anything you share about your health, to contact you about an appointment. The form also contains a hidden field that helps block automated spam; it collects nothing about you.

Like any website host, Cloudflare keeps standard server logs (such as the time of a visit, the page requested and the address of the device) to deliver the site, keep it secure and fix faults.

The site links to other services, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Google Maps and Yumpu (where the Get It Magazine feature is published). When you follow those links, those companies' own privacy policies apply.

Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. When you first visit, we ask whether we may use optional cookies. Nothing optional loads until you choose Accept, and choosing No thanks does not affect how the website works. You can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings at the foot of every page.

If you accept

• Google Analytics (Google LLC) counts visits and shows which pages are used and how people found the site, so we can improve it. Google signals and advertising personalisation are switched off.
• Meta Pixel (Meta Platforms) tells us when someone who saw our adverts on Facebook or Instagram visits the site, taps WhatsApp or call, or sends the booking questions, so we can measure and improve our adverts.

These tools receive information such as the pages you visit, your device and browser, an approximate location from your internet address, and cookie identifiers. They never receive the body areas, treatments, health details, name or number you enter; those go only to the practice. Google and Meta may process this information outside South Africa, under their own privacy policies.

Always on

We remember your cookie choice in your browser so we don't ask again. Our website platform may also set cookies that are strictly necessary to deliver the pages and keep the site secure. List any cookies the live site sets, checked after launch

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings.

What we collect

We collect personal information directly from you, or from someone acting for you such as a parent, guardian or referring doctor.

When you contact us

• Your name, phone number and email address.
• Your answers to the booking questions: the kind of help you are looking for, where it hurts and when suits you, or what you write to us.
• The date and time you submitted your details, and that you agreed to be contacted.

When you become a patient

• Your identity number or date of birth, address and next of kin.
• Your medical history, assessment findings, treatment notes and progress.
• Referral letters and reports from other healthcare professionals.
• Medical scheme details, account and payment records.

Giving us information is voluntary. If you do not give us the information we need, we may not be able to book, assess or treat you safely, or submit claims to your medical scheme.

Health information

Information about your health is special personal information under section 26 of POPIA. Section 32 allows medical professionals to process it where this is necessary for your proper treatment and care, or for the administration of the practice. We only use your health information for those purposes, and we keep it confidential in line with the rules of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).

Why we use it

• To reply to your message and arrange appointments, including appointment confirmations and reminders.
• To assess, treat and care for you, and to keep clinical records as HPCSA guidelines require.
• To communicate with other healthcare professionals involved in your care, with your permission.
• To bill you or your medical scheme and manage accounts.
• To meet our legal obligations, for example under tax and health legislation.

We rely on the grounds in section 11 of POPIA: your consent, providing the service you asked for, complying with the law, and our legitimate interest in running the practice safely. You may object to processing based on legitimate interests, and you may withdraw your consent, at any time for the future.

Who we share it with

We do not sell personal information. We share it only where needed:

• Your medical scheme or its administrator, to process claims.
• Doctors, specialists and other healthcare professionals involved in your care, with your permission.
• Service providers who help us run the practice and who must keep your information confidential and secure: our website host (Cloudflare), our patient enquiry system (HighLevel), our practice management system (Zanda Health), and our communications, email and accounting providers.
• Our marketing agency, which sets up and maintains the website and enquiry system for the practice and may see enquiries in that system while doing so. It is bound to confidentiality and may use the information only on our instructions.
• Google and Meta, only for the website measurement you accepted (see Cookies). They never receive your health details.
• Regulators, courts or law enforcement where the law requires it.

Information outside South Africa

Many patients contact us on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is operated by Meta, which may store and process messages on servers outside South Africa. If you prefer not to use WhatsApp, please phone or email us instead.

Some of our other service providers, including Cloudflare, HighLevel, Google, Meta and our practice management and email providers, may also store information outside South Africa. Where we transfer personal information outside South Africa, we do so only as section 72 of POPIA allows, for example where the recipient is bound by protections similar to POPIA, or where the transfer is needed to provide the service you asked for.

How long we keep it

We keep clinical records in line with HPCSA Booklet 9, Guidelines on the keeping of patient records:

• For at least six years after the records become dormant.
• For patients who were under 18, until their 21st birthday.
• For patients who are mentally incompetent, for their lifetime.

Booking enquiries and messages from people who do not become patients are deleted within 12 months, to confirm, or sooner if you ask. Financial records are kept for the periods tax legislation requires.

How we protect it

As section 19 of POPIA requires, we take reasonable technical and organisational measures to prevent loss, damage or unauthorised access. These include password and device protection, limited access to records, confidentiality obligations on anyone who handles records, encrypted connections for this website, and secure disposal. No system is completely secure, so we cannot promise that information will never be accessed without permission. If we believe your personal information has been accessed without authorisation, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as section 22 of POPIA requires.

Children

We treat patients under 18 with the consent of a parent or legal guardian, who acts for the child in dealing with their personal information, in line with sections 34 and 35 of POPIA. Please do not use the booking questions for a child unless you are their parent or guardian.

Messages and marketing

If you send us your details, we will contact you about your enquiry and any appointment, which can include confirmations and reminders by WhatsApp, SMS, phone or email. We do not send marketing messages unless you have agreed to receive them. If you have, you can opt out at any time by replying "stop" or telling us, and we will stop.

Your rights

Under POPIA you may:

• Ask whether we hold personal information about you, and ask for a copy of it (section 23).
• Ask us to correct, update or delete information that is inaccurate, out of date, excessive or unlawfully obtained (section 24), subject to the record-keeping duties above.
• Object to processing, or withdraw a consent you gave us, for the future.
• Complain to the Information Regulator.

To make a request, contact the Information Officer using the details above. We may need to confirm your identity first. Our PAIA Manual explains how to request access to records.

Complaints

Please contact us first so we can try to put things right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator:

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy, for example when we change a service provider. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change affects how we use information you have already given us, we will tell you before it applies.