Privacy Policy

Who we are

Health Balance Harmony operates this website and provides healthcare, dental and wellbeing services. For the information described in this policy we act as the data controller — the organisation that decides why and how personal information is used. Clinical records are handled under separate professional and statutory duties of confidentiality, which are stricter than the rules for ordinary websites.

If you are not sure whether something you have sent us counts as clinical or general information, email us and we will tell you plainly which team has it and what happens next.

The short version

• We collect the smallest amount of information that lets us answer you, book care and send the newsletter you asked for.
• We do not sell personal information, and we do not run advertising networks on this site.
• We do not use third-party analytics cookies that build a profile of you across other websites.
• Nothing on this website collects your health details into a marketing profile.
• You can correct, export or ask us to delete your information at any time.

What we collect

Information you give us. Name, email address, telephone number, the service you are asking about, appointment preferences, and whatever you choose to write in a message. On the newsletter forms we record your address, topic preferences, chosen format and how you heard about us.

Information created by use of the site. Technical data such as browser type, device category, approximate region derived from network address, the pages requested, referring site and timestamps, usually in an aggregated form that does not identify you individually.

Information from your care. Clinical notes, referrals, prescriptions, invoices, test results and dental charts are generated by us while you are a patient. They are held in our clinical system, not in the website database.

We ask you not to submit sensitive health detail through public forms. If you do, we will use it only to respond to your enquiry and then move it into your clinical record.

How we use it

We use personal information to reply to enquiries, arrange and deliver appointments, check and process insurance cover, keep accurate records, meet legal and clinical governance duties, send the newsletter where you have asked for it, and understand which parts of the website are useful or confusing. Where a decision is automated — for example a form routing an enquiry to the right clinician — a person reviews it, and you can always ask for a human instead.

Our legal basis

Who we share it with

We do not sell or rent personal information. We disclose it only where we must, where it is necessary to deliver care you asked for, or where you have agreed. That includes organisations supporting us such as hosting and email providers, payment and billing services, insurers and assessment bodies, and specialist clinicians or hospitals receiving a referral. Each supplier is contracted to use data only for the task we hired them for, under confidentiality and security duties, and is subject to review before being allowed anywhere near patient information.

We may disclose information when legally compelled — for a court order, a public-health requirement, or to protect someone's vital interests — and we keep a record of any such disclosure unless prohibited from doing so.

Cookies & local storage

This site is deliberately light on tracking. It uses only:

• Strictly necessary storage. Your colour-theme choice and newsletter form state are kept in browser storage so pages behave sensibly. Nothing leaves your device.
• Session storage for accessibility preferences, if you opt into a reduced motion or high-contrast setting on a future release.
• No advertising cookies, no cross-site trackers, no social media pixels. Fonts and the CSS framework are loaded from public content networks, which may see a technical request for that file; we keep this to the minimum needed to render the pages.

You can clear browser storage at any time through your browser settings without affecting your ability to use the site or receive care.

Newsletter handling

Subscribing means we store your email address, first name if you gave one, your chosen topics and format, the date of consent and the source of the sign-up. That is all: we do not attach your newsletter record to your clinical file, and our marketing mailbox cannot view your medical notes.

Every issue carries a one-click unsubscribe link, and you can also use our unsubscribe page. When you leave we stop sending straight away and keep only a minimal suppression record — the address plus a note that you opted out — so your choice is respected if lists are ever merged. If you ask us to delete your data, that record goes too, and we would need fresh consent from you before sending anything again.

How long we keep it

Enquiry messages are kept until your question is closed and then for a short period so that follow ups make sense. Newsletter records are kept while you remain subscribed and for a reasonable period after opting out, to honour the choice. Website access logs are aggregated and anonymised quickly. Clinical and financial records follow the retention periods required for health and tax purposes, which are considerably longer — you can ask us what applies to your file and why.

Keeping it safe

We use encryption in transit, access limited to staff who need it for their role, unique logins, multi-factor authentication for clinical systems, monitored infrastructure, encrypted backups, staff training and regular reviews of who can reach what. No system is perfectly safe; if a breach affecting your information occurs and it poses a risk to you, we will notify you and the relevant regulator without undue delay and tell you what we are doing about it.

International transfers

Some of our suppliers operate from data centres outside your country. Where information leaves its home jurisdiction we require recognised safeguards — contractual clauses, certification schemes or equivalent measures — and we will tell you which protections apply if you ask.

Your rights

• Access — request a copy of the information we hold about you
• Rectification — have inaccurate or incomplete details corrected
• Erasure — ask us to delete information where no legal duty requires us to keep it
• Restriction and objection — pause processing, or object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Portability — receive data you gave us in a usable format
• Withdraw consent — end the newsletter or optional communications at any moment
• Automated decision-making — ask for human review of any decision made by software alone

Write to contact@healthbalanceharmony.com. We respond within the statutory window and never charge a fee for a legitimate request. Sometimes we need to verify your identity first, which protects you rather than obstructing you.

Children

The newsletter is not intended for children. Where we treat a young person, personal information is handled under the same rules with extra care around consent, and we communicate with the person with parental responsibility unless the young patient is competent to consent for themselves and professional guidance supports confidentiality.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we use personal information in a material way, we will update this page and, where you have an ongoing relationship with us, tell you directly. The revision note at the top of this page reflects the most recent update.

Complaints

Tell us first — we would rather fix it than have you escalate it, and most concerns are resolved quickly. If you remain unhappy, you may complain to your local data protection authority, and we will not penalise you in your care for doing so.

How to reach us

Privacy questions, subject access requests and preferences can go to contact@healthbalanceharmony.com. You can also ask reception for our Data Protection Lead by name. Our postal address, telephone number and opening hours are on the Contact Us page.