Health information privacy statement

1. What information we collect

We collect personal and health information about you to safely deliver pharmacy and health services. This includes:

• Identifiers and Contact Details: Your name, date of birth, address, phone number, and National Health Index (NHI) number.
• Prescription and Health Data: Information from your prescribers, your medical conditions, medicine history, allergies, adverse reactions, and notes recorded by our pharmacists during your care.
• Funding Eligibility: Entitlement card information such as your Community Services Card, Prescription Subsidy Card, or ACC details.
• Retail and Services: Information regarding voluntary services you participate in, such as pharmacy loyalty programs or immunisation registries.

2. Why we collect your information

We collect and use your information so we can:

• Dispense medications accurately and evaluate potential drug interactions or safety issues.
• Support and enable the provision of appropriate care, clinical advice, and treatments (such as vaccinations or screening programmes).
• Claim government funding on your behalf for subsidised prescriptions and health services.
• Meet our legal, administrative, and contractual obligations under New Zealand healthcare regulations.

3. How we share your information

We treat your personal and health information as confidential. We only share it on a need-to-know basis with authorized entities, including:

• Your Healthcare Team: Your GP, prescribing doctors, or other medical practitioners directly involved in your care.
• Health New Zealand (Te Whatu Ora) & Ministry of Health: For funding claims, statistical analysis, service planning, and maintaining the Shared Digital Health Record.
• Contracted Technology Providers: Secure software and applications that securely host and process pharmacy data on our behalf under strict privacy safeguards.
• Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) or MSD: Where required to process injury claims or welfare subsidies.

4. Storing and securing your information

We take all reasonable security safeguards to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, loss, or disclosure. Your data is held securely within encrypted pharmacy dispensing software and secure physical files. Records are retained securely in line with mandatory health retention laws.

5. Your rights: access and correction

You have complete control over your health information. Under the law, you have the right to:

• Request a copy of the health and personal information we hold about you.
• Ask for corrections if you believe any information we hold is inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete. If we choose not to make the requested change, you have the right to request that a statement of your correction be permanently noted on your file.

6. Using this website

When you use a form on this website, such as the repeat prescription form, the details you send go only to our pharmacy team and are stored securely. Our email alerts to staff say a request is waiting; they don’t include your health details. If you ask to join our mailing list, we’ll email you news and specials, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

We don’t use advertising trackers on this website. Our contact pages show a Google map, and Google may set cookies when the map loads, under Google’s privacy policy.

Contact our Privacy Officer

If you have any questions about this privacy statement, wish to request your records, or want to make a privacy-related complaint, please contact our staff directly:

• Privacy Officer: Toni Chilton
• Email: maddy@wintonpharmacy.co.nz
• Phone: 03 236 7729
• Address: 266 Great North Road, Winton

If we are unable to resolve your privacy concern, you have the right to escalate the matter to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.