Privacy Policy

Last reviewed: 21 October 2026

At Earworx, protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your health information is an important part of the care we provide. This notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you use our website, contact us or receive our services.

1. Who is responsible for your information?

Earworx UK Ltd (company number 14343036) is the data controller for personal information it processes when providing its services directly to patients and customers. This means we are responsible for deciding how and why that information is used.

Registered office and clinic: 80–86 Pickering Road, Hull, HU4 6TE (within Warners Health Club & Physio).

Email: info@earworx.co.uk

Telephone: 07935 392965

For enquiries about your personal information, please contact us using the details above and mark your enquiry “Data protection”.

2. What information do we collect?

The information we collect depends on the services you request and may include:

• Contact and identification details: your name, telephone number, email address, postal address and, when relevant, date of birth.
• Appointment information: bookings, attendance, appointment preferences and related correspondence.
• Health and clinical information: relevant symptoms, medical history, ear and hearing assessments, examination findings, treatment provided, clinical advice and any necessary follow-up notes. Where clinically relevant, this may include examination images or test results.
• Billing and administration: fees, payment records, invoices and receipts. We do not normally need to retain complete payment-card details.
• Information about representatives: details of a parent, carer, family member or care organisation where needed to arrange or support care lawfully.
• Website information: information you enter into an enquiry form or send by email, together with technical information such as IP addresses and browser information that may be processed by website or hosting services.

We generally receive this information from you. Where appropriate and lawful, we may also receive relevant details from someone arranging care on your behalf or from another healthcare professional or organisation.

3. How do we use your information?

We use personal information only where there is a legitimate and lawful reason, including to:

• Respond to enquiries and arrange or manage appointments.
• Assess ear health, deliver safe and appropriate care, and maintain accurate clinical records.
• Communicate about treatment, clinical follow-up and any necessary referrals.
• Arrange home visits, care-home services or workplace ear-health appointments where requested.
• Process payments, maintain accounting records and meet legal or professional obligations.
• Protect our website, manage enquiries and improve the reliability of our services.
• Send optional promotional communications only where permitted by the applicable marketing and privacy rules.

We do not sell personal information or use patients’ clinical records for advertising.

4. Our legal grounds for using personal information

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), our legal grounds under Article 6 may include:

• Contract – Article 6(1)(b): when information is needed to arrange or provide a service you have requested.
• Legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c): when we must keep or disclose information to comply with the law.
• Legitimate interests – Article 6(1)(f): for proportionate service administration, responding to general enquiries and protecting the business and website, balanced against your rights.
• Consent – Article 6(1)(a): for particular optional activities where we ask for consent and consent is the appropriate legal basis.

Extra protection for health information

Information about your health is special category personal data. In addition to a lawful basis under Article 6, its use for clinical care will generally rely on Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR, supported by the Data Protection Act 2018, where the relevant conditions for healthcare and professional confidentiality are met.

Consent to a clinical examination or treatment is different from consent used as a legal basis for processing personal information. We will explain any separate consent requirements when they apply.

5. Who may receive your information?

We restrict access to people who need information for an appropriate purpose. Depending on the service and circumstances, this may include:

• Earworx practitioners and authorised administrative personnel.
• Other healthcare professionals or providers involved in your care, where sharing is appropriate and lawful.
• A parent, guardian, carer, care home or employer where they are lawfully entitled to relevant information. We take particular care to protect confidential clinical details.
• Suppliers supporting secure appointment administration, clinical records, communications, accounting, website hosting or IT services, subject to appropriate arrangements.
• Regulators, professional bodies or public authorities where disclosure is legally required.

We do not disclose detailed health information to an employer merely because the employer arranges or pays for a service. Any workplace health-surveillance reporting must respect the applicable confidentiality and data protection requirements.

6. How do we keep information secure?

We use reasonable organisational and technical safeguards appropriate to the information we hold, including limiting access, maintaining confidentiality and protecting records against accidental loss, alteration or unauthorised disclosure.

Ordinary email and website enquiries should not be used to send detailed or highly sensitive medical information unless this is necessary and an appropriate secure communication arrangement has been agreed.

7. How long do we keep information?

We keep information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, taking account of applicable legal, tax, clinical and professional recordkeeping requirements.

• Clinical records: retention depends on the nature of the care, the patient's age and relevant professional or legal requirements. Some records need to be kept for a number of years after the last attendance.
• Financial and business records: retained for the periods required for tax, accounting and other legal purposes.
• General enquiries: normally retained only while needed to deal with the enquiry and any necessary follow-up, unless they form part of an appointment or clinical record.

You may contact us to ask about the retention period that applies to a particular record. We securely dispose of personal information when it is no longer required.

8. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Ask for access to the personal information we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Request erasure of information where the law permits.
• Ask us to restrict certain processing or object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Request transfer of qualifying information to you or another provider.
• Withdraw consent where consent is the legal basis, without affecting lawful processing already carried out.

These rights are subject to legal conditions and exceptions. For example, we may need to retain clinical records even when someone requests their deletion. We may ask for evidence of identity before disclosing confidential information. We will respond to requests within the time limits required by law.

9. Children, carers and representatives

When providing services to children or adults who need support, we may communicate with an appropriately authorised parent, guardian, carer or representative. We consider confidentiality, capacity, the person's wishes and applicable law before sharing personal information.

10. Website cookies and Google Maps

Our website may use technical cookies or similar technologies needed for its operation. Other technologies, where used, may require your consent. Please see our Cookie Policy for further information.

Some pages include an embedded Google Map. Displaying the map may involve a connection to Google and the processing of technical information about your device or browser. Google’s services have their own privacy terms. You can also choose to follow a link to view the location directly in Google Maps.

We review third-party website features and their privacy implications. Non-essential cookies or tracking technologies must not be used without the consent required by law.

11. Transfers outside the United Kingdom

Some technology suppliers may process information in other countries. If a transfer of personal information outside the UK takes place, we must ensure that an appropriate lawful transfer mechanism and safeguards are in place.

12. Questions and complaints

If you have any questions about this policy, wish to exercise a data protection right or have concerns about how we have handled your information, please contact Earworx UK Ltd at info@earworx.co.uk or telephone 07935 392965.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator. Visit ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or telephone 0303 123 1113. We would welcome the opportunity to address your concern first.

13. Changes to this notice

We may revise this policy if our services, the law or the way we handle personal information change. The date at the top shows when this notice was last reviewed.