Privacy & Terms

1. Who we are

HomeSight is the trading brand used by Home Sight UK Ltd for home eye care, care home eye care, website enquiries and related support services.

Home Sight UK Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Company number: 07136215. Registered office: 261 Hale End Road, Woodford Green, England, IG8 9NB.

Private hearing care services are provided through Home Sound UK Ltd, a separate company used for the hearing care side of the service. Home Sound UK Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Company number: 17025680. Registered office: 24b The Broadway, New Haw, Addlestone, England, KT15 3HA.

Home Sound UK Ltd is owned equally by Home Sight UK Ltd and Ear Health Solutions Limited.

In this policy, “HomeSight”, “we”, “us” and “our” means Home Sight UK Ltd and, where relevant to private hearing care services, Home Sound UK Ltd.

The data controller for your information depends on the service you use.

• Home Sight UK Ltd is the data controller for website enquiries, home eye care, NHS funded home sight tests, private home eye tests, care home eye care and general HomeSight administration.
• Home Sound UK Ltd is the data controller for private hearing care services, including hearing enquiries, hearing assessments, ear wax removal, hearing aid fittings and hearing aftercare where those services are delivered by Home Sound UK Ltd.
• Where an enquiry, booking or visit involves both eye care and hearing care, Home Sight UK Ltd and Home Sound UK Ltd may share limited information with each other so that your enquiry, booking and care can be handled properly.

2. What this policy covers

This policy explains what personal information we collect, how we use it, who we may share it with, how long we keep it and the rights you have.

It applies when you:

• Use this website.
• Submit a form or request a call back.
• Book a home eye test, hearing test, ear wax appointment or care home visit.
• Arrange an appointment for someone else.
• Receive care from us at home, in a care home or in another suitable setting.
• Contact us by phone, email, website form or any other method.

3. Information we collect

Depending on how you use our service, we may collect:

• Your name, address, phone number and email address.
• The name and contact details of a family member, carer, attorney, deputy, care home manager or other person involved in arranging care.
• Booking details, including the service requested, preferred appointment times, postcode, access notes and any special requirements.
• Information about why a home visit is needed, such as mobility difficulty, illness, disability, dementia, communication needs or care home residence.
• NHS eligibility information where relevant, including age, benefits, medical conditions, certificates or other eligibility details.
• Clinical information needed to provide care, such as sight test results, prescriptions, eye health findings, hearing test results, otoscopy findings, ear wax notes, audiograms, hearing aid details and aftercare notes.
• Information about glasses, lenses, hearing aids, ear wax removal, payments, finance applications or orders where relevant.
• Care home details, including the home name, address, staff contact details, resident lists where provided, appointment records and visit summaries.
• Safeguarding, consent, capacity or best interest information where this is needed for safe care.
• Website usage information, such as pages viewed, form activity, cookies, device information and basic analytics.

4. Special category health information

Some of the information we collect is health information. This is called special category data under UK data protection law and needs extra protection.

We only collect health information where it is needed to respond to your enquiry, check eligibility, provide care, keep clinical records, arrange follow up, meet legal or professional obligations, or protect someone’s safety.

5. How we use your information

We use your information to:

• Respond to enquiries.
• Check whether a home eye test may be NHS funded.
• Arrange and manage appointments.
• Provide home eye care, private hearing care, ear wax removal, glasses, lenses, hearing aids and aftercare.
• Keep accurate clinical and business records.
• Communicate with patients, family members, carers, care homes and professionals involved in care.
• Provide reports or summaries where appropriate and where we have a lawful reason to do so.
• Process payments, orders, refunds, finance applications and invoices.
• Manage complaints, safeguarding concerns and clinical queries.
• Meet NHS, legal, regulatory, professional and data protection requirements.
• Improve our website, booking process and service quality.
• Send marketing only where we have permission or another lawful basis to do so.

6. Lawful basis for using your information

We rely on different lawful bases depending on the reason we are using your information. These may include:

• Contract: where we need to use your information to provide a service you have requested.
• Legal obligation: where we must keep records, respond to lawful requests, meet NHS requirements, handle complaints, manage safeguarding concerns or comply with the law.
• Legitimate interests: where we need to run and improve our service, respond to enquiries, manage appointments, follow up after visits, prevent fraud, maintain records and communicate with relevant people involved in your care.
• Consent: where we ask for your permission, such as for certain marketing, sharing information with a nominated person, or optional uses of information.
• Vital interests: where information needs to be used urgently to protect someone’s life or safety.

For health information, we also rely on the special category condition for the provision of health or social care, and where relevant, safeguarding, legal claims, explicit consent or another condition permitted by UK data protection law.

7. If someone books on behalf of a patient

Many appointments are arranged by a family member, carer, attorney, deputy or care home.

Where someone contacts us on behalf of a patient, we may collect information from that person so we can arrange the appointment and provide safe care.

We will take reasonable steps to make sure the patient knows about the appointment and is happy to be seen, unless there is a lawful reason to proceed through an attorney, deputy, care arrangement or best interest decision.

If there are concerns about capacity or consent, we will handle this carefully and in line with the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and relevant professional guidance.

8. Who we share information with

We do not sell personal information.

Where necessary, we may share information with:

• Clinicians and care coordinators involved in your care.
• Home Sight UK Ltd and Home Sound UK Ltd where both eye care and hearing care are relevant.
• Family members, carers, attorneys, deputies or care home staff where we have consent or another lawful reason.
• GPs, hospital eye departments, local eye services, NHS bodies, referral services and other healthcare professionals where needed for care or referral.
• NHS organisations, commissioners, claim processing bodies or payment bodies where needed for NHS funded services.
• Lens laboratories, frame suppliers, hearing aid manufacturers, repair providers and other clinical suppliers where needed to provide products or aftercare.
• Payment processors, finance providers and accountants where needed for payments, orders, finance applications, invoices or refunds.
• IT, website, form, email, phone, calendar, CRM, cloud storage and clinical system providers who support our service.
• Professional advisers, insurers, regulators, safeguarding teams, local authorities or law enforcement where legally required or necessary.

9. Care homes and resident information

Where we work with a care home, we may receive information from the home, the resident, family members or other people involved in the resident’s care.

This may include resident lists, appointment requests, care notes relevant to the visit, consent information, capacity information, family contact details and visit summaries.

We only use this information to arrange and provide care, communicate clearly, keep records and support safe follow up.

10. Marketing and service messages

We may contact you about appointments, reminders, aftercare, orders, repairs, recalls, clinical follow ups or service updates. These are service messages and are not marketing.

We will only send marketing messages where we are allowed to do so under data protection and electronic marketing rules.

You can ask us to stop marketing messages at any time.

We do not use your health information for marketing without your permission.

11. Cookies and website tracking

This website uses cookies and similar technologies.

Some cookies are needed for the website to work properly. Others may help us understand how people use the website, improve the booking process, measure marketing performance or remember preferences.

Where required, we will ask for your consent before using non essential cookies.

You can manage cookies through your browser settings and any cookie banner or preference tool available on the website.

12. How long we keep information

We keep information only for as long as needed for the reason it was collected, or for as long as required by legal, NHS, professional, insurance or regulatory requirements.

Clinical records are kept in line with relevant NHS, professional and legal record keeping requirements.

Booking and enquiry records are kept for as long as needed to respond to the enquiry, manage the service, maintain records and deal with any follow up, complaint, safeguarding issue or legal requirement.

Financial records are kept in line with accounting and tax requirements.

When information is no longer needed, it is securely deleted, destroyed or anonymised.

13. How we protect information

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information.

This may include secure systems, access controls, staff training, password protection, encryption where appropriate, secure storage, audit trails and limiting access to people who need the information for their role.

No system can be guaranteed completely secure, but we work to protect information and to respond appropriately if a data breach occurs.

14. International transfers

Some service providers we use may process information outside the UK.

Where this happens, we take steps to make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations, contractual safeguards or other protections required by data protection law.

15. Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you may have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of your personal information.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate information.
• Ask us to delete information in certain circumstances.
• Ask us to restrict how we use your information.
• Object to certain uses of your information.
• Ask for certain information to be transferred to another provider.
• Withdraw consent where we rely on consent.
• Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

These rights do not always apply in every situation. For example, we may need to keep clinical records where this is required for legal, clinical, professional or safeguarding reasons.

To make a request, please contact us using the details below.

16. Complaints and concerns

If you have a question, complaint or concern about how we use your information, contact us first so we can investigate.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with how your information has been handled.

17. Contact details

For questions about this policy or your personal information, contact:

HomeSight
Home Sight UK Ltd
261 Hale End Road
Woodford Green
England
IG8 9NB

Phone: 0800 080 6095
Email: info@homesightonline.co.uk

For hearing care services provided by Home Sound UK Ltd, you can also contact us through the same phone number and email address, and we will direct the enquiry to the right company.

18. Website terms of use

This website is provided for general information about HomeSight, home eye care, private hearing care, ear wax removal and care home support.

The information on this website is not a substitute for clinical advice. If you have a medical emergency, call 999. If you need urgent medical advice, contact NHS 111, your GP, an optometrist, pharmacist or another suitable healthcare professional.

We aim to keep the website accurate and up to date, but we cannot guarantee that all information is complete, current or free from errors at all times.

We may update, remove or change website content at any time.

The website may contain links to external websites. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices or accuracy of external websites.

The design, wording, images, branding and content on this website belong to Home Sight UK Ltd or are used with permission. You must not copy or reuse them without permission, except for normal personal use.

19. Changes to this page

We may update this Privacy and Terms page from time to time.

The latest version will always be available on this website, and the date at the top will show when it was last updated.