Terms of Use, Privacy and POPIA Notice

About this notice

This page sets out the terms on which you may use www.veinsurgery.co.za, how we handle personal information, and important information about the medical content published here. It applies to the website operated by Vein Centres of South Africa (Dr Johan Blignaut), with practices in Umhlanga (Durban), Fourways (Johannesburg) and Somerset West.

By using this website you accept these terms. If you do not accept them, please do not use the site.

Medical information disclaimer

The information on this website is provided for general education only. It is not medical advice, it does not create a doctor and patient relationship, and it must not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.

Vein disease varies considerably between individuals. Whether a particular treatment is appropriate for you can only be determined after a consultation, clinical examination and duplex ultrasound assessment by a suitably qualified practitioner.

Individual results may vary. Patient testimonials, before and after photographs, and outcome descriptions published on this website reflect the experience of those individual patients. They are not a prediction or guarantee of the result any other patient will achieve.

If you have symptoms that concern you, consult a doctor. In an emergency, contact your nearest emergency service immediately. Never disregard or delay seeking professional medical advice because of something you have read here.

This website may link to, or embed content from, third party sites such as video platforms. We do not control that content and are not responsible for it.

Who we are

For the purposes of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), the responsible party is Vein Centres of South Africa, practising as Dr Johan Blignaut, Specialist Surgeon.

Information Officer: Dr J Blignaut
Email: fourways@veinsurgery.co.za
Telephone: Durban 031 566-3960  |  Johannesburg 011 511-0020  |  Somerset West 021 205-2417
Postal and physical address: Suite 7, Block B, Cedar Medical Centre, Stinkwood Close, Fourways, Sandton, 2539

What personal information we collect

Information you give us through this website. When you complete a contact form, appointment request, online vein screening or medical scheme enquiry, we collect your name, email address, telephone number, the centre you wish to attend, and whatever you choose to tell us in your message. The online screening also collects information about your symptoms and vein history.

Information collected when you become a patient. Our patient registration process collects further information, including your identity number or passport number, date of birth, sex, address, medical scheme and membership details, medical history, and clinical information generated during your care, including scan results, photographs and treatment records.

Information collected automatically. When you browse the site we and our service providers may collect your IP address, device and browser type, pages viewed and referring page, through cookies and similar technologies. See the cookies section below.

Special personal information. Health information, and information concerning your sex or biometric data, is "special personal information" under POPIA and receives additional protection. We process it for the purpose of providing you with medical care, which POPIA permits for medical professionals bound by a duty of confidentiality, and otherwise with your consent.

Why we process it and on what basis

We process personal information in order to:

• respond to your enquiry or appointment request;
• assess whether treatment is appropriate and provide medical care;
• verify your medical scheme benefits, obtain pre-authorisation, and render and collect accounts;
• keep the clinical records we are professionally and legally required to keep;
• communicate with you about your appointments, treatment and follow up;
• comply with our legal, professional and regulatory obligations;
• understand how the website is used, so that we can improve it.

Depending on the purpose, our lawful basis is your consent, the performance of a contract with you, compliance with a legal obligation, or our legitimate interests in operating the practice. Providing your information is voluntary, but if you choose not to provide the information we ask for, we may be unable to treat you or to submit claims on your behalf.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only where necessary, and then only to the extent necessary, with:

• your medical scheme or administrator, and your gap cover insurer where you ask us to, for authorisation and claims;
• other healthcare practitioners involved in your care, including referring doctors, radiologists and pathologists;
• our practice management, billing, IT and communications service providers, who are contractually required to protect it;
• our professional advisers, and debt collection agencies where an account remains unpaid;
• any party we are required or permitted by law to share it with.

Some of our service providers, and some of the website tools described below, may process information outside South Africa. Where that happens we take reasonable steps to ensure an appropriate level of protection, as POPIA requires.

Cookies and website analytics

Cookies are small files placed on your device by a website. This site uses them for the following purposes.

• Necessary. Cookies required for the site to function and for forms to work correctly. These cannot be switched off.
• Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand which pages are visited and how people move through the site. This tells us what is useful and what is not.
• Advertising. We use the Meta (Facebook) pixel, which allows us to measure the effectiveness of our advertising and may allow Meta to show our advertisements to people who have visited this site.
• Embedded content. Pages containing videos, maps or web fonts load content from YouTube, Google Maps and Google Fonts. Those providers may set their own cookies when that content loads.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings, and you can opt out of Google Analytics using the browser add-on Google provides. Blocking cookies may affect how parts of this site work. Note that our analytics and advertising tools are provided by third parties who process the data under their own privacy policies.

How long we keep it and how we protect it

Clinical records are retained for the periods required by South African law and by the Health Professions Council of South Africa, which for adult patients is generally a minimum of six years from the date they became dormant, with longer periods applying to records of minors and certain other categories. Website enquiries that do not result in treatment are kept only for as long as needed to deal with the enquiry and for a reasonable period afterwards.

We take appropriate, reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage and unauthorised access, as section 19 of POPIA requires. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, however, and you send information to us over the internet at your own risk. Please do not send detailed clinical information or identity numbers through the website contact forms; contact your nearest centre instead.

If a security compromise affects your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• be told what personal information we hold about you, and to request a copy of it;
• ask us to correct or delete information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained;
• object, on reasonable grounds, to our processing of your information;
• withdraw consent where we rely on your consent, without affecting processing already carried out;
• not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing;
• complain to the Information Regulator.

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer using the details above. We may need to verify your identity first. Some rights are limited where we are legally obliged to retain clinical records.

You may also request access to information under the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000. Our PAIA manual is available on request.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please contact our Information Officer first so that we can try to resolve it.

You may also complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa):

Website: inforegulator.org.za
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
PAIA complaints: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

Website terms of use

Content and copyright. All text, images, video and design on this website belong to Vein Centres of South Africa or are used under licence, unless stated otherwise. You may view and print pages for your own personal, non-commercial use. You may not reproduce, republish or distribute any part of the site without our written permission. Clinical photographs are published with patient consent and may not be copied or reused.

Acceptable use. You may not use this site unlawfully, attempt to gain unauthorised access to it or to any server it is hosted on, or introduce malicious code.

Availability and accuracy. We aim to keep the site available and its content current, but we give no warranty that it will be uninterrupted, error free or up to date. Medical practice changes, and pages are reviewed periodically rather than continuously.

Limitation of liability. To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of, or inability to use, this website, or from reliance on its content. Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot lawfully be limited, and nothing in them affects your rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 or your rights as a patient.

Governing law. These terms are governed by South African law, and the South African courts have jurisdiction.

Changes to this notice

We may update this page from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last reviewed. Please check it periodically. Continued use of the site after a change means you accept the revised terms.