Privacy policy

Welcome to Get-Embrace. Thank you for choosing Embrace to guide you through your healthcare journey. 

These privacy terms and conditions (“Privacy Policy”) apply to the Embrace mobile application, the Get-Embrace website, (www.get-embrace.com. www.get-embrace.co) and any other product or service provided by Embrace. The Embrace mobile application, and Get-Embrace website is provided by Embrace Women’s Health, a private company duly registered in the Republic of South Africa.

We are committed to complying with applicable data protection laws and have explained our approach to data protection in our operations below.

Embrace serves as a conduit connecting Clients to Practitioners via our Platform, and our Platform is designed to facilitate the booking of teleconsultations and enable communication with Practitioners.

Any capitalised terms not defined in this Privacy Policy are a reference to those defined in the Embrace Terms of Use located on our Platform.

1. Definitions

For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, following the definitions apply:

1. “App” refers to the Embrace mobile application, updated periodically;
2. “Consent” means any voluntary, specific, and informed expression of will in terms of which permission is given for the processing of personal information, including your Special Personal Information;
3. “Consultation” means an appointment scheduled via the App with a Practitioner and conducted via a specified electronic or digital channel;
4. “Embrace”, “our”, “us” or “we” means Embrace Women’s Health Proprietary Limited (Registration No. 2022/859607/07), the entity providing this platform;
5. “Operator” has the meaning ascribed to it in POPIA; 
6. “Practitioner” refers to any healthcare and wellness practitioner registered as a service provider on the App, and registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, or other regulated professional board, in a profession registrable in terms of the Health Professions Act No. 56 of 1974;
7. “Personal Information” means the information that relates to you, as the user of any of our services, including your dependents, as defined in POPIA. This includes, but is not limited to, information relating to your race, gender, sex, pregnancy, age, physical or mental health, disability, medical, financial, and employment history, and your contact information.;
8. “Policy” means this privacy policy, as revised from time to time; 
9. “POPIA” means the Protection of Personal Information Act No. 4 of 2013, as amended from time to time;
10. “Process” or “Processing” means any operation or activity, whether or not by automatic means, concerning personal information, as defined POPIA. This includes, but is not limited to, the collection, storage, use, and alteration of personal information; 
11. “Record” means any recorded information, regardless of the form or medium, in the possession or under the control of Embrace, whether or not the record was created by Embrace, and regardless of when the record came into existence; 
12. “Responsible Party” has the meaning ascribed to it in POPIA. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, Embrace is the Responsible Party;
13. “Services” encompasses the medical and/or health-related teleconsultation services provided via the App; 
14. “Special Personal Information” means information relating to your:
    1. religious or philosophical beliefs, race or ethnic origin, trade union membership, political persuasion, health or sex life or biometric information; or
    2. criminal behaviour, to the extent that such information relates to the alleged commission of any offence allegedly committed by you or the disposal of such proceedings;  
15. “User” or “you” refers to any individual who registers and uses the App.

2. Information we collect from you

1. In order to provide you with our Services, it may be necessary for us to collect the following Personal Information about you:
   1. name, identity / passport number, date of birth, address, age, race, language and religious beliefs;
   2. employment details;
   3. medical history, including health status, symptoms, diagnoses, prescribed or administered treatment and care as well as procedures performed by relevant health care practitioners, prescribed medicines, findings and results from examinations performed by relevant health care practitioners, blood type, prescribed or applied medical, devices, responses to treatment, adverse reactions to medicines, relevant behaviour impacting on health status and treatment options, compliance with prescribed or recommended treatment, other relevant clinical and other information that may affect your clinical condition or treatment;
   4. completed Client information forms, including the Terms of Use (located on our Platform and deemed accepted by and binding upon Users when registering on the Platform) and any other documents on which consent is provided;
   5. sick certificates, scripts and referral letters;
   6. Records of video consultations with Practitioners; and
   7. Records of our interactions or correspondence with you.
2. The provision of information is voluntary, and we will continue to assist you to the extent possible but it may affect the Services that we and/or the relevant Practitioners are able to provide to you. If insufficient information is provided to enable the provision of Services, we may refer you to an alternative service provider.

3. How we collect Personal Information

We collect Personal Information directly from you in the following ways:

1. through our website;
2. through your use of the Platform; and
3. through the provision of our Services to you.

4. Information we collect from you when you sign up to register with Embrace

When you enter your Personal Information on our Platform, you are consenting to us sending you communications from time to time that pertain to Embrace and our Services. We will only use the information you provide for this purpose and you will be able to opt-out of receiving this at any time.

5. Information we collect from you when you visit our website

Our website uses automatic systems of data collection, such as cookies. A cookie is a device transmitted to the hard disk of a user. Cookies do not contain intelligible information but allow linking between you and your Personal Information, such as your IP address and other information about your experience on the website. The information and data are gathered directly and automatically by the website. We process information collected by cookies in a collective and anonymous way in order to optimize the website for the needs and preferences of the Users. Please access the information on your Internet browser if you wish to delete cookies after using the website. If you have started the procedure of deleting cookies, we can’t ensure that all of our web pages will be displayed and that all of our services will be available to you.

6. Processing, protecting and transferring Personal Information
   1. Personal information held by us is processed by appropriate members of staff for the purposes for which the information was provided, which includes:
      1. to provide our Services to you;
      2. to compile and maintain the User database and for the purposes of direct marketing, to which you consent;
      3. to register and authenticate Users of our Platform;
      4. to compile de-identified statistical information about browsing habits, click patterns and access to our website;
      5. to evaluate the use of our Platform and Services;
      6. to provide Practitioners who use our Platform access to your Client Records, strictly with your consent;
      7. for auditing, historical, statistical and research purposes;
      8. for compliance with legal obligations;
      9. to notify you of any health-related information, updates or reminders that are relevant to you.
   2. To the extent practicable, Embrace will only process your Personal Information if you consent to such processing. Where it is not possible or practicable to obtain consent, we may justify the processing of Personal Information on another ground.

7. Sharing your Personal Information
   1. We may share your Personal Information within our organisation and outside the country of your residence including:
      1. Practitioners who treat you (with your consent);
      2. our internal teams as part of our standards and oversight processes;
      3. members of our development and internal support teams;
      4. any hosting and/or storage services for the purposes of safe processing and storage.
   2. We may share your information with third parties, such as professional advisors (including accountants and lawyers, IT Providers, HR providers) and government bodies or regulators.
   3. We share your information for the purposes of:
      1. complying with any legal obligations to do so; and
      2. our legitimate interest in the effective running of Embrace.
   4. All our third party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your Personal Information in line with our policies. We do not allow our third party service providers to use your Personal Information for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your Personal Information for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
   5. Some of our systems are provided by third parties (for example, hosted databases and newsletter, website, survey providers and cloud storage providers). This is always subject to contractual assurances that Personal Information will be kept securely and only in accordance with our specific directions. We do not share or sell Personal Information to other organisations for their own purposes.
   6. We take appropriate technical and organisational steps to ensure the security of your Personal Information including policies and procedures around use of technology and devices, IT security, document retention and destruction and data breach procedures. 

8. Retention of your Data

We will not retain your Personal Information longer than the period for which it is needed and in compliance with applicable law. We determine retention periods in respect of information we hold based on:

1. legal obligations relating to minimum retention periods;
2. the purposes for which we process the Personal Information and whether there are other means to achieve the same purposes;
3. whether the information is required for reporting and analysis purposes relating to our operations;
4. the volume, nature, and sensitivity of the Personal Information; 
5. the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of the Personal Information. 

9. Special Personal Information

1. In order for Embrace to provide our Services to Users, and for the relevant Practitioners to render their services to you via the Platform, it is necessary for us to collect and process Special Personal Information, which includes information concerning your health.
2. To the extent practicable, we will only process your Special Personal Information where you, as the data subject, consent to the processing or as provided for in terms of POPIA.

10. Your rights in relation to your Personal Information
    1. Subject to certain limitations on certain rights, you have the following rights in relation to your Personal Information:
       1. Request access to your Personal Information. This enables you to receive a copy of the Personal Information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
       2. Request correction of the Personal Information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
       3. Request erasure of your Personal Information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove Personal Information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your Personal Information where you have exercised your right to object to processing.
       4. Object to processing of your Personal Information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes.
       5. Request the restriction of processing of your Personal Information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of Personal Information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
       6. Withdraw consent to our use of your Personal Information at any time where we rely on your consent to use or process that information. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of our use and processing of your information on the basis of your consent before the point in time when you withdraw your consent.

2. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the content of our Privacy Policy, or would like to enforce any rights you may have under applicable data protection laws, please contact us at:

Lauren Fisher 

072 871 0179

lauren@get-embrace.co

3. We will endeavour to respond to any such requests as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any event within any statutory time-limits. In some instances, we may be able to charge a fee for responding to your request and will advise you of this and any applicable amount prior to responding.
4. You should be aware that certain information is exempt from the right of access. This may include information which identifies other individuals, or information which is subject to legal privilege.  
5. You should also be aware that in some instances, if you do not provide information or you exercise any rights regarding the deletion or restriction of your information or object to the processing of your information or withdraw consent, we may not be able to offer our Services to you.
6. Where you request access to your information, we are required by law to use all reasonable measures to verify your identity before doing so. These measures are designed to protect your information and to reduce the risk of identity fraud, identity theft or general unauthorised access to your information.
7. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority, details of which are set out below: 

33 Hoofd Street

Forum III, 3rd Floor Braampark

P.O Box 31533

Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017

Mr Marks Thibela

Chief Executive Officer

Tel No. +27 (0) 10 023 5200, Cell No. +27 (0) 82 746 4173

Complaints email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za

General enquiries email: inforeg@justice.gov.za.

11. Automated decision-making  

1. You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making, unless we have a lawful basis for doing so and we have notified you.
2. We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means, however we will notify you in writing if this position changes.

12. Changes to our Privacy Policy 

Any changes made to this Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on the Platform and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to this Privacy Policy.

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