Privacy notice

Care requests

Your privacy matters to us. This notice explains how Douvan Health uses personal information submitted through the Request Care form and during follow-up about that request.

1. Who is responsible for your information?

Douvan Health Limited is responsible for deciding how information submitted through this form is used. On this website and in this notice, “Douvan Health”, “we” and “us” mean Douvan Health Limited. Privacy enquiries and requests to exercise your rights can be sent to info@douvanhealth.com, for the attention of the Medical Director, Dr. D. Malcolm Brewster. You may also call +1 876 338 2411.

2. What we collect

Depending on your request, we collect:

• The patient’s name, date of birth, telephone number and email address.
• The visit address, parish, type of location and relevant access details.
• A brief description of the reason for seeking care, how soon care is needed, and any additional information you choose to provide.
• Preferred visit arrangements, including date, time, doctor and whether ongoing care is requested.
• If you are arranging care for someone else, your name, relationship to the patient, contact details and any overseas location or time-zone information you provide.
• Follow-up correspondence and records of your consent or authority to act.

Information about symptoms, medical conditions and treatment is sensitive personal information. Please provide only what is needed to assess and arrange your request. Do not include passwords, payment-card details, identification documents or unrelated medical records in the form.

Providing information is voluntary. However, without sufficient identifying, contact, location and care-request details, we may be unable to assess or arrange a visit. Optional information is not a condition of requesting care.

3. Why we use your information

We use the information to:

• Respond to your request and clarify the patient’s needs.
• Check whether the patient already has a record with us.
• Assess whether the requested care is suitable for a Douvan visit.
• Arrange the appropriate clinician, visit, follow-up or referral.
• Confirm availability, location, expected fees and other practical arrangements.
• Maintain relevant care and administrative records, address complaints and meet applicable legal obligations.

A member of our team reviews your request. Submitting the form does not confirm an appointment or replace a clinical assessment.

4. Consent and other lawful uses

We request your express consent to process the information you submit, including relevant health information, to review and respond to the care request.

Depending on the circumstances, processing may also be necessary to take steps at the patient’s request towards arranging care, provide an agreed service, meet a legal obligation or protect a person’s vital interests. Health information requires an additional lawful condition, such as written consent or necessary processing for medical purposes by a health professional or a person subject to an equivalent duty of confidentiality.

Consent to use information for a care request is separate from consent to examination, treatment or a procedure.

5. Requesting care for someone else

If you submit another person’s information, you must have their permission or appropriate legal authority to act for them. Where possible, explain this notice to the patient before submitting the request.

For a child, consent must come from a parent or legal guardian unless the law recognises the child’s ability to consent independently. If an adult cannot consent, contact us so that we can establish the appropriate authority or other lawful basis for proceeding.

Being a relative, caregiver, emergency contact or person paying for care does not automatically entitle you to medical information. We share updates with relatives and other representatives with the patient’s permission, appropriate legal authority or another lawful basis. This also applies to relatives living overseas.

6. Who may receive your information

Access and disclosure are limited to what is necessary for the relevant purpose. Recipients may include:

• Authorised Douvan staff who coordinate care and administration, and clinicians involved in assessing or providing care, including a preferred clinician where relevant.
• Other healthcare providers, laboratories, pharmacies or emergency services where necessary and lawfully permitted for the patient’s care.
• Service providers supporting our website, form processing, communications and record storage, including Phoros Cloud for the website platform.
• Regulators, public authorities or professional advisers where disclosure is legally required or otherwise lawfully justified.

Information handled on our behalf must be subject to appropriate confidentiality and data-protection arrangements. Independent healthcare providers are responsible for information they hold under their own professional and legal obligations.

We do not sell care-request information. Submitting a request does not subscribe you to marketing or authorise use of health information for targeted advertising. Any marketing subscription requires a separate, optional agreement.

7. Communications, website technology and overseas processing

We may contact you by telephone, email or WhatsApp using the details you provide and taking account of the communication preferences you tell us. Please tell us if a number or email address is shared, or if there is a safer way or time to contact you. We may ask to use a more suitable channel for detailed clinical information.

Email, messaging and online systems carry privacy risks. No internet service can guarantee absolute security.

Website and communications providers may process technical information, such as IP addresses, browser information and service logs, to deliver and protect their services. Care-request consent does not authorise optional advertising or analytics tracking; any such use must be separately explained and any required consent obtained.

Some technology or communications services may involve storage or access outside Jamaica. Sending authorised updates to someone overseas also involves a transfer abroad. Any transfer must have a lawful basis and meet the applicable requirements of Jamaica’s Data Protection Act, 2020. You may contact us for information about the providers, destinations and protections relevant to your information.

8. How long we keep information

Retention depends on what happens after the request:

• An enquiry that does not lead to care is retained only for as long as needed to resolve it, manage related follow-up or complaints, and meet applicable legal requirements.
• Information needed for care may become part of the patient’s medical record and be retained for continuity of care and applicable professional and legal requirements.
• Administrative, billing, consent and complaint records may need different retention periods.

Retention takes account of the nature of the record, the patient’s age, ongoing care and any legal requirement or unresolved claim. Information no longer needed is to be securely deleted or anonymised. You may ask us about the retention period applicable to your information.

9. Your rights and choices

Under Jamaica’s Data Protection Act, 2020, you may request information about how your personal data is used, access to it and correction of inaccuracies. You may also withdraw consent and, where the law provides, request that processing stop or be restricted, request erasure, or request transfer of your data to another controller.

These rights are subject to applicable conditions and exceptions. Withdrawal of consent does not undo lawful processing already carried out. We may need to retain or use some information under another lawful basis, including for medical records or legal obligations. We will explain any effect on our ability to arrange or continue the requested service.

Contact info@douvanhealth.com to make a request. We may need to verify your identity and, where relevant, your authority to act for the patient. We will respond within the applicable legal time limit and explain any lawful limitation.

You may raise a concern with us or complain directly to Jamaica’s Office of the Information Commissioner:

• Website: https://oic.gov.jm↗ (opens in a new tab)
• Email: info@oic.gov.jm

10. Emergencies and changes to this notice

Do not use this form for an emergency or wait for a reply if immediate care is needed. Seek emergency medical assistance or attend the nearest emergency department. Douvan Health is not an emergency medical service or a substitute for hospital care.

We will update this notice when our information practices change. The revision date will appear above. Any new use requiring fresh consent will be explained before that consent is sought.

Corporate enquiries

When you request a corporate proposal, we collect the organisation and contact details you provide, together with information about the services required, the people to be covered and the proposed arrangement. We use this information to respond to the enquiry, prepare a proposal and manage related correspondence.

Please provide organisational requirements rather than employees’ personal medical information. A corporate enquiry or an employer’s payment for care does not automatically authorise access to an employee’s confidential medical information.

Relevant information may be handled by authorised Douvan team members and service providers supporting the enquiry. The contact, sharing, overseas-processing and rights information in this notice also applies where relevant. Enquiry information is retained for as long as needed to resolve the enquiry and any related obligations. If an agreement follows, relevant information may become part of the service and administrative records.

Requesting a proposal does not subscribe you to marketing.

Journal comments

When you submit a Journal comment, we collect your chosen display name and comment. We use them to review the contribution and, if approved, publish it alongside the article. Approved comments and display names are public and may be read, copied or indexed by others, including search engines.

Please do not include medical histories, contact details or other private information about yourself or anyone else. Journal comments are not a channel for requesting care or obtaining individual medical advice.

Comments are reviewed before publication. Moderation records are retained only as long as needed for review, handling concerns and applicable legal requirements. Approved comments may remain available while the relevant discussion is published, subject to review and applicable rights.

You may contact info@douvanhealth.com about a comment or to exercise your privacy rights. Removing content from our website cannot guarantee removal of copies already held by others. The contact and rights information in this notice also applies to Journal comments.