Unicare Pharmacy — Meireles & Harras Ltd

Privacy Notice

How we use your personal information — for patients, customers and website visitors

Version 2.1 — effective 14 October 2026. This notice replaces all earlier versions and is reviewed at least once a year.

1. Who we are

Unicare Pharmacy is owned and operated by Meireles & Harras Ltd (company number SC757945), 121-123 Rowlands Road, Worthing BN11 3LA. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this notice.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number ZB713580. Our pharmacy premises is registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) under number 1037422. Our Superintendent Pharmacist is Reda Harras (GPhC 2091748).

Data Protection Lead and contact for any question about this notice or your information: Reda Harras, Superintendent Pharmacist — telephone 01903 898509 — email r.harras@nhs.net — or write to the address above.

2. What information we collect

Depending on the services you use, we may hold:

  • Identity and contact details: name, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address, NHS number, GP practice, next of kin or carer where you give them.

  • Health information: your prescriptions and the medicines we supply; allergies, medical conditions and current medicines you tell us about; records of consultations for NHS services (for example Pharmacy First, the New Medicine Service, blood pressure checks, contraception, vaccinations) and private services (for example vitamin B12 injections, ear wax removal, travel and private vaccinations, weight management); height, weight and other measurements taken for those services; photographs taken as part of a clinical procedure (for example ear examination images).

  • Prescription charge and exemption information.

  • Delivery details, including access instructions you choose to give us for home delivery.

  • Payment information for private services — we do not store card details; payments are processed by our payment provider.

  • Records of complaints, incidents and feedback.

  • CCTV images if you visit our premises (see section 8).

  • Website information: details you enter into our online prescription registration form or appointment booking system, and limited technical data (cookies, IP address) described in section 9.

Health information is “special category” data under UK data protection law and we apply additional safeguards to it.

3. Why we use your information and our lawful basis

Purpose What we do Lawful basis (UK GDPR)
Dispensing and NHS services Dispense your prescriptions safely; provide NHS pharmacy services under our NHS contract; keep the records the law requires; claim payment from the NHS Business Services Authority. Article 6(1)(c) legal obligation and 6(1)(e) public task; Article 9(2)(h) provision of health care, under the duty of confidentiality of a registered pharmacist
Private services Assess your suitability, provide the service, keep the clinical record, notify your GP where you agree, and take payment. Article 6(1)(b) contract; Article 9(2)(h) provision of health care
Patient safety Check for interactions and allergies; report adverse reactions to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme; investigate incidents and near misses; contact you about a recall or a safety concern. Article 6(1)(c) legal obligation; Article 9(2)(h) and 9(2)(i) public health
Delivery Deliver medicines to your home or care home and keep a record of the handover. Article 6(1)(b) contract / 6(1)(e) public task; Article 9(2)(h)
Communications Text or telephone you when a prescription is ready, an appointment is due, or we need to speak to you about your care. Article 6(1)(e) public task / 6(1)(b) contract
Marketing Tell you about pharmacy services and offers — only if you have opted in, and you can opt out at any time. Article 6(1)(a) consent
Complaints and legal Handle complaints, defend or bring legal claims, respond to regulators (GPhC, NHS England, ICO, CQC, police). Article 6(1)(c) legal obligation / 6(1)(f) legitimate interests; Article 9(2)(f) legal claims
Security CCTV to protect staff, patients and stock. Article 6(1)(f) legitimate interests
Website Run the site, process online registrations and bookings, measure use. Article 6(1)(b) contract; 6(1)(a) consent for non-essential cookies

4. Who we share your information with

We share information only where it is necessary for your care, required by law, or you have asked us to. We never sell personal information.

  • NHS organisations: your GP practice (for example to notify them of a service you have received, an emergency supply, or a safety concern); NHS England and NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board; the NHS Business Services Authority (prescription processing and payment); NHS 111 and other health professionals involved in your care; NHS Digital services such as the Electronic Prescription Service and the Summary Care Record.

  • Care homes and carers where you or the home have arranged for us to supply your medicines.

  • Regulators and authorities where the law requires: the General Pharmaceutical Council, the Care Quality Commission, the MHRA, the police, HM Courts, the ICO, local authority safeguarding teams.

  • Our indemnity insurers and legal advisers if a complaint or claim arises.

We also use trusted suppliers who process information on our behalf under written contracts that require them to keep it secure and use it only on our instructions (“data processors”):

Supplier What they do for us Where data is held
Invatech Health Ltd (Titan PMR) Our patient medication record system — all dispensing, NHS service and delivery records United Kingdom (cloud)
Deltera HealthTech Ltd Consultation records and Patient Group Directions for private services (weight management, travel clinic, private vaccinations); the Services Diary appointment system United Kingdom — Google Cloud (London) and SiteGround (London)
Nuumad Ltd Consultation records for the vitamin B12 injection service United Kingdom
Clear Clinics Consultation records and images for the ear wax removal service United Kingdom
CD Smart Electronic controlled drugs register United Kingdom
Alpha Solutions HQ Ltd (formerly Alpha Health Tech Ltd; Companies House 16349980) Hosting of our website and domain, including the online prescription registration form; and the Vaxibook appointment booking system Website: European Economic Area (GoDaddy). Vaxibook: United Kingdom — Hostinger (London), with encrypted backups on Amazon Web Services (London). ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials certified.
Payment provider (Stripe / card terminal provider) Processing card payments for private services — we do not see or store full card numbers UK / EEA
NHS services (Spine, EPS, NHSmail) Secure transfer of prescriptions and clinical messages United Kingdom
Pharmaceutical wholesalers and specials manufacturers Supply of medicines — only the minimum patient information needed for an individually made (“special”) item United Kingdom

We do not transfer your information outside the United Kingdom, except where a supplier above uses servers in the European Economic Area under UK adequacy regulations or standard contractual clauses.

5. How long we keep your information

We keep records for the periods required by law and the NHS Records Management Code of Practice, then destroy them securely. The main periods are:

Record Retention
Patient medication record (dispensing history) At least 8 years after last entry; longer where required for children or by the Records Management Code
NHS and private consultation records At least 8 years from the consultation (children: until age 25 or 8 years after the consultation, whichever is longer)
Controlled drug registers 2 years from the last entry (Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001), retained longer in practice
Private prescriptions and POM register 2 years from the date of supply
Delivery records 2 years
Complaints and incident records 10 years
Online prescription registration form submissions Transferred to Titan and deleted from the website within 30 days
Online appointment bookings (Vaxibook) Kept while we use the Vaxibook service; the clinical record of your appointment is held in the relevant clinical system. If we stop using Vaxibook, booking data is deleted 30 days later.
CCTV 30 days unless required for an investigation
Marketing preferences Until you withdraw consent or 2 years after last contact

6. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

  • Access — ask for a copy of the information we hold about you (a “subject access request”). We will respond within one month, free of charge in most cases.

  • Rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.

  • Erasure — ask us to delete information, although we usually cannot delete clinical or dispensing records within their legal retention period.

  • Restriction and objection — ask us to limit how we use your information, or object to a particular use, including any direct marketing.

  • Portability — receive certain information in a machine-readable format.

  • Withdraw consent — where we rely on consent (for example marketing), at any time.

  • Complain — to us first, and to the ICO: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, 0303 123 1113, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF.

To exercise any right, contact the Superintendent Pharmacist using the details in section 1. We may need to verify your identity before releasing information.

7. Keeping your information secure

Our clinical systems are NHS-assured and cloud-hosted in the UK with access controlled by individual logins and NHS smartcards. All staff are trained in confidentiality and data protection, sign a confidentiality agreement and complete annual data security training. We complete the NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit every year. Paper records are kept in locked areas and shredded when no longer needed. Consultations take place in a private consultation room. Where you telephone us, we will confirm your identity before discussing your care.

8. CCTV

CCTV operates in the public areas of the pharmacy and the dispensary for the safety of patients and staff and the security of medicines. It does not cover the consultation room. Recordings are kept for 30 days and are viewed only by the Superintendent Pharmacist, or disclosed to the police or insurers when there is a lawful reason. Signs are displayed at the entrance.

9. Our website

  • Prescription registration form: the details you submit (including your NHS number and exemption status) are sent securely to the pharmacy, entered into our clinical system and then deleted from the website.

  • Appointment bookings: bookings made through the “Book a Service” pages are handled by the Vaxibook appointment booking system, provided by Alpha Solutions HQ Ltd and hosted in the United Kingdom. Your booking details are used to manage your appointment and are then recorded in the relevant clinical system.

  • Cookies: the site uses essential cookies to work, and — only with your consent — analytics cookies (Google Analytics via Google Tag Manager) to understand how the site is used. You can withdraw consent through the cookie banner at any time.

  • Links to other sites (for example the NHS App, NHS England) are governed by those sites’ own privacy notices.

10. Children

We provide services to children through their parents or guardians, and to young people who are able to consent for themselves. Records of children are kept until their 25th birthday or for 8 years after the last entry, whichever is longer.

11. Changes to this notice

We review this notice at least annually and whenever our services or suppliers change. The current version is displayed in the pharmacy and on unicarepharmacy.co.uk/privacy-policy.

Last updated on 25/07/2024

Privacy Statement

Acceptance of Terms
Please read this policy carefully since by visiting the Unicare Pharmacy website and/or sharing information with us, you agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy may be revised or updated at any time by us. This page was last updated as of the date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

Summary
Our primary goal in collecting user information is to enhance your experience on our website. Generally unicarepharmacy.co.uk (“Site” or “we”, “our” or “us”) does not collect, store, use or disclose any data collected with an intention to personally identify and/or contact a person such as: name, address, telephone number or e-mail address (hereinafter “PII”) except in specific instances, for example, when you provide PII through registering on the Site or as set forth in this Privacy Policy. Whenever we collect such PII, it will be governed by this Privacy Policy. Also governed by this Privacy Policy is our use of aggregated (data gathered and compiled across all user accounts) information, which helps us develop content targeted to users’ interests and to better the website user experience. Unicare Pharmacy is committed to your privacy and, other than as provided herein or after receiving your specific consent, Unicare Pharmacy will not share any PII with any third party at any time, unless required by law or to fulfill products or services associated with this Site.

What this Privacy Policy Covers
This Privacy Policy covers the website unicarepharmacy.co.uk and the transactions listed within this Privacy Policy.

Please be aware that Unicare Pharmacy sponsors, advertisers, and partners or affiliates who have co-branded modules or sections on Unicare Pharmacy may collect personally identifiable information about you while on our website. The information practices of those parties are not covered by this privacy statement. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies only to information collected by this Site.

Unicare Pharmacy users should also be aware that, when you voluntarily disclose personal information in chat areas or bulletin boards, that information may be collected by others and may result in unsolicited messages from others. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums.

Gathering of Information

Voluntary Submission
Unicare Pharmacy does not collect personally identifying information about any individual Unicare Pharmacy website user except when knowingly provided by such individual. For example, we may ask you for information, such as your e-mail address, title and industry when you register to become a member of Unicare Pharmacy. You may also provide information to Unicare Pharmacy in other contexts, including, for example, in order to register for the Stock Simulator or to enter into a sweepstakes or promotion. In the event you order something from Unicare Pharmacy or one of our co-branded websites, we may request additional personal information, such as your address, telephone number and payment information, in order to complete the purchase. In order to further enhance the website user experience and target content to users’ interests, we may also supplement the data you provide to us with data from data append services (where other information may be added to the information you provide). You always have the option not to provide the information we request.

If you choose not to provide the information we request, you can still visit most of the Unicare Pharmacy website, but you may be unable to access certain options and services. When you register or become a member of Unicare Pharmacy or provide information to Unicare Pharmacy in any other manner, you agree to provide only true, accurate, current and complete information.

Cookies
A cookie is a small data file that is written to your computer’s hard drive by your web browser. A cookie file can contain information, such as a user identification code, that a website will use to track the pages and number of times you have visited. Unicare Pharmacy uses cookies to track web and advertising analytics throughout Unicare Pharmacy and its affiliate websites and to remember your custom video playlists, preferences, job title, story ratings (if you have provided any), and membership status so that you don’t have to login each time you visit the website. The data read from these cookies may be linked to personally identifying (PII) and non-personally identifying (non-PII) information.

Web Beacons
We use web beacons (invisible images often referred to as pixel tags or clear GIFs) on our sites in order to recognize users, assess traffic patterns, identify preferred content and measure site engagement. We also include web beacons in our e-mail messages, including newsletters, in order to count how many e-mail messages have been opened.

Unicare Pharmacy also uses a reputable third party to collect information, including through the use of web beacons, browser cookies and other tracking technologies. Traffic or Clickstream Data (“Clickstream Data”). Clickstream Data consists of traffic and usage data that is not personally identifiable. We do not supplement or combine Clickstream Data with any PII. We may share Clickstream Data we collect with certain selected third parties and ValueClick Entities, but only in anonymous form. Notwithstanding the foregoing, such third parties and ValueClick Entities may combine such Clickstream Data with any PII that you choose to give to such third parties or ValueClick Entities when registering with their websites. We collect Clickstream Data regarding use of our services by observing browser functions and the files (pages) you access. For example, our servers collect information about the site to which you may redirect to in order to enable us to calculate and receive payments from our business partners. In addition, we may use Clickstream Data to better design our services.

Log Files
Unicare Pharmacy web and ad servers log information about a site user’s IP address, browser type and the current URL the user is requesting. This information is always provided by each and every user’s browser. These log files are stored in a secure location and may be used in an anonymous manner in our internal analysis of traffic patterns within our website and with specific third parties contracted by Unicare Pharmacy. This information is automatically logged by most websites.

Widgets
Widgets are small content modules that users can embed on their own sites. We offer widgets that are hosted on Unicare Pharmacy, like our embeddable video player, as well as widgets that are powered by 3rd party vendors. Use of the Unicare Pharmacy widgets is subject to the Unicare Pharmacy terms of use, but downloading or embedding these widgets on other websites is not covered by this privacy statement.

Use of Information
Our primary goal in collecting user information is to enhance your experience on our website.

To Provide Interactive Communications From info@unicarepharmacy.co.uk

To enhance your experience we may provide you with interactive communications, such as our electronic newsletters, to the e-mail address that you provide to us. Such interactive communications are provided only to those users who have expressly provided us with their permission to receive them as part of their user profile.

From time to time we may provide e-mails highlighting new features, promotions or contests on the website to those users who have expressly provided us with their permission to send such communications as part of their user profile.

Control of Your Information
Registered users may change the information stored in their member profile such as e-mail address, zip code, country, title and industry, and they may elect to stop receiving newsletters or marketing material from Unicare Pharmacy or on behalf of external third party business partners. Users may choose to stop receiving such communications at any time by visiting the “To unsubscribe or change your email settings” link found at the end of any such e-mail received.

Sharing of Information

Technical Services
We use third parties to provide processing, e-mail service providers and hosting services on our site. When you are on an area of Unicare Pharmacy and are asked for personal information, you are sharing that information with Unicare Pharmacy as well as business partners and vendors providing hosting and other services for Unicare Pharmacy. When you sign up for such services, we will share your personally identifiable information as necessary for the third party to provide that service. These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose. If you do not want your information to be shared, you can choose not to allow the transfer of your information by not using that particular service.

In addition, if you provide any personally identifiable information via an advertiser promotion, please be aware you are directly providing your personally identifiable information to that advertiser.

Contests or Surveys
From time-to-time we may provide you the opportunity to participate in contests or surveys on our site. If you participate, we will request certain personally identifiable information from you, such as your name and e-mail. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and you therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose this information. We use this personally identifiable information to notify contest winners and award prizes. We may use a third party service provider to conduct these surveys or contests; that company will be prohibited from using our users personally identifiable information for any other purpose. We will not share the personally identifiable information you provide through a contest or survey with other third parties unless we give you prior notice and choice.

Email Referral
We also have features that allow you to send an e-mail to yourself and/or others about an item on our site. If you choose to use our e-mail referral service, you will be required to provide the e-mail address or addresses that will be used in the notification. Upon form submission an e-mail will be generated to your recipient(s) inviting them to visit the URL you have recommended. We do not store this information other than for the sole purpose of sending this one-time e-mail.

Aggregate, Anonymous Information With Advertisers
Unicare Pharmacy derives the majority of its revenue from advertising and sharing information is essential to keeping our services affordable to users. In order to attract and retain advertisers we use the aggregated, anonymous information that we gather (as well as information from third-party market researchers) to describe our services to partners and to assist our advertisers and sponsors to better understand our audience. We do not disclose personally identifying information about our users to these parties.

As Necessary to Provide Services to You
We occasionally hire other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as handling the processing and delivery of newsletter mailings, processing transactions, or performing statistical analysis of our services. We will only provide those companies the information they need to deliver the service. In some instances these companies may collect information directly from you (such as for credit card processing for the purchase of investment newsletters). In these cases, you will be notified of the involvement of the external service provider. In all cases, these companies are subject to agreements that require them to maintain the confidentiality of your information and they are prohibited from using that information for any other purpose.

In The Event of Sale or Bankruptcy
The ownership of Unicare Pharmacy may change at some point in the future. Should that occur, we want this site to be able to maintain a relationship with you. In the event of a sale, merger, public offering, bankruptcy or other change in control of Unicare Pharmacy your information may be shared with the person or business that owns or controls this site. Opting out of receiving information from third parties will not affect our right to transfer your information to a new owner, but your choices will continue to be respected regarding the use of your information. You will be notified as described below in “How will I know if the Privacy Policy is changed.”

As Required By Law
Unicare Pharmacy may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to conform to the edicts of the law or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order or legal process served on Unicare Pharmacy or to protect and defend the rights or property of Unicare Pharmacy.

Security
Your information is stored on Unicare Pharmacy’s servers located in the United States. We use industry standard procedural and technical safeguards to protect your personal information against loss or theft as well as unauthorized access and disclosure to protect your privacy, including encryption, “firewalls” and the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). We treat data as an asset that must be protected against loss and unauthorized access. We employ many different security techniques to protect such data from unauthorized access by users inside and outside the company. However, “perfect security” does not exist on the Internet and you acknowledge and agree to assume this risk when communicating with us.

Data Processing/Safe Harbor

Privacy of Children
Kids under 13: Do not send any information about yourself to us, including information such as your name, address, or e-mail address. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. In the event that we learn we have collected any personal information from a child under the age of 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information from our database as quickly as possible.

How to Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding our privacy statement, please feel free to contact us by e-mail at info@unicarepharmacy.co.uk.

How Will I Know if the Privacy Policy Is Changed?
This statement may change from time to time, so please check back periodically. Any material changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted to this statement, the Unicare Pharmacy home page, and other places we deem appropriate.