Privacy policy

Your health information is personal. This policy explains what we collect, why, who sees it and how you can access or correct it.

It applies to this website and to the care provided by Dr Farah Alqes at Dr Farah Integrative Aesthetics. We are bound by the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, and by the standards of the Medical Council of New Zealand.

Who we are

Dr Farah Integrative Aesthetics is a trading name of Zafa Limited (NZBN 9429042040262). The practice is led by Dr Farah Alqes, who consults at Northern Specialist Centre in Silverdale and The Doctors Apollo in Albany, Auckland. In this policy, “we” and “us” mean Zafa Limited and Dr Farah. Dr Farah is the practice’s privacy officer.

What we collect

We collect only what we need to respond to you and to provide safe care.

• Enquiry form: your name, email, phone number, the pathway you are interested in, your preferred location and your message.
• Booking: your name, contact details and appointment details, collected through our booking provider.
• Your clinical record: your medical history, examination findings, test results, treatment details, consent forms, and any clinical photographs, collected during consultations.
• Website use: anonymous usage statistics, and the page and source you arrived from, so we can see what is working.

Please do not put detailed medical information in the enquiry form or in social media messages. Clinical information is collected during your consultation and kept in your clinical record.

How we use your information

• To reply to your enquiry and arrange your appointment.
• To assess, treat and follow up your care, and to keep an accurate clinical record.
• To send appointment reminders and, where you agree, information about the practice.
• To improve this website and understand how people find us.

We do not sell your personal information.

Who we share it with

We share your information only when it is needed for your care, when you ask us to, or when the law allows or requires it.

• Other health providers: for example your own GP or a specialist, so your care is coordinated. We will tell you who and why.
• Service providers: our booking and practice management software (Nookal), website hosting, email and analytics providers, who handle information on our behalf and under their own privacy terms.
• Where required by law: for example to protect someone from serious harm, or in response to a lawful request.

Clinical photographs

We may take photographs as part of your clinical record to plan and monitor treatment. We will ask for your consent first. We will not use any photograph of you for marketing, social media or training without separate, written consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

Information stored overseas

Some of our providers store information on servers outside New Zealand. Before information goes overseas, we take reasonable steps to make sure it will be protected to a standard comparable with New Zealand law.

Cookies, analytics and social media

This website uses cookies to remember where you arrived from and, if you accept them, to collect anonymous statistics through Google Analytics. Our Instagram and Facebook feeds are provided by Meta, which may set its own cookies when you interact with them. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings.

Keeping your information safe

We store records electronically using password-protected systems with restricted access, and we take reasonable steps to guard against loss, misuse and unauthorised access. If a privacy breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the Privacy Commissioner as the law requires.

How long we keep it

Under the Health (Retention of Health Information) Regulations 1996, clinical records are kept for at least ten years from the last time we provided you with care. Enquiry-form details are kept only as long as needed to respond to you and for our own records. After that, information is securely destroyed.

Your rights

• You can ask to see the information we hold about you.
• You can ask us to correct information you believe is wrong. If we do not change it, you can ask us to attach your statement to the record.
• You can withdraw consent to marketing messages or photographs at any time.

We will respond to a request as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 20 working days. To make a request, contact us using the details below.

Questions or complaints

Please contact us first so we can try to put things right. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to:

• The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (privacy.org.nz)
• The Health and Disability Commissioner (hdc.org.nz), which also handles complaints under the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it was last changed.

Contact us