Privacy and Cookies2021-09-29T08:21:26+01:00

Privacy Policy

Effective date: 17 September 2021

The British and Irish Orthoptics Society (BIOS) is committed to collecting information about people only when we need to, and to being honest and open about what information we collect, how we use it and who we might share it with. If you have any questions or worries about what information we are collecting or storing, please get in touch with us. You have the right to ask us to review and tell you about what personal information we have recorded about you, and you can make a request for it to be deleted at any time. In certain circumstances we might not be able to fully delete personal information about you, but if this is the case we will always tell you why (for more information about your right to erasure, or any other details about your rights to control the use of your personal data, please refer to the Information Commissioner’s Office).

By using our website, you consent to the collection and use of your personal information in the manner set out below. If we change or modify our privacy policy, we shall post these changes on this page so our users are always aware of what information we collect and how we use it.

Information about who uses our website

We also collect a certain amount of ‘usage data’ about the people visiting our main website. This is anonymous, and is used only to make sure that we are providing content that people are using and finding useful.

The only section of the BIOS website where your individual activity is collected is the Placement Expansion Resource Library (PERL) (see below “Tracking & Cookies Data”). This section of the website is accessible only to full BIOS members who have requested access and accepted an appropriate use disclaimer.

Our webserver and web analytic software may collect certain information regarding our main website such as:

  • IP addresses;
  • host names;
  • domain name;
  • the pages of the website you visit and the time spent on these pages;
  • the time and date of your visit
  • the browser version and platform when information is requested

We may use this information to produce aggregate visitor statistics in relation to which pages are being accessed. We may also use it to monitor usage patterns on this website in order to improve navigation and design features to help you get information more easily. This information is collated and provided to us as daily log files. These statistics will not include information that can be used to identify any individual.

Tracking & Cookies Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and hold certain information.

Cookies are files with small amount of data which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a website and stored on your device. Tracking technologies also used are beacons, tags, and scripts to collect and track information and to improve and analyse our Service.

Examples of Cookies we use:

  • Session Cookies. We use Session Cookies to operate our Service.
  • Preference Cookies. We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
  • Security Cookies. We use Security Cookies for security purposes.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service, including the Placement Expansion Resource Library.

To enable BIOS to monitor and ensure the security and confidentiality of the patient videos accessible to members on the BIOS PERL, cookies are required to track the activity of individual users accessing these resources. By accepting the disclaimer required to access the PERL, you have consented to the use of these cookies and the necessary audit of each individual user’s activity within it, including which specific videos you have accessed and when. The use of these cookies and monitoring is specific to the PERL and does not apply to other areas of the website.

We may use cookies on our website to store passwords, so that it is not necessary to provide a password for every visit to our website. We may also use cookies to track the interests of our users so that we can subsequently enhance their experience on our website.

Information about our members

The legal bit: BIOS has a legitimate interest in gathering, processing and storing personal information about our members. We do this so that we can: understand and predict the needs and wants of the people who have chosen to join our association; keep members informed about the products, services, support, events and campaigns available to them via regular email and postal communications; carry out our core function of promoting the orthoptic profession; carry out our core function of representing the interests of our members.

What this means: when you join BIOS we will ask you to complete a member profile. There are some mandatory fields, which is the bare minimum we need to support you and provide you with the membership benefits you have signed up for. These include:

  • Email address
  • First name and last name
  • The name of your employer
  • Address, postcode, city

The other bits of information we ask about are not essential, but we really appreciate it if our members do fill them in. They help us understand and support you even more, and mean that we are able to develop and promote the profession with far more accuracy. It is your responsibility to regularly check that your information is up to date so that you don’t miss out on important information and membership benefits. BIOS cannot be held responsible for anything that you do miss if you haven’t updated your details, or for any inaccuracies in the information that you have provided to us.

We use the information we hold about our members to design our services and communications to best suit you. Core member communications (Parallel Vision etc) will be sent to all relevant members. If you choose to join one or more Group/s you will also receive regular updates from that group, and some information about you will be shared with the Group Lead/s to make sure that you can access all the benefits that they offer you.

As a member of BIOS, you are automatically a member of the International Orthoptic Association (IOA). The mandatory information you provide to us will also be shared with the IOA to enable you to gain the benefits of membership of this organisation.

Information about people who contact us

BIOS has a legitimate interest in monitoring our contact with members of the public, professionals and potential leads in related businesses and other potential contacts. We may use these contacts to inform interested parties about our campaigns, events, research or other work where we believe that the person or organisation being contacted has a clear and valid connection or interest to what we are doing.

If you contact BIOS by telephone, email or post, we may keep a record. This will tell us your name, what you contacted us about, what action we took (if needed) and your contact details in case we need to get in touch with you in future. Extra information might be recorded if it is relevant – for example, if you are someone who might be interested in working with us on future projects, or if you have asked to be kept informed about our work.

If we have made contact with you at an event or in another professional capacity, or have been passed your contact details by another organisation or person, we will only store your information if we believe that you would be interested in working with us in future. If you have any questions about where we gathered your contact details, we will happily answer them.

Information about patients taking part in the Placement Expansion Resource Library (PERL)

If you have consented to have your Orthoptic assessment recorded and stored on the PERL to be used as an educational resource, then BIOS will store some of your details. BIOS will keep a secure record of your name, date of birth and contact details, so that your recording may be identified at a later date if you choose to withdraw your consent from the project.

Please click here if you wish to withdraw your consent: www.orthoptics.org.uk/withdraw-your-consent . We will ask for your email address/phone number and will contact you only to confirm that the resources have been removed.

The video recording of your eye test will only be accessible on the PERL to registered BIOS members who have accepted the below disclaimer regarding appropriate usage. The PERL is password protected. It is not possible to download or share the videos and they will not be used elsewhere.

PERL disclaimer:

I understand, accept, and agree to be bound by the requirements of the Data Protection Act (2018) and the principle of confidentiality of patient’s records and patient data. I will not make copies (Including photographs, recordings of screen-grabs) of the images or recordings of patients within the BIOS PERL.

I will not share or distribute the images on the BIOS PERL with anyone else. I confirm that I am currently a practicing orthoptist or orthoptic student, that I am using my own log-in details, that I have completed the annual e-Learning for Healthcare Data Security Awareness online module. I understand that my activity within the PERL will be monitored and analysed using cookies.

Videos accessed on the PERL are hosted on the video streaming platform Vimeo, which has servers outside and inside the UK. These videos will not be searchable or downloadable on Vimeo, or any other location aside from the PERL

Who has access to the information we store about you?

All personal data held by BIOS is stored in secure systems that are only accessible by BIOS staff members and our contracted business service providers, such as accountancy, IT support and so on (please see Glossary). We make every effort to ensure that your information is safe and private, and third party providers will only have access to data where it is vital to the service they provide to us.

This website contains links to other website’s Please note that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other website’s This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this website and we encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of other website’s

BIOS will only share personal information about our members in rare cases where there is a clear need or value in doing so. In most cases, any information about our members is anonymous – for example, we might report on the number of members in a particular town, but we would not identify the individual members to an outside organisation or individual. BIOS does not sell the names or contact information of members to anyone. We may, on occasion, send communications to members on behalf of our partners or sister organisations for research purposes; these will always be optional, and it will be made clear where the information from surveys or other responses will be going. All partnerships like this are assessed on a case-by-case basis against our commitment to and legitimate interest in the development and support of orthoptics and healthcare in the United Kingdom.

If you are located outside United Kingdom and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to United Kingdom and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.

BIOS will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organisation or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure Of Data

Legal Requirements

BIOS may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

  • To comply with a legal obligation
  • To protect and defend the rights or property of BIOS
  • To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service
  • To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public
  • To protect against legal liability

Security Of Data

The security of your data is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Retention Of Data

We will only retain your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal information for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements. Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal information are available in our retention policy and are available upon request.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data, which you have a legal right to do.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal information (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

We review the personal information (and the categories of personal information) we hold on a regular basis to ensure the data we are holding is still required and is accurate. If we discover that certain data we are holding is no longer necessary or accurate, we will take steps to correct or delete that data.

Children’s Privacy

The BIOS membership does not include any person under the age of 18 (“children”) With the exception of children who have consented to contribute video recordings to the PERL, we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 18. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your child has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Glossary

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal information for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal information for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal information where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.

THIRD PARTIES

External Third Parties:

  • Service providers acting as processors based in the UK who provide IT and system administration services.
  • Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the UK who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
  • HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
  • Third parties who we are under a legal duty to disclose or share your personal information with, for example, if required to do so by court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.
  • An independent scrutineer in the event of an election or ballot.