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Privacy

This policy explains what we collect through this website, why we collect it, who sees it, and how you can get a copy or have it corrected.

Who this covers

Eye Surgery Associates provides specialist ophthalmic care across our Auckland and Northland clinics. This policy explains how we handle information collected through this website. The same principles apply to the information we collect while caring for you at one of our clinics — if you have a question about your clinical records, please contact our Privacy Officer, whose details are below.

We handle health information under the Health Information Privacy Code 2020 and the Privacy Act 2020.

What this website collects

There are two forms on this site, and they collect different things.

The referral form, used by GPs and optometrists

This form is completed by a health professional about a patient, so most of what it collects is health information about someone who is not the person filling it in:

  • the patient’s name, date of birth and phone number
  • the patient’s NHI number, where the referrer provides it
  • the suspected condition, the urgency of the referral, and any clinical notes the referrer includes — history, findings, current medications, and measurements
  • the referrer’s name, practice, role and email address

If you are a referrer, please tell your patient that you are sending us their information and why. If you are a patient and your optometrist or GP has referred you to us, you are welcome to contact us for a copy of what we received.

The appointment request form

Your name, phone number, and optionally your email address, preferred clinic, health insurer, and whatever you tell us about what you would like help with.

Why we collect it

To triage referrals, to contact you and arrange an appointment, and to provide your care. We do not use anything collected through this website for marketing, and we do not sell it or share it for any commercial purpose.

Giving us this information is voluntary — but we cannot arrange an appointment or accept a referral without the details each form marks as required. You are welcome to phone us instead of using either form.

How it reaches us, and where it goes

When you submit either form, the details are sent to our practice inbox as an email. We use a third-party service, Resend, to deliver that email. This means two things worth being clear about:

  • Email is not encrypted end-to-end. It is transmitted securely between servers, but it is not as private as a message sent inside a clinical system. If a referral is especially sensitive, Healthlink ESA4EYES or Oculo is the better channel.
  • The information is processed outside New Zealand. Resend operates from the United States, so form submissions pass through servers there on the way to us. We rely on Resend’s contractual privacy commitments to protect the information to a standard comparable to New Zealand law.

Once the email arrives, it is held in our practice email system and the relevant details are entered into your clinical record.

Who can see it

Our clinical and administrative team, so far as they need it to do their work. We may also share information with:

  • the GP or optometrist who referred you, and other clinicians involved in your care
  • your health insurer or ACC, where you have asked us to claim on your behalf
  • anyone else you specifically ask us to share it with

Beyond that, we disclose health information only where the Health Information Privacy Code or another law allows or requires it — for example, a serious and imminent threat to someone’s health or safety.

How long we keep it

We keep health information for ten years from the date we last provided you with a service. This is the minimum period set by the Health (Retention of Health Information) Regulations 1996.

An enquiry that does not become a patient record is not kept. We delete the email from our inbox, and any paper copy is shredded.

Cookies and tracking

This website sets no cookies, runs no analytics, and carries no advertising or social media trackers. Nothing here follows you between sites.

The one exception is our locations page: if you choose to open a map, that map is loaded from Google Maps, and Google may then collect information under its own privacy policy. The map is not loaded unless you ask to see it.

Getting a copy, or correcting something

You have the right to ask for a copy of the health information we hold about you, and to ask us to correct it if it is wrong. Contact us and we will help — we may need to confirm your identity first, and we will respond as soon as we can and within 20 working days.

If we do not agree that something is wrong, you can ask us to attach your own statement of correction to the record, and we will.

Contact us about privacy

Our Privacy Officer is Ashley Probett. Requests for access or correction, and any privacy question or concern, can go to admin@eyesurgeryassociates.co.nz or 09 275 1750.

If you are not happy with our response

Please tell us first — we would like the chance to put it right. If you are still not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, or, for concerns about your care, to the Health and Disability Commissioner.

Changes to this policy

If we change how we handle information collected through this website, we will update this page. It was last reviewed on 11 August 2026.