051 011 7009

Privacy Policy

Effective date: 2026

1. Introduction

Dr Charles van Niekerk’s practice (“the Practice”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share and protect personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), other applicable South African legislation and our professional duties of confidentiality.

This policy applies to patients, prospective patients, parents and guardians, medical-scheme members, website visitors, referring practitioners, suppliers and other people who communicate with the Practice.

2. Responsible party and contact details

The responsible party is Dr Charles van Niekerk’s specialist maxillofacial and oral surgery practice.

Practice number: 0677671
Physical address: Suite 205, 2nd Floor, Free State Medical Centre, 29 Poole Street, Brandwag, Bloemfontein, 9301
Telephone: 051 011 7009
Email: info@vnmaxfac.co.za
Website: https://vnmaxfac.co.za

Privacy-related questions and requests may be directed to the Practice’s Information Officer using the contact details above.

3. Personal information we may collect

Depending on your relationship with the Practice, we may collect:

  • identification information, including your name, identity or passport number, date of birth, sex, preferred language and signature;
  • contact information, including your physical and postal addresses, telephone number and email address;
  • information about a parent, guardian, dependant, next of kin, emergency contact or person responsible for an account;
  • medical-scheme information, including membership, dependant, plan and authorisation details;
  • financial, billing, account and payment information;
  • referral information and the details of healthcare practitioners involved in your care;
  • health and clinical information, including medical and dental history, allergies, medication, diagnoses, examination findings, imaging, pathology, treatment plans, consent forms, procedure information and postoperative records;
  • correspondence and communications with the Practice;
  • appointment and admission information;
  • information required to meet legal, regulatory, professional and insurance obligations; and
  • limited technical information generated when you use our website, such as your device type, browser, approximate location, pages viewed, cookie identifiers and security logs.

Please provide information that is accurate, complete and up to date. Where you provide information about another person, you should be authorised to do so.

4. Special personal information

Health information is special personal information under POPIA. The Practice processes health information only where permitted by law, including when it is necessary for your proper treatment and care or for the administration of the Practice.

Health information is handled confidentially and is accessible only to authorised people who require it for a legitimate purpose.

5. How we collect information

We may collect personal information:

  • directly from you or your parent, guardian, dependant or representative;
  • through registration, consent, medical-history, admission and contact forms;
  • during consultations, examinations, procedures and follow-up care;
  • from referring practitioners and other healthcare professionals involved in your care;
  • from hospitals, laboratories, radiology providers, pharmacies and other healthcare facilities;
  • from medical schemes, administrators, managed-care organisations and insurers;
  • from practice-management, billing and debt-recovery service providers where appropriate;
  • through telephone calls, email, secure messaging and other communications; and
  • automatically when you use our website.

6. Why we process personal information

We may process personal information to:

  • respond to enquiries and arrange appointments;
  • identify patients and maintain accurate clinical and administrative records;
  • assess, diagnose, plan, provide and follow up on treatment;
  • obtain and record informed consent;
  • communicate with patients, guardians, referring practitioners and other members of a healthcare team;
  • coordinate hospital admission, theatre bookings, investigations and related care;
  • request medical-scheme authorisation and submit or administer claims;
  • issue quotations, invoices, statements and receipts and manage accounts;
  • meet legal, ethical, regulatory, professional, reporting and recordkeeping obligations;
  • protect the safety, rights and legitimate interests of patients, the Practice and others;
  • manage complaints, queries, legal claims and professional indemnity matters;
  • operate, secure, maintain and improve our website and systems; and
  • send practice communications or direct marketing where lawful and, when required, with your consent.

We process information on one or more lawful grounds, including consent, performance of an agreement, compliance with a legal or professional obligation, protection of a legitimate interest, and the lawful provision and administration of healthcare.

You may withdraw consent where processing relies on consent. Withdrawal does not affect processing that occurred lawfully before withdrawal and does not prevent processing required or permitted by law.

7. Sharing personal information

We do not sell personal information.

Where necessary and lawful, we may share relevant information with:

  • healthcare practitioners involved in your treatment or referral;
  • hospitals and day hospitals where care is provided, including the hospital selected for your procedure;
  • laboratories, radiology providers, pharmacies, dental laboratories and medical-device or prosthetic service providers;
  • medical schemes, scheme administrators, managed-care organisations and insurers;
  • authorised family members, guardians or representatives where appropriate;
  • practice-management, billing, accounting, auditing, legal, debt-recovery and professional-indemnity service providers;
  • information-technology, website, cloud, communication, document-storage and security service providers acting under appropriate confidentiality and data-protection obligations;
  • regulators, statutory bodies, courts, law-enforcement authorities or other parties where disclosure is required or permitted by law; and
  • another healthcare provider or practice if the Practice changes ownership, merges or transfers records lawfully and with appropriate safeguards.

Only information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose should be shared.

8. Hospital and third-party services

Hospitals, medical schemes, laboratories and other third parties may process personal information as separate responsible parties under their own privacy policies. The Practice is not responsible for the privacy practices of independent third parties.

Links on this website may direct you to external admission portals or websites. Review the privacy notice of the relevant organisation before submitting information.

9. Website contact forms

Information submitted through our website contact form is used to respond to your enquiry and arrange appropriate follow-up.

Please do not submit confidential medical records, detailed medical histories, identity documents, medical-scheme cards or other sensitive documents through a general website contact form unless the Practice has specifically instructed you to use an approved secure method.

The website contact form is not monitored as an emergency service. In a medical emergency, contact the appropriate emergency service or go to the nearest emergency unit.

10. Cookies and website technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies for essential operation, security, preferences and, where enabled, audience measurement or analytics.

You may control cookies through your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may affect website functionality. Where consent is legally required for a non-essential cookie, we will request it through an appropriate consent mechanism.

Third-party content or services embedded in the website may set their own cookies and are governed by their own privacy policies.

11. Direct marketing

We will send electronic direct marketing only where permitted by POPIA. Where consent is required, you may refuse or withdraw it at any time. Clinical, appointment, account and service communications are not necessarily marketing communications.

12. Children's personal information

The Practice may process a child’s personal and health information where necessary for treatment, care, legal obligations or practice administration, and where authorised by a competent person or otherwise permitted by law.

Parents and guardians should provide only information necessary for the child’s care and administration.

13. Information security

We use reasonable and appropriate administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised access, interference, alteration, disclosure or destruction.

Our safeguards may include access controls, confidentiality obligations, secure storage, system security, staff awareness, backups and service-provider controls. No internet transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

If a security compromise affects your personal information, we will investigate and provide notifications where required by law.

14. Retention and disposal

We retain personal information only for as long as it is reasonably required for treatment, continuity of care, practice administration and the purposes described in this policy, or for the periods required by applicable legal, regulatory, professional, medical-scheme, tax, insurance and recordkeeping obligations.

Retention periods may differ depending on the type of record, the patient’s age, ongoing treatment, potential legal claims and other lawful requirements.

When information is no longer required and there is no lawful reason to retain it, it will be securely deleted, destroyed or de-identified.

15. Cross-border processing

Some service providers may store or process information outside South Africa. Where this occurs, the Practice will take reasonable steps to ensure that the transfer is permitted under POPIA and that appropriate safeguards apply.

16. Your rights

Subject to POPIA and other applicable laws, you may have the right to:

  • ask whether the Practice holds personal information about you;
  • request access to your personal information;
  • request correction or updating of inaccurate or incomplete information;
  • request deletion or destruction where the Practice is no longer authorised to retain information;
  • object to certain processing on reasonable grounds;
  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
  • object to direct marketing;
  • request information about the identity of third parties that have had access to your information where applicable; and
  • lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

These rights are not absolute. For example, the Practice may be required to retain clinical, billing or legal records and may refuse or limit a request where permitted by law.

To exercise a right, contact the Practice at info@vnmaxfac.co.za. We may need to verify your identity before processing a request.

17. Information Regulator

If you are not satisfied with how the Practice handles a privacy concern, you may lodge a complaint with South Africa’s Information Regulator:

Information Regulator (South Africa)
Address: Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Telephone: 010 023 5200
Toll-free: 0800 017 160
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
Website: https://inforegulator.org.za

18. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy when our services, systems, legal obligations or information-handling practices change. The current version and effective date will be published on this website.

19. Contact us

Questions, requests or complaints about privacy may be directed to:

Dr Charles van Niekerk’s Practice
Suite 205, 2nd Floor
Free State Medical Centre
29 Poole Street
Brandwag, Bloemfontein, 9301
Telephone: 051 011 7009
Email: info@vnmaxfac.co.za