Last updated: 16 May 2026

The Ear Nurse respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we use it, how we keep it safe, and your rights.

The Ear Nurse is operated by Victoria Cooke, providing ear care services in the UK.

Contact details:
The Ear Nurse
Email:

  1. What Information We Collect

We may collect and use the following information:

  • Your name
  • Your phone number
  • Your email address
  • Appointment details
  • Messages or enquiries you send us
  • Relevant health information needed to provide ear care safely
  • Treatment notes, consent records, advice given, and follow-up details
  • Payment or invoice information, where needed
  • Basic website information, such as cookies or analytics data, if used

We only collect health information that is relevant to your enquiry, appointment, treatment, safety, or record keeping.

  1. Why We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

  • Respond to your enquiry
  • Arrange, confirm, or change appointments
  • Provide ear care services safely
  • Keep appropriate treatment and consent records
  • Send follow-up advice where needed
  • Manage payments, invoices, and basic business records
  • Meet legal, insurance, professional, or regulatory requirements
  • Respond to complaints or concerns
  • Maintain and improve our website

We do not sell your personal information.

  1. Health Information

Some information we collect may be health information. This is treated as special category data under UK data protection law.

We use health information only where necessary to provide care safely, keep proper clinical records, meet legal or professional duties, manage insurance or complaints, or protect someone’s health or safety.

  1. Legal Reasons for Using Your Information

Under UK data protection law, we must have a valid reason for using your information. The reasons we rely on may include:

  • To provide a service you have requested
  • To comply with legal or professional duties
  • To keep appropriate clinical and business records
  • To run and protect our business
  • To respond to your enquiries
  • To protect someone’s health or safety
  • Your consent, where this is needed

For health information, we rely on the UK GDPR conditions that allow health information to be used for healthcare, treatment, legal claims, or where you have given explicit consent where required.

  1. Who We Share Information With

We only share personal information where necessary. This may include:

  • Secure booking, email, website, or payment providers
  • Our accountant or professional advisers
  • Insurance providers, if needed
  • Other healthcare professionals, if needed for your care and where appropriate
  • Regulators, courts, or public authorities if required by law

Anyone who provides services to us must handle your information securely and only use it for the agreed purpose.

  1. How Long We Keep Information

We only keep personal information for as long as we reasonably need it.

How long we keep information depends on the type of information and why we collected it. When deciding how long to keep it, we consider:

  • whether we still need it to provide services or respond to you
  • legal, tax, accounting, insurance, and professional record keeping requirements
  • whether it may be needed to deal with complaints, safeguarding concerns, or legal claims
  • guidance from our professional regulator, insurer, or relevant clinical record keeping standards

For example, accounting and tax records are usually kept for 6 years. Clinical, consent, and treatment records may need to be kept for longer where required for professional, insurance, legal, or patient safety reasons.

When information is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it where appropriate.

  1. Cookies and Website Analytics

Our website may use basic cookies or analytics to help the website work and understand how people use it.

If we use non-essential cookies, such as analytics or advertising cookies, we will ask for consent where required. You can also control cookies through your browser settings.

  1. How We Keep Information Safe

We take reasonable steps to keep your personal information safe, including using secure systems, limiting access to records, and keeping paper or electronic records protected.

Please be aware that email and online messages may not always be completely secure, so you should avoid sending unnecessary sensitive information by email.

  1. Children

Our services are for adults and children with parent or guardian involvement.

If we provide services to a child, we will collect only the information needed to provide care safely and will involve a parent or guardian where appropriate.

  1. Your Rights

You have rights over your personal information. These may include the right to:

  • Ask for a copy of your information
  • Ask us to correct information that is wrong
  • Ask us to delete information, where this is allowed
  • Ask us to restrict how we use your information
  • Object to certain uses of your information
  • Withdraw consent, where we rely on consent

Some rights may be limited where we need to keep records for legal, clinical, insurance, or professional reasons.

To use your rights, contact us.

  1. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we use your information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve it.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Phone: 0303 123 1113

  1. Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will be available on our website.