1.0 Introduction
1.1 At DS Medical, we are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and service users.
1.2 This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the personal data of our website visitors and service users; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.
1.3 In this policy, "we", "us", and "our" refer to Data (Southern) Enterprises Limited T/A DS Medical. More information about us can be found in Section 9 below.
1.4 At DS Medical, we want to make sure that the website we operate looks as good as possible, but also is easy for you to use. To help us to do this, our website uses cookies. Cookies help us to assess how you use our website and also how we can improve our website. This means we have the information we need to regularly evaluate whether our website really meets your needs. Some of the cookies we use improve the functionality of our website, so if you choose to disable cookies on your browser, you might find that you can't access some aspects of our website, or that parts of the website don't function in the way that you might expect them to. Please refer to section 7 and our cookie policy for further information.
2.0 How we use your personal data
2.1 In this section we have set out:
(a) the general categories of personal data that we may process;
(b) the purposes for which we may process personal data;
(c) the legal bases of the processing.
2.2 We may process data about your use of our website and services ("usage data"). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The source of the usage data is Google Analytics. This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely to monitor and improve our website and services. The information we collect via Google Analytics does not typically contain information that could identify you personally.
2.2.1 We partner with Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft Advertising to capture how you use and interact with our website through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay to improve and market our products/services. Website usage data is captured using first and third-party cookies and other tracking technologies to determine the popularity of products/services and online activity. Additionally, we use this information for site optimisation, fraud/security purposes, and advertising. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit the Microsoft Privacy Statement
2.3 We may process your account data ("account data"). The account data may include your name, address, email address and contact telephone number(s). The source of the account data is you or your representative. We may process this account data for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, ensuring the security of our website and services, maintaining back-ups of our databases and communicating with you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the administration of our website and business and providing our services to you.
2.4 We may process your information included in your personal profile on our website ("profile data"). The profile data may include your name, address, telephone number, email address, date of birth (only where you are purchasing age-restricted items), interests and employment details. The profile data may be processed for the purposes of enabling and monitoring your use of our website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.
2.5 We may process information that you post for publication on our website or through our services ("publication data"). The publication data may be processed for the purposes of enabling such publication and administering our website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.
2.6 We may process information contained in any enquiry you submit to us regarding goods and/or services ("enquiry data"). The enquiry data may be processed for the purposes of offering, marketing and selling relevant goods and/or services to you. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps at your request to enter into such a contract.
2.7 We may process information relating to transactions, including purchases of goods and services that you enter into with us and/or through our website ("transaction data"). The transaction data may include your contact details including name, address, telephone number and email address, your card details, and the transaction details. The transaction data may be processed for the purpose of supplying the purchased goods and services and keeping proper records of those transactions. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps at your request to enter into such a contract and our legitimate interests, namely our interest in the proper administration of our website, business and services.
2.7.1 We do not retain your payment card details, including security information, for any period longer than is necessary to process your payment. Card payment details that are processed electronically are done through secure payment gateways which comply with current UK standards for PCI Compliance. You can find more information about PCI Compliance here. Further information about our payment providers can be found in section 3.3 below.
2.8 As part of your transaction data, we may process information relating to some of our products that are classed as restricted products ("restricted products data"). Restricted products include those subject to age restrictions by UK law (e.g. the sale of knives and bladed articles); products that use protected titles like Doctor, Nurse, and Paramedic; and products that relate to specific qualifications, for example PHTLS (Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support). Such restricted products are clearly identified on our website.
2.8.1. The restricted products data we collect may include proof of your age and identity (passport or valid driving licence); your professional registration details with the relevant body representing a protected title (e.g. the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) and the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC); proof of police status with a valid police warrant card; and copies of relevant and current PHTLS certification.
2.8.2 The legal basis for processing your restricted products data in respect of proof of age when purchasing age restricted items is our legal obligation, namely as a seller to comply with current UK legislation for the sale of knives and bladed articles.
2.8.3 The legal basis for us processing your restricted products data in respect of professional registrations details, police warrant information and PHTLS certification is our legitimate interest, namely as a business to ensure that products denoting restricted titles, authority and certification are not provided to those who are not legitimately entitled to use such designations.
2.9 We may process information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our email notifications and/or newsletters ("notification data"). The notification data may be processed for the purposes of sending you the relevant notifications and/or newsletters. The legal basis for this processing is consent.
2.10 We may process information contained in, or relating to, any communication that you send to us ("correspondence data"). The correspondence data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication. Our website will generate the metadata associated with communications made using the website contact forms. The correspondence data may be processed for the purposes of communicating with you and record-keeping. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business, and communications with users.
2.11 We may process information when you place an order with us for the purpose of seeking your feedback about our service ("feedback data"). This data may include your name, email address and order reference number. The source of this data is our website, other means of communication (e.g. telephone or email), in person (by placing an order at our retail store), or through other direct contact with us. This data may be processed for the purpose of seeking your review of our products/services through a review business. We currently use Trustpilot for this purpose. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely improving our products and services. Trustpilot has its own privacy policy which can be viewed at:
2.12 We may process information you provide to us when you access our live chat enquiry service (“live chat data”). This data may include your name, telephone number, email address, IP address, approximate location (based on your IP address), details of your search history at that time on our website, and information about your browser, platform and device. The live chat data may be processed for the purpose of assisting you with your enquiry via our live chat service. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely providing a live chat facility to you, to help answer your queries about our products, services and business.
2.16 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.
2.17 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our business against risks.
2.18 In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this section, we may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
2.19 Please do not supply any other person's personal data to us, unless we prompt you to do so.
3.0 Providing your personal data to others
3.1 We may disclose your personal data to any member of our group of companies (this means our subsidiaries, our ultimate holding company and all its subsidiaries) insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes, and on the legal bases, set out in this policy.
3.2 We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice, or the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
3.3 Financial transactions relating to our website and services are handled by our payment services providers, Stripe and PayPal. We will share transaction data with our payment services providers only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing your payments, refunding such payments and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds. You can find information about the payment services providers' privacy policies and practices at:
3.4In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this section, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
4.0 Retaining and deleting personal data
4.1 This section sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.
4.2 Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
4.3 We will retain your personal data as follows:
| Category | Retention Period | Notes |
| Usage data | Two years | The two year retention period starts after your last interaction with our website. It will renew on your next use of our website. |
| Account data | Duration of account, plus two years | |
| Profile data | Duration of account, plus two years. | |
| Publication data | - | See section 4.4 below. |
| Enquiry data | One year | |
| Transaction data | Seven years | |
| Restricted products data | Two years | |
| Notification data | Duration of account, plus one year, or until you unsubscribe. | You can unsubscribe from our newsletters and emails at any time via our site or by using the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the end of each email we send. |
| Correspondence data | Two years | |
| Feedback data | Three years | |
| Live chat data | Two years | |
| Pop-up data | Two years | |
| Abandoned order data | Two years | |
| Remarketing data | Two years |
4.4 In some cases it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which your personal data will be retained. In such cases, we will determine the period of retention based on the following criteria:
5.0 Amendments
5.1 We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
5.2 You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.
6.0 Your rights
6.1 In this section, we have summarised the rights that you have under data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights.
6.2 Your principal rights under data protection law are:
(a) the right to access;
(b) the right to rectification;
(c) the right to erasure;
(d) the right to restrict processing;
(e) the right to object to processing;
(f) the right to data portability;
(g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority;
(h) the right to withdraw consent.
6.3 You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you; provision of such information will be subject to the supply of appropriate evidence of your identity. For this purpose, we will usually accept a photocopy of your passport certified by a solicitor or bank plus an original copy of a utility bill showing your current address.
6.4 We may charge you an administration fee if your request is unfounded, excessive or repetitive. We may also charge you an administrative fee if you ask us to provide multiple copies of the same information.
6.5 We may withhold personal information that you request to the extent permitted by law.
6.6 You may instruct us at any time not to process your personal information for marketing purposes.
6.7 In practice, you will usually either expressly agree in advance to our use of your personal information for marketing purposes, or we will provide you with an opportunity to opt out of the use of your personal information for marketing purposes.
7.0 Cookies
7.1 A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.
7.2 Cookies may be either "persistent" cookies or "session" cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.
7.3 Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
7.4 Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.
7.5 If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.
7.6 More information about cookies, how we use them and how you can disable them can be found in our cookie policy.
8.0 Credit
8.1 This document was created using a template from SEQ Legal
9.0 Our details
9.1 This website is owned and operated by Data (Southern) Enterprises Limited T/A DS Medical.
9.2 We are registered in England and Wales under registration number 1461925, and our registered office is at Eagle Building – E2, Daedalus Park, Daedalus Drive, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, PO13 9FX.
9.3 Our principal place of business is at DS Medical, Eagle Building – E2, Daedalus Park, Daedalus Drive, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, PO13 9FX.
9.4 You can contact us:
(a) by post, at the postal address given above;
(b) by using our website contact form;
(c) by telephone, on 01329 311451; or
(d) by email, using info@dsmedical.co.uk.
10.0 Data protection officer
10.1 Our data protection officer's contact details are:
Data Protection Officer, DS Medical Eagle Building- E2 Daedalus Park Daedalus Drive Lee-on-the-Solent PO13 9FX