In the past few weeks I have received requests from both my doctor’s practice and the local chemist to use their respective websites. The doctor’s practice requested that in future instead of ringing the surgery to book an appointment, I should do it through their new reservation form on their website.
The chemist, which is part of a large franchise group, also advised that they would be discontinuing a long-standing practice of giving a $10 credit when a certain level of non pharmaceutical purchases had been made, instead now there would be a system of bonus point loyalty scheme introduced. But you had to utilise their website to access and register.
On first glance, I thought this would be okay. The doctor’s idea could make things simpler, I could make an appointment out of hours at my convenience. As for the chemist, I figured this too would be all right, the bonus is less than the previous $10 but may be fine in the long run. I really gave neither request much thought.
After a few days I had nothing much to do and. having spent an entire professional life reading contracts and their fine print, I thought that it might be interesting to do with both my doctor and chemist, given the new circumstances. What I found buried in the Terms and Conditions of both agreements to use their services was astounding.
Regarding my doctor’s reservation form, tucked about mid-way through a lengthy document, was a single clause stating that by using the reservation form, once, to make a booking I (and anyone else who used the service) agreed that the site administrators could have access to any electronically held medical records on the doctor’s personal computer regarding any and all aspects of health.
When I read the Terms and Conditions on the chemist website, a similar clause was found buried amongst the myriad clauses. I immediately rejected the chemist offer and sent them an email stating why I did so. When I next went into the local chemis, the manager asked why I had rejected the offer and when I explained it to her she was shocked.After speaking with the chemist she came back and said that they were not aware of this condition and guaranteed that any personal medical history held on us would remain confidential.
When I mentioned it to the nurse manager at the doctor’s practice I received a similar shocked response. I genuinely do not believe either my local chemist or doctor were aware of the specific condition.
It really does pay to read those pesky fine print terms and conditions.