The Balanced Plate Clinic - Transform Your Health with Personalized Nutrition

Privacy Policy for The Balanced Plate Clinic

This Privacy Policy describes how The Balanced Plate Clinic collects, uses, and discloses your personal information when you visit or make use of our services, including personalized dietary plans, sports nutrition, weight management programs, digestive health support, chronic disease management through diet, corporate wellness workshops, nutritional counseling for families, and food intolerance testing. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in an open and transparent manner, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and other applicable data protection laws.

1. Information We Collect

We collect various types of information in connection with the services we provide:

Personal Identifiable Information: This includes your name, address, email address, phone number, date of birth, and other contact details.
Health Information: Given the nature of our services, we collect sensitive health-related data, including medical history, dietary habits, lifestyle information, test results (e.g., food intolerance), and details about chronic conditions. This is collected with your explicit consent.
Payment Information: When you purchase services, we collect payment details (though full card numbers are typically processed by third-party payment processors).
Correspondence: Records of your communications with us, including inquiries and feedback.
Technical Data: Information about your device and how you interact with our online platform, such as IP address, browser type, operating system, and usage patterns.

2. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, primarily to provide and improve our services:

To Provide Services: To deliver personalized dietary plans, conduct consultations, manage your appointments, and provide nutritional counseling.
For Communication: To communicate with you about your appointments, services, updates, and respond to your inquiries.
For Billing and Administration: To process payments, maintain business records, and manage your account.
For Service Improvement: To understand how our services are used, conduct research, and develop new offerings. This is often done using aggregated and anonymized data where possible.
Legal Compliance: To comply with legal obligations, enforce our terms, and protect our rights or the rights of others.

3. Legal Basis for Processing (UK GDPR)

We process your personal data under the following legal bases:

Consent: For processing sensitive health data, we will always obtain your explicit consent. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Contractual Necessity: Where processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract (e.g., providing our nutritional services).
Legal Obligation: Where processing is necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Legitimate Interests: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) unless overridden by your fundamental rights and freedoms. This may include improving our services, preventing fraud, or managing our business operations, always with careful consideration of your privacy.

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your information in the following circumstances and with appropriate safeguards:

Service Providers: With third-party vendors, consultants, and other service providers who perform services on our behalf (e.g., payment processing, IT support, appointment scheduling, accredited testing laboratories for food intolerance). These parties are bound by confidentiality clauses and data protection agreements.
Professional Advisors: With legal, accounting, or other professional advisors where necessary.
Law Enforcement and Legal Requests: If required by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court order or government agency).
Business Transfers: In connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.

5. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from accidental loss, unauthorised access, use, alteration, or disclosure. These measures include encryption, access controls, regular security assessments, and staff training. However, no internet transmission or electronic storage is entirely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

7. Your Rights (UK GDPR)

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right to be Informed: To be informed about how your data is being used.
Right of Access: To request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to Rectification: To request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
Right to Erasure (ʼRight to be Forgottenʼ): To request the deletion of your personal data under certain circumstances.
Right to Restrict Processing: To request that we limit the way we use your personal data.
Right to Data Portability: To receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
Right to Object: To object to our processing of your personal data in certain situations, including for direct marketing.
Rights in relation to Automated Decision Making and Profiling: To safeguards against the adverse effects of automated decision-making.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below.

8. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

9. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

The Balanced Plate Clinic

14 High Street, Suite 3,

Manchester, Greater Manchester, M4 1AH,

United Kingdom

Phone: +44 161 784 9012

10. Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.