Book Appointment

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 18 September 2026

MW Phillips Opticians & Hearing Care (“MW Phillips”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and protect personal information when you visit our website, contact us, request an appointment, subscribe to our communications or use our services.

1. Who We Are

MW Phillips Opticians & Hearing Care provides optician, eye care, eyewear and hearing care services through our practices in Acocks Green, Bilston, Handsworth and Tamworth.

VS5 Limited, trading as MW Phillips Opticians & Hearing Care, is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your information, please contact us through our website or your local MW Phillips practice.

2. Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect information such as:

  • Your name
  • Email address
  • Telephone number
  • Your date of birth and postal address, where needed to identify you and provide our services
  • Your preferred MW Phillips branch
  • Appointment preferences, including preferred date and time
  • Information you provide when contacting us
  • Information you provide when requesting our services
  • Clinical records created when providing your care, including examination findings, prescriptions and treatment or aftercare records
  • Information you provide when subscribing to marketing communications
  • Information about how you use our website, including information collected through cookies and similar technologies

Information relating to your eye health, hearing or other healthcare needs is special category personal data. This includes relevant information you provide and clinical information we create when providing your care. The lawful bases and additional condition for using this information are explained in section 3.

Where contact details or clinical information are necessary to arrange or provide a service you request, we will explain this when collecting them. Without the necessary information, we may be unable to arrange the appointment or provide the service safely.

3. How We Use Your Information

We may use your information to:

  • Respond to enquiries and requests
  • Arrange and manage appointments
  • Provide our eye care, eyewear and hearing care services
  • Communicate with you about your enquiry or appointment
  • Provide information you have requested
  • Manage our relationship with you
  • Send marketing communications where you have provided appropriate consent or where otherwise permitted by law
  • Administer offers, such as our newsletter sign-up offer
  • Improve our website, services and customer experience
  • Maintain the security and functionality of our website
  • Meet our legal and regulatory obligations

Our Lawful Bases

  • Contract (Article 6(1)(b)): to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, and to arrange and provide the private services or products you request, including related appointment and service communications.
  • Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): to respond to general enquiries, manage our relationship with you, maintain appropriate care and business records, improve our services and keep our website secure. These interests are running our practices effectively, supporting continuity of care and protecting our services. We consider your rights and reasonable expectations when relying on this basis.
  • Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)): to comply with applicable duties, including keeping tax and accounting records and responding to disclosures required by law.
  • Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): to send newsletters and other marketing you have opted into, and for personal-data processing through website analytics or advertising technologies where consent is required.
  • Permitted existing-customer marketing (Article 6(1)(f)): our legitimate interest in promoting our own similar products and services, but only where the electronic marketing “soft opt-in” conditions described in section 4 are met.

For healthcare, we also rely on Article 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR and the health or social care condition in Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018, where processing is necessary to provide or manage your care. This requires processing by, or under the responsibility of, a healthcare professional or another person who owes a legal duty of confidentiality.

4. Marketing Communications

If you choose to subscribe to our marketing communications, we may use your name and email address to send you information about MW Phillips, our services, offers, news and other relevant updates.

We may also send electronic marketing about our own similar products and services where we collected your contact details directly during a sale or genuine negotiations for a sale, gave you a clear opportunity to opt out at that time, and give you an opt-out in every message. This is known as the “soft opt-in”. We will not use it where you have opted out.

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time. You can do this using the unsubscribe option included in our marketing emails or by contacting us.

You can also use our Marketing Opt-Out page to stop marketing emails. To stop other marketing communications, or all marketing, please contact your local practice.

We act on marketing opt-outs promptly. We retain only the minimum information necessary on a suppression list so that your preference continues to be respected and you are not accidentally added back to our marketing lists.

5. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share information with providers of website hosting, IT support, appointment booking, patient-record systems, communications and payment processing, where necessary to operate our business and provide our services.

Where a provider processes information on our behalf, we require it to act on our instructions under appropriate data protection terms and to protect the information it receives.

Where needed for your care or to supply your eyewear or hearing products, relevant information may also be shared with healthcare professionals involved in your care, dispensing laboratories and product manufacturers.

We may also disclose information where required by law, regulation or a lawful request.

6. Third-Party Services

Our website may use third-party services, such as appointment booking systems, website hosting, analytics, marketing platforms, forms and other technologies.

Where these services process information on our behalf, the safeguards in section 5 apply. If a provider processes information for its own purposes, its own privacy notice also explains that use.

Where required, we will seek your consent before using non-essential cookies or similar technologies.

International Transfers

You can contact us using the details in section 12 for further information about any international transfers and how to obtain a copy of the relevant safeguards.

7. Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to provide essential website functionality and, where applicable, understand how visitors use our website and improve our services.

Please see our Cookie Policy for further information about the cookies and similar technologies used on our website.

8. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

9. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including where necessary to meet legal, regulatory, accounting or reporting requirements.

The retention period depends on the purpose and type of information, whether you still receive care from us, your age, applicable clinical and NHS record-keeping requirements, tax and accounting rules, and the need to deal with complaints or legal claims.

  • Clinical records: We generally retain adult optical and hearing-care clinical records for 10 years after the patient was last seen. For children and young people, we generally retain clinical records for 10 years after they were last seen or until their 25th birthday, whichever is later. Where different legal, regulatory or NHS requirements apply, or where records are required for the management of a complaint, claim or other legitimate clinical or legal purpose, we may retain records for a longer period where necessary.
  • Enquiry and appointment correspondence: kept while the matter is active and for any further period needed to complete follow-up, address a complaint or meet an applicable record-keeping requirement.
  • Marketing information: kept while we have a valid basis to send marketing. We may retain consent and preference records to demonstrate your choices. After an opt-out, we keep the minimum suppression information needed to prevent further unwanted marketing.

When information is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

10. Your Data Protection Rights

Subject to applicable law, you may have rights including:

  • The right to request access to personal information we hold about you
  • The right to request correction of inaccurate information
  • The right to request deletion of information in certain circumstances
  • The right to request restriction of processing in certain circumstances
  • The right to object to certain processing
  • The right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
  • The right to request portability of certain information

You also have the right to object to direct marketing at any time.

To exercise your rights, please contact us using the details in section 12. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object on grounds relating to your particular situation. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing lawfully carried out before it was withdrawn.

Data Protection Complaints

If you are concerned about how we have handled your information, you can make a data protection complaint through our website or any of our practices using the details in section 12. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, investigate it without undue delay, keep you informed and tell you the outcome.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator. Contact the ICO or make a complaint, or telephone 0303 123 1113.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, technology, legal requirements or how we process personal information.

Any updated version will be published on this page with a revised “Last updated” date.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how your personal information is handled, please contact MW Phillips Opticians & Hearing Care through our website or your local practice.

For a privacy enquiry, rights request or data protection complaint, please ask for the person responsible for data protection. You can also write to any of the practices below, marking your correspondence “Data protection”.

Acocks Green: 291 Fox Hollies Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, B27 7PS — 0121 706 3998

Bilston: 53A Church Street, Bilston, Wolverhampton, WV14 0AX — 01902 491358

Handsworth: 127 Holyhead Road, Birmingham, B21 0HH — 0121 554 9876

Tamworth: 30 Ellerbeck, Stonydelph, Tamworth, B77 4JA — 01827 795161