Privacy Policy

MERU stands for Medical Engineering Resource Unit.  We’re part of the Queen Elizabeth Foundation for Disabled People (QEF).  QEF is our parent charity.  This is our privacy policy which explains how and why we collect information about you and what we do with it.

What information might we hold about you?

  • If you buy something from us, use one of our services, or sign up to receive emails from us, we may hold information such as your name, address, telephone number, email and date of birth.
  • We may hold sensitive personal information such as your racial/ethnic origin and your health, including conditions you have and how they might affect you.
  • We hold information about the services that we provide to you (including for example, the things bought or loaned, when and where, how much you paid, the way you used our service, and so on);
  • We keep information regarding the outcome of any assessment we provide to you and reports summarising these outcomes including medical references;
  • We collect information about how you have used our services, for example if you use our website, we try to identify when and how you use it through the use of cookies;

Please note that we may need you to share your personal information with us to provide you with our services.

What are our lawful grounds for processing your information?

  • When you purchase something from us you are entering into a contract. We need to process your information to manage payment and arrange delivery.
  • We need to process some information as part of our legal obligation, for example if you have declared a VAT exemption we need to record this for HMRC.
  • We will ask your consent to process your information to provide certain services, for example loaning a Bugzi wheelchair. We will also ask your consent to use data you provide to us such as images, quotes and identifying information.
  • We process some pieces of information on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests. For example we process anonymised data about online purchases.  We also process anonymised data about age, ethnicity, gender and condition to monitor equal opportunities.
  • We may process your postal address details on the basis that it in our legitimate interest to send you information related to our work, and that of QEF, that may be of interest to you.

How do we use your personal information?

We use your personal information to:

  • Offer you the services that you have requested from us;
  • Process an online purchase you have made from us;
  • Provide you with customer service;
  • Send you newsletters/updates/offers/fundraising appeals by email if you have opted in to receive these;
  • Send you newsletters/updates/offers/fundraising appeals by post;
  • Improve our service to you;
  • Report to our funders or to apply for funding.

How long do we keep your data?

If we have made something specifically for you we will keep your personal information for 10 years in line with the EC Medical Device Regulation, unless we provided the equipment to someone under 18, in which case we will keep it for a minimum of 10 years and until the person turns 25.  We keep records of our Bugzi loans until the child is 25.  We keep records of purchases (but NOT card details) for 7 years in line with our obligations to HMRC.  If you have signed up to receive news updates from us we will keep your email to provide this service until you ask us to remove it.

How do we ensure your information is kept safe?

  • We keep our paper-based records in locked cabinets and our electronic records on a secure server.
  • We limit access to your records so that only the people who need to see it can do so.
  • We check someone’s identity before giving them your information over the phone.
  • We safely dispose of your data when we no longer need to hold it.
  • We will only give your data to someone outside of the EU with your consent.
  • We use a GDPR compliant email newsletter provider.

How and why might we share your information?

We might share assessment notes or details of equipment we have provided to you with other health, education or local authority professionals who are working with you.  We will ask for your consent to do.  However, if the professional made the request to us on your behalf we ask them to obtain your consent to our involvement and sharing information before we accept their request.

We will share information about you with your parents or person with legal authority for you, but if you are aged 13 or over (and are able to give your consent) we won’t do this without asking you first.

We need to share information about you when we are working in partnership with another organisation to provide equipment or a service to you.  If you apply for a Bugzi this includes sharing your personal information with the Bugzi satellite centre that you choose so that they can provide your assessment.

We share your name and address with our courier (or the post office) to send you products you’ve purchased, or to collect items being returned.

If you have opted in to receive emails from us we may share your contact details with QEF (our parent charity) in order for you to receive newsletters and fundraising appeals.

We share your name and postal address details with QEF (our parent charity) in order for you to receive newsletters and fundraising appeals.

We use MailChimp to create email newsletters and offers. If you have signed up to receive news and offers from us your email will be added to the list stored in our MailChimp account.  When we send a newsletter, for example, MailChimp will automatically send this to everyone on the list.

Sometimes we may be required to share your personal data by law, for example if we are asked to do so by the police.

We won’t share your personal information with anyone else, including online, without your consent.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

  • Give you access to the data we hold about you.
  • Change your permission about what we can do with your data.
  • Correct information we have about you.
  • Transfer information we have about you to someone else.
  • Stop using your information.
  • Delete your information.

Sometimes we might have to hold your information for a legal reason and you can ask us to explain this.  You can opt out of our mailing list by asking us or opting out via the link at the foot of our mailings.

If you would like to do any of these things, or if you would like to ask us about your data protection and privacy, please contact us at [email protected] or write to us at MERU, 1 Metcalfe Avenue, Carshalton, Surrey SM5 4AW

We don’t use automated decision-making programs or software.

You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about our collection and use of your personal data. They can be contacted at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, www.ico.org.uk

Changes to our privacy notice

We review our privacy notice regularly and publish any updates on this web page. This privacy notice was last updated on 17th November 2022.