University of Waterloo Optometry Clinics Privacy Policy

The University of Waterloo Optometry Clinics include our faculty optometrists, staff, and students who are trained and authorized to use your personal information. Other consultants and agencies such as computer consultants, accountants, lawyers, credit card companies, collection agencies, and university employees may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to your personal information. We have ensured that they follow appropriate privacy principles.

The Optometry Clinics collect, use and disclose personal information in order to provide eye care services to you, to support the administration of eye care services, to conduct research and collect statistics, to comply with legal and regulatory requirements and for teaching purposes. 

• To provide you with appropriate eye care and advice on treatment options
• To provide ongoing eye care and identify changes over time
• To advise you that your eye care needs should be reviewed
• To invoice third parties such as OHIP and private insurance on your behalf
• To provide notice of special events or new services or products
• To comply with legal or regulatory requirements 
• To train optometry undergraduate and graduate students* 
• To conduct clinical research*

* Your identity is not revealed in these situations

Various government agencies and regulatory bodies have the authority to review our files and interview our staff as part of their mandates. In the course of performing their duties, they may have limited access to your personal information.

To provide you with some services, we may need to communicate some of your personal information to other regulated health practitioners, technicians, or laboratories. It would be rare for us to communicate your personal information without your implied consent, but this might occur in an emergency.

The Optometry Clinics understand the importance of protecting your personal information. Some of the steps we have taken to protect it include:

• Employee training is provided
• Privacy agreements are established with outside suppliers
• Information is under supervision or secured in a restricted area
• Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes
• Electronic information is transmitted through a direct line or is encrypted
• Paper information is destroyed by shredding
• Hardware containing electronic information is physically destroyed

We retain your personal information to provide ongoing eye care and to answer any questions you may have about services. By law, your records must be kept for a minimum of 10 years; in reality, your records are likely to be kept indefinitely. 

You have the right to see your personal information. We will assist you in identifying what personal information we have and in understanding that information. You also have the right to ask for incorrect factual information to be corrected. 

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, except in specific instances where the law requires the information to be disclosed. We will discontinue the use or disclosure of your personal information after receiving your written revocation of your consent.

This web page outlines the main provisions of our privacy policy. The Optometry Clinics' privacy policy conforms to UW's information management policy. This policy can be accessed electronically (for information only), and authoritative copies are held by the UW Secretariat and Office of General Counsel.

Please direct your inquiries to:

UW Privacy Officer
fippa@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567 ext. 36101
Location: Needles Hall

Optometry Clinic Privacy Officer
Inta Bregzis, Policy & Development Officer
University of Waterloo, School of Optometry & Vision Science
200 Columbia Street West
Waterloo, ON  N2L 3G1

Phone: 519-888-4567 ext. 31106
Location: OPT 160

If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you may make it in writing to our Privacy Officer, who will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly, and provide you with a formal decision in writing.

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) are complex Acts and provide some additional exceptions to the privacy principles that are too detailed to set out here or in our privacy policy.

For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario oversees Ontario's privacy legislation. The Commissioner's office also assists Ontarians with complaints or privacy-related disputes. That office can be reached at:

2 Bloor Street East, Suite 1400
Toronto, ON  M4W 1A8


Telephone: 416-326-3333
Toll free: 1-800-387-0073
TDD/TTY: 416-325-7539
Fax: 416-325-9195
Website: www.ipc.on.ca