We are client obsessed. That means being open about the information we collect, using it carefully, and respecting your choices and your privacy rights. Vetora is a 100% New Zealand owned vet club, established by farmers for farmers, and looking after people, animals and communities also means looking after information carefully.
This statement covers you as a client, farmer member, website visitor, supplier, job applicant or team member. We handle personal information under the Privacy Act 2020. Our full Privacy Policy has the detail behind this summary, and a separate notice may apply to a particular service, programme or research project.
We only collect what we reasonably need. That is your name and contact details; your client, farm, business, membership and account details; your appointments, purchases, payments, debts, enquiries, complaints and consents; information about your animals, including ownership, identification, clinical history, treatments, medicines, laboratory results and referrals; herd, production, disease and farm management information for farm clients; and website information such as what you enter into our online forms, along with your device, browser and cookie information.
Wherever we can, we collect information directly from you. We may collect it from someone else where you have authorised it, where it is publicly available, where it is not practical to ask you directly, or where the law allows it, such as from an authorised farm representative, another veterinary practice, a laboratory, a farm platform or a payment provider. If we do that, we will take reasonable steps to let you know. If we are sent information we did not ask for and have no genuine need for, we will not keep it.
We use your information to provide veterinary, animal health, diagnostic, pharmacy, advisory, referral and after-hours services; to confirm who you are and what you are authorised to do; to keep accurate clinical and client records; to run accounts, payments, membership and debt recovery; to communicate about care, recalls, appointments, services, education and events; to meet our professional, legal, animal welfare, food safety and biosecurity responsibilities; to manage our people, workplaces and systems; and to improve the way we work.
We will only use your information for that purpose, a purpose directly related to it, a purpose you authorise, or another purpose the law allows.
You do not have to give us your personal information. If you choose not to, we may not be able to book your appointment, treat your animal safely, supply prescription medicines, run your account or give you the advice you have asked for. Some information we are required to collect by law, and we will tell you when that is the case.
We share only what is reasonably needed. Depending on the situation that can include other veterinarians, specialists, emergency providers and referral services; laboratories, pharmacies, suppliers and couriers; the technology, hosting, booking, payment and document providers who work for us; insurers, auditors, advisers and debt collection agencies; animal owners, farm owners, employers and authorised representatives involved in an animal's care; and government, professional, law enforcement, animal welfare or biosecurity agencies where the law requires or allows it. We expect providers working for us to keep your information secure and use it only for the service they provide.
Good farm and herd information makes for good animal health advice. We use it for the services we have agreed with you, and we seek the right authority before taking information from a farm platform, adviser or processor. Please tell us who is authorised to receive your farm information, especially where ownership, management or sharemilking arrangements involve several people.
Vetora also supports practical veterinary research, clinical studies and product evaluations, because that is how care gets better. If a project needs information that identifies you, your farm or your animal, and your consent is required, we will explain it and ask first. Choosing not to take part will not affect the services you receive. For benchmarking, research and analysis we use aggregated or de-identified information wherever it is practical.
Some of our clinics, yards, entrances and car parks use CCTV to keep people, animals, medicines and property safe. We use signage where it is practical. We do not deliberately place cameras in toilets, changing areas or anywhere else people would reasonably expect a high level of privacy. Only authorised people can view footage, and we keep it only as long as we need it.
Sometimes we need a number another organisation has given you, such as an IRD number for a team member's tax or a NAIT number for traceability. We ask for one only when we need it for the purpose it was created for, and we do not use someone else's reference number as our own way of identifying you.
We take reasonable steps to protect your information from loss, unauthorised access, misuse or disclosure, using secure buildings and systems, access permissions, multi-factor authentication, secure ways of sending information, staff training and a process for handling privacy incidents.
Some providers who work for us store information on servers outside New Zealand. Where a provider only processes information on our behalf, such as cloud hosting, the Privacy Act does not treat that as a disclosure, and we still take reasonable steps to manage the arrangement. If we do disclose information to someone overseas, we do it only where the Act allows, which means comparable privacy safeguards apply or you have given informed permission.
We keep your information only as long as we reasonably need it, and as long as clinical, professional, tax, employment or other legal requirements say we must. After that we securely destroy or de-identify it. We will not destroy information that is subject to a current request, investigation or legal hold.
You can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and you can ask us to correct it. We may need to check your identity or authority first, and we will help you make your request. We will respond as the Privacy Act 2020 requires, normally within 20 working days. The Act lets us extend that in some situations and withhold some information in limited circumstances, and we will tell you why if that happens. If we do not make a correction you have asked for, you can ask us to attach your own statement of correction, and we will.
If a privacy breach happens, we will assess it, take reasonable steps to contain it and put things right, and tell the people affected and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner when the Privacy Act requires us to.
We may contact you about animal care, appointments, recalls, accounts, service updates, education, events and offers relevant to your relationship with Vetora. You can unsubscribe from optional marketing at any time, although we may still need to send you clinical, safety, account or legal messages. Our website may use cookies to make it work, remember your preferences, keep it secure and help us understand how it is used. You can manage cookies through your browser settings, although turning them off may affect some functions.
Please contact our Privacy Officer if you have a question, want to make a request, or are unhappy with how we have handled your information. We will look into it and get back to you. You can also make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.
Privacy Officer, Vetora. hr@vetora.nz. Postal address PO Box 422, Te Awamutu 3840.
We may update this statement when our services, systems or legal duties change. The current version shows its effective date and is available on our website and at our clinics.
