Terms and Conditions.
VCL, VCL Surrey, VCL HeartScan, HeartScan Direct and Heartscandirect.com are trading names and entities of Virtual Cath Lab Surrey Ltd (VCL Surrey) and its parent company Virtual Cath Lab Holdings Ltd (VCL). In submitting and paying for a service the customer agrees terms and conditions of and our privacy agreement set out below: You agree to pay for any services provided by VCL and where relevant the consultant/clinician to whom you have been referred, in accordance with VCL’s terms of business. In making the booking you declare that to the best of your knowledge and belief that the information given on our registration and safety check form is true and complete.
For insured patients
You authorise VCL to submit claims relating to your/the patient’s treatment
to your/the patient’s insurer on your/the patient’s behalf. If a third party or insurer
has agreed to pay your account, you agree to pay any balance outstanding if the third
party or insurer does not pay the account in full within 30 days of any treatment or
investigations received. You should check with your insurer that you have adequate cover
prior to consultation, and be able to provide an authorisation number if applicable. If
you are aware that you have an excess on your policy or that you will have a shortfall on
treatment /investigations provided, we would appreciate payment for this the same day
and before leaving the scanner.
For self-funding patients
All self-funding patients are requested to settle their account either before or on the day of their investigation and/or treatment. Unless otherwise stated full payment is due prior to the test or service being undertaken or those booking online, or booking using promotion codes via advertising campaigns that take place from time to time, full payment is due at the time of the booking or at least 2 days prior to the appointment.
Booking fee
For all heartscan bookings, your payment upfront is composed of 2 components:
1. a non-refundable £25 ‘booking fee’ 2. the ‘test fee’ which is refundable if the test is
cancelled 14 days or more prior to the day chosen by you for the test
Our cancellation policy
Bookings can be cancelled for any reason if done so with at least 14 days’ notice whereby the
test fee will be refunded in full within 10 working days of the cancellation, however the £25
booking fee is NOT refundable, as each booking made requires our teams to process the referral,
create a medical record and administer the request, including undertaking medical exposure safety
checks.
Bookings that are cancelled less than 14 days before the date cannot be refunded.
In making a booking for a test that requires
exposure to ionising radiation (such as a Cardiac CT or Calcium score) we are required to ensure
the small risks of an x-ray exposure are outweighed by its diagnostic benefits. For this reason
all CT scan self-referrals are deemed 'provisional' and cannot be confirmed until a full safety
questionnaire is completed and returned (either online or paper).
Force majeure and equipment breakdowns
Due to the complexity of modern CT scanners there is a small chance of mechanical breakdown on the
day which would mean we would need to reschedule your scan at short notice. The company has contingency
plans to notify its customers by SMS and Twitter feed in the event of such unforeseen circumstances
and would then endeavour to reschedule your scan as soon as possible. VCL management can apply
discretion in making judgment in all requests for refunds made on cancellations made within the
14 day period- so for example to In the event that the booking is made in good faith within the
14 day period prior to the scan date and subsequent safety check reveal a contraindication for
scanning, the management would usually apply discretion and refund the test fee.
Our pricing guarantee
Heartscandirect and VCL are new companies, however our teams and directors are all established
medical providers for over 10 years so have an excellent credit history and rating. For reasons
of economy we have teamed up with our first host site SCVC back office to share both teams and
financial back office systems, including accounting, payment platforms and accounting systems.
This means we are able to offer very strong financial backing from established medical businesses
that have been operating for over 14 years. We can therefore guarantee that if you book and pay
for a heartscan we can guarantee your money is safe with us and that we will undertake your scan
or, if you decide to cancel it 14 days or more before the scan, we will refund your scan fee
(less our £25 booking fee). We also guarantee that the price that you booked at is the price
you will pay.
GDPR and your sensitive personal data
On making a heartscan booking directly with us the person making the booking gives VCL and its
clinical host sites – including SCVC – explicit consent to hold their sensitive information in secure
places for the purposes of undertaking the heart scan and providing a scan report and medical
opinion where required. The client understand the nature and consequence of your personal data
being processed as set out below in the ‘Data Protection Notice’ shown below in relation to
your treatment and care.
Data protection notice.
Confidentiality
The confidentiality of patient information is of paramount concern to VCL. To this
end, VCL complies with Data Protection Legislation (Act 1998) GDPR and clinical
confidentiality guidelines.
Clinical Information
Clinical information will be kept confidential
and secure. It will only be disclosed to and received from those involved with your treatment
or care, or to their agents and, if applicable, any person or organisation who may be responsible
for meeting your treatment and expenses, or their agents. Such people or organisations may wish
to send details of your treatment or expenses to countries outside of the European Economic Area for processing.
Storage of Records
VCL contract with third parties for the storage of part of your electronic clinical record
(Data processors) in secure cloud servers and paper records/archives operating outside the clinic.
VCL (your Data controller) has written undertakings from such contracted storage companies
and Data processors as to the confidentiality and security in respect of such retention.
Research
Anonymised or aggregated data may be used by VCL, or disclosed to others for research or
statistical purposes and registered with such bodies.
Access to non-clinical information
Access to
non-clinical information may be granted by VCL to others (for example medical insurers) on
a strictly confidential basis in the course of and for the purpose of the efficient administration of
VCL (for example in connection with audit, systems development, managing or improving our
services) and for enabling products and services which VCL or medical insurers consider may be
of interest to you to be brought to your attention.
Fraud
Information may be disclosed to others with a view to preventing fraudulent or improper claims.
Our host site's full privacy notice can also be viewed on line at https://www.scvc.co.uk/privacy-notice