Although the legislation covers day-to-day pharmacy activities, such as filling prescriptions in person, over the telephone, or from a website, London Drugs customers are unlikely to see any differences in their pharmacy transactions. 

Effective January 1, 2004, new privacy legislation regarding the protection of personal information came into effect. This legislation is intended to protect the public from the misuse of personal information during the course of business/retail transactions. Since filling a prescription is, in effect, a retail transaction, the new legislation will also apply to London Drugs pharmacies.

Your Right to Privacy at the Pharmacy
London Drugs has always safeguarded the privacy of customers. You are therefore unlikely to experience any changes as the result of the new legislation, when filling your prescription at one of our pharmacies. 

For many years, London Drugs pharmacies have incorporated special “privacy booths” to help keep your interaction with the pharmacist private. Nevertheless, customers should be aware that, in the course of filling a prescription, our pharmacists require specific personal information which allows London Drugs to safeguard your health and correctly dispense your medication. When you present your prescription to a pharmacist, London Drugs treats this as your consent to use your personal health information to fill your prescription and provide the pharmacy services needed.

Personal Health Information
Personal information that London Drugs  normally retains on file includes your:

• name, address and telephone number
• e-mail address
• date of birth
• personal health number
• medical conditions
• medication allergies
• medication history
• third party insurance plan information

How We Use Your Personal Information
During the dispensing of your prescription, your personal information may be utilised in the following ways.

• to identify you in order to serve you;
• to ensure that the medication is appropriate for you;
• to monitor drug interactions or allergic reactions to the medication dispensed;
• to protect your health by providing you with the most appropriate advice;
• to provide health plan insurers with current and accurate personal information to properly process insurance payment claims;
• to offer additional services, information and professional consultations that may assist you in your quest for improved health and well being; and/or
• to meet professional, legal and regulatory requirements.

By using your personal information as described, we are better able to help safeguard your health.

In providing you with our professional services, London Drugs may sometimes need to disclose your personal health information. Examples are as follows:

• to the prescribing health care professional in the process of confirming or discussing the specifics of your prescription, such as the type of medication, dosage, instructions, treatment and side effects.
• to your health plan insurance agents for the purpose of processing your prescription for total or partial reimbursement to the pharmacy.
• to your authorized legal representatives and person/s to whom you have provided written authorization. The information disclosed will be limited to what is expressly permitted in the authorization.
• as required by regulatory authorities.

We will never sell any information that personally identifies a customer to any third party.

Since personal health information is vital to the safe dispensing of a prescription, London Drugs reserves the right to refuse to fill a prescription if a customer refuses to provide the necessary information.

Protecting Your Privacy
To ensure our customers’ privacy is strictly maintained, we have established a comprehensive privacy policy and appointed a Chief Privacy Officer. The officer’s duties include monitoring compliance with the relevant legislation, responding to the questions and concerns of customers, and facilitating customers’ requests for access to and correction of any personal information that London Drugs may have in its possession.

Other ways we safeguard your privacy include:

• Disposal of personal information. All papers/documentation/records containing information of a private nature are shredded, erased or destroyed by London Drugs pharmacy personnel when outdated or no longer required.
• Special education for pharmacy staff. Our  pharmacy personnel are fully aware of the importance of keeping personal information private, and act accordingly to safeguard your privacy at all times.

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