Privacy Policy

This website is operated by Ivan G. Vella, State Registered Podiatrist (“we”, “us”, “our”), based in Malta. We are the data controller responsible for any personal data you provide through this site or during your podiatric care.

Contact: ivangvella@gmail.com · +356 99421825

We process personal data in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation 2016/679) (“GDPR”) and the Maltese Data Protection Act (Cap. 586). Health information is treated as a special category of personal data and given additional protection.

• Identification & contact data — name, date of birth, address, phone number, email.
• Health data — medical history relevant to podiatric care, current medication, clinical findings, treatment notes and photographs of the affected area where clinically relevant.
• Appointment data — clinic location, date and time of visits.
• Correspondence — messages you send us by email, WhatsApp or through this website.
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, device and basic page-view information collected automatically when you visit this site.

• To provide podiatric care — Article 9(2)(h) GDPR (provision of healthcare) together with Article 6(1)(b) (performance of a contract).
• To manage appointments and reach you about your care — Article 6(1)(b).
• To meet legal and professional obligations — including clinical record-keeping required by Maltese healthcare regulation — Article 6(1)(c).
• To keep this website secure and improve it — our legitimate interests, Article 6(1)(f).
• With your consent for anything else (e.g. non-essential cookies or marketing if ever introduced) — Article 6(1)(a). You can withdraw consent at any time.

We do not sell your personal data. We only share it where necessary, with:

• The clinic where you are seen, for the purpose of scheduling your appointment.
• Your GP, consultant or other healthcare professional involved in your care, where this is needed and you have agreed.
• Trusted service providers that help us operate this website (hosting, analytics) under written data-processing agreements.
• Public authorities or regulators, where we are legally required to do so.

Some of our service providers may process data outside the EEA. Where this happens, we rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an adequacy decision.

Clinical records are kept for the period required by Maltese healthcare law and professional guidance (typically a minimum of 10 years from the last appointment, longer for minors). Other personal data is kept only as long as needed for the purpose it was collected for, and then securely deleted or anonymised.

Clinical records are stored securely with restricted access. Electronic data is held on systems protected by access controls, encryption in transit (HTTPS), and regular backups. Only the podiatrist and authorised staff at the booking clinic can access your record.

This site uses only the cookies and local storage strictly necessary to make it work (for example, to remember that you are signed in to the admin area). We do not use advertising cookies. If we ever introduce optional analytics or marketing cookies, we will ask for your consent first via a cookie banner.

You have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you;
• have inaccurate data corrected;
• ask us to erase your data, where legal record-keeping obligations do not require us to retain it;
• restrict or object to certain processing;
• receive your data in a portable format;
• withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, email us at ivangvella@gmail.com. We will respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data you can complain to the Maltese supervisory authority, the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC). We would, however, appreciate the chance to address your concerns first.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “last updated” date at the top of the page will always show the current version.