What Changed in the CareClinic Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Since September

Between 1 September and 2 October 2026, we updated the CareClinic Terms of Use and Privacy Policy as new features reached clinics. Both documents now carry the date 2 October 2026. You do not need to do anything to keep your account. This post lists what changed, who it affects, and what your clinic may want to tell its patients.

Referral program

A clinic can now run a patient referral program. It stays off until the clinic switches it on, and the clinic sets every rule.

The Privacy Policy has a new section on what the program records. Each patient gets a random referral code that works at that clinic only. The clinic records who referred whom, and keeps a ledger of points earned and spent. The ledger holds identifiers, not names. A referrer sees the people they referred with names partly hidden, such as two letters followed by asterisks.

The Terms of Use add two things. Clinics now have a section on their own duties: points are a discount and never cash, the clinic may reject a referral made only to collect points, and the clinic answers for what it tells patients and publishes on a campaign page. Patients get a short note on how to treat their code and the hidden names.

When a patient's records are permanently deleted, the patient's referral code goes with them, and so does any free-text note on a points record about that patient.

Waiting-room Health Board

A clinic can put a live queue on a TV or tablet in the waiting room. The Privacy Policy now describes what the screen shows. It shows an encounter number by default. The clinic can choose a first name and initial, or a first initial and surname, but anyone in the room can read those.

The Terms of Use ask the clinic to pick the least identifying label that works, to protect the display PIN and kiosk link, and to keep patient details out of any slide it adds. A YouTube or Vimeo slide contacts that provider from the display device. The platform sends no queue or patient information to the provider.

Patient messaging is the clinic's choice

Patient messaging is off until the clinic turns it on. The Terms now say what that choice means. A clinic that opens the channel takes on the job of reading what arrives and telling patients it is not for emergencies. If the clinic switches it off later, the messages already sent stay in the record, but nobody can send new ones.

Patients now see a plain note that their clinic may not offer messaging at all, with a reminder to use the clinic's phone or email instead.

Online booking can be switched off

A clinic can close the appointment request form on its public page. The Terms of Use now say the clinic owns the message people see when the form is closed, and that requests already made keep working. A request was never a booking. An appointment exists once the clinic makes one.

Importing spreadsheets of patients and results

Both documents now cover two imports.

• Patient lists. A clinic can register a group of people from a spreadsheet. The details taken can include name, date of birth, sex, email, phone, address, civil status, a record ID and the clinic's own patient fields.
• Examination results. Staff who manage clinic settings can upload results from an annual physical examination. The import can add the person, a visit on the examination date, blood count, urinalysis and hepatitis B screening results, and a findings summary.

The Terms of Use set out the clinic's duties here. Imported lab results count as validated under the name of the person who ran the import. The on-screen review is the clinic's check, so someone who can judge the results should do it. The platform reads shorthand such as blood-pressure readings and "non-reactive" and does not promise to read every entry as its author meant it. Rows can match an existing patient by record ID or name, so the clinic checks those rows before importing. Running the same file again never changes results already recorded.

Whoever supplies the spreadsheet must have the authority to share it.

Medical certificates can carry clinical detail

A doctor can now choose to include vital signs, diagnosis and treatment, consultation notes, lab results and imaging findings on a certificate. Nothing is added unless the doctor picks it or the clinic's template asks for it. Lab results must be validated. Imaging reports must be signed.

The Terms of Use remind clinics of three points:

• A certificate shows results as they stood on the day it was issued. If a result is amended later, the clinic must reissue the certificate.
• The clinic decides what to disclose to the person receiving it.
• Fit-to-page shrinks the body text only. If the text cannot fit at the smallest size, the certificate runs to several pages and the doctor sees a warning. Check the finished PDF before release.

The QR verification page still shows initials only and no clinical information.

Pharmacy counter PINs

A clinic administrator can now set or remove a counter PIN for a pharmacist or cashier who cannot set their own. The platform records who set it and when. The person gets a notification with the digits. Those digits are deleted when the person opens the notification, or within 24 hours. The person is signed out so the old PIN stops working.

The Terms of Use call this a serious act. A PIN signs the person in as themselves, so every sale carries their name. If you did not ask for a PIN, or you think someone else knows yours, change it right away.

The Platform Admin can also exempt a clinic from single-session tracking. In that clinic, staff can stay signed in on several screens. The clinic is told when this is on.

Large file uploads

Large images, scans and documents may now upload in parts. The Privacy Policy explains that a half-finished file waits on the clinic's own storage, out of reach of the internet, and joins the patient record only when the upload finishes. An interrupted upload is deleted within hours. It never enters an export of the clinic's data.

Registration email and account suspension

The email we send to confirm a doctor registration now repeats the agreement to the Terms and Privacy Policy. Confirming your email address through that message counts as accepting both. The Terms also state our right to change the platform, and to suspend, restrict or delete accounts for non-payment, a breach of the rules or a legal requirement. Unless the breach is serious or the law says otherwise, we give notice and time to fix it first.

What your clinic can do now

1. Read the sections that match features you use. Start with section 10 of the Terms, which covers the decisions each clinic makes.
2. Review your patient-facing notices if you plan to use the referral program, the Health Board or messaging.
3. Tell staff who work at a pharmacy counter how PINs now work.
4. Ask a second person to check every imported spreadsheet before you confirm it.

Questions about any change? Write to [email protected]. The full documents are at careclinic.ph/terms and careclinic.ph/privacy.