Uploading a medical photograph for your treatment does not give GetClinic permission to advertise with it. That needs your separate, specific permission. Section 60 of the Patient Marketplace Terms of Service says it in one line: uploading medical photographs does not give GetClinic a general advertising right to use those photographs.
That is a stronger protection than anonymising an image, and it is worth understanding on its own terms rather than as a setting you have to find.
You keep ownership, and the licence is narrow
Section 60 states that you retain ownership of content you own. What you grant GetClinic is a limited licence to process, store and transmit that content only as reasonably necessary to:
- operate GetClinic
- provide the services you request
- communicate with the clinics you select
- maintain records
- comply with law
- protect platform security
Advertising is not on that list, and nothing on that list can be stretched to cover it.
Who sees your photographs
Photographs are not private to you alone. Medical photographs, scans, X-rays, test results and other documents you choose to share are transmitted to the clinic you engage, because that is the request you made. Section 3 of the Health Data Privacy and Sharing Notice sets out what moves at that moment.
Before you select a clinic, the position is different. Pre-engagement request information is de-identified or pseudonymised where reasonably practicable and excludes your complete medical file. Your images do not circulate to every clinic on the marketplace simply because you used it.
See what the clinic receives, and when.
Advertising and promotion need separate permission
Section 61 of the Terms and Section 26 of the Patient Privacy Policy say the same thing twice. GetClinic will not use identifiable patient health information, medical photographs or treatment testimonials for advertising or promotional purposes merely because they were uploaded or provided for healthcare or marketplace purposes.
Before any such use, GetClinic will obtain the separate consent or authorisation the applicable law requires. Where that law requires a signed or otherwise specifically prescribed authorisation, GetClinic will obtain that form of authorisation before the promotional use. Consent for promotional use is handled separately from acceptance of the Terms.
Section 6 of the Health Data Privacy and Sharing Notice states the same rule as a prohibition on GetClinic: it does not treat uploading a medical photograph, scan or testimonial for healthcare purposes as permission to use it for advertising or promotion.
A public review is not marketing permission either
If you write a public review, that is publication of the review, not authorisation of a marketing campaign. Section 16 of the Review Integrity Policy states that a clinic must not assume a public review authorises it to reuse your name, review, photograph, health data or treatment outcome in paid advertising, social-media promotion, before-and-after marketing or other promotional material. Any such reuse is separately governed by consent and privacy law.
The same section limits how a review may be quoted where reuse is lawful: no material alteration of meaning, no misleading omission of context, no fabricated rating, and no implication that GetClinic endorses the clinic because the review appeared on GetClinic.
See how reviews and their labels work.
Withdrawing permission, and asking for deletion
Where you have given a consent or authorisation, you can withdraw it. Withdrawal applies to future processing and sharing: it does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful, and it may prevent a feature working if that feature genuinely needs the information. Where withdrawal has a material consequence, GetClinic explains it.
You can also request deletion. Send either request to [email protected] or use the Privacy Rights and Data Request Portal. Deletion rights are not absolute, and a deletion request to GetClinic does not delete a medical record the clinic is independently required to keep.
Independently of any request, Section 9 of the Health Data Privacy and Sharing Notice gives an indicative target: health data held by GetClinic for marketplace purposes is generally targeted for deletion or de-identification around 24 months after your last relevant interaction.
GetClinic is a technology marketplace. The clinic you choose provides your healthcare and is responsible for it. This is general information about how GetClinic works, not medical advice. Only the clinic's qualified healthcare professionals can decide what treatment is right for you.
See how to withdraw a consent or ask for deletion. See the Patient Marketplace Terms of Service.