Who we are

Still Home is a platform that connects families with vetted, independent caregivers, called Care Partners, for non-medical care at home in Johannesburg and surrounding areas, including Midrand. Still Home does not provide medical care, and its founder is not in clinical practice.

For POPIA, Still Home is the “responsible party” for the personal information described here. Still Home is operated by Still Home (Pty) Ltd, registration number K2026757461, at 71 4th Street, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg.

Our Information Officer is Nombuso Nkambule. You can reach her at info@stillhome.co.za or on +27 74 034 1746.

What we collect

From families

• Your name, email address, phone or WhatsApp number, and the country you live in.
• Your family member’s name, address or suburb, age, routine and the help they need.
• The Care Partners you prefer, the service you want and your preferred start date.
• The names and email addresses of the family members who should receive Care Notes, and of anyone who shares the cost through Care Share.
• Payment and billing details: all payments are handled by our payment provider, PayFast, and Still Home does not store full card numbers.
• Messages, emails and notes from calls with us.

About your family member’s health

To arrange safe care, we collect some health information about your family member, such as mobility, memory, recent hospital stays and care needs. Once care starts, Care Notes record observations such as mobility, meals, sleep, medication reminders and mood. A unique identifier is associated with each profile. POPIA treats health information as special personal information. We only collect and use it with consent, and only to arrange and support their care.

From Care Partners and people who apply

• Name, contact details, ID or work authorisation, languages, experience and certificates.
• Police clearance and the results of reference checks and interviews. POPIA treats information about criminal behaviour as special personal information, and we only process it with consent, for vetting.
• Profile details shown to families, including a rating based on reference calls, and quotations from references, shared with the referee’s consent.
• Banking details, so Care Partners can be paid.

How we use it

• To understand your family member’s needs, match them with Care Partners and confirm a booking.
• To contact you about your request, your bookings and your statements.
• To send Care Notes, and to keep the family informed about the care.
• To take payment, including split payments through Care Share, and to issue booking summaries and statements.
• To vet, train and pay Care Partners, and to show families their profiles.
• To meet our legal and tax obligations, and to protect the safety of families and Care Partners.
• To improve our service. We only send marketing messages if you agree, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

We process personal information because you have consented, because we need it to arrange the care you’ve asked for, because the law requires it, or because it’s in the legitimate interests of the people receiving and giving care. We do not sell personal information.

Care notes and health information

• During each shift, the Care Partner records what they see. Every day, Still Home writes a summary from those notes and emails it to the family members named in the consent form, including any who live abroad.
• We don’t send Care Notes to doctors. A doctor sees them only if the family forwards them. Once you forward a Care Note, you decide who receives it.
• Please tell us straight away if a named family member should stop receiving Care Notes.

Who we share it with

• Care Partners receive only what they need to care for your family member, such as their address, routine and care needs.
• Doctors: we don’t send your family member’s information or Care Notes to any doctor. Your family decides whether to forward Care Notes.
• Family members named in the consent form receive Care Notes and, for Care Share, statements showing each person’s contributions.
• Service providers who help us run Still Home, such as Google (Forms, Calendar and email), WhatsApp, our payment provider (PayFast) and our website host. They may only use the information to provide their service to us.
• Authorities, when the law requires it, or to protect someone’s life or safety.

Information stored or shared outside South Africa

Some of the tools we use store information on servers outside South Africa. For example, answers to our Google Forms, bookings made through Google Calendar, and our emails are held by Google, which may store them in the United States, Europe or elsewhere. WhatsApp messages are handled by Meta. Care Notes and statements are also emailed to family members who live abroad.

POPIA allows information to be sent outside South Africa when the recipient is bound by laws, rules or agreements that protect it to a similar standard, or when you consent. We use well-established providers with strong security, and by using our forms and services you consent to these transfers.

How we protect it

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to keep personal information safe. That includes limiting who can see it, using secure, password-protected accounts and asking Care Partners and service providers to keep it confidential. If we believe personal information has been accessed without permission, we will tell the Information Regulator and the people affected, as POPIA requires.

How long we keep it

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it for the reasons above, or as long as the law requires. As a guide:

• Enquiries that don’t lead to care: 12 months after your last contact.
• Booking, payment and care records, including Care Notes: 5 years after care ends.
• Care Partner application and vetting records: 12 months after the application or the end of the relationship.

After that, we delete the information or make it anonymous.

Your rights

Under POPIA you have the right to:

• ask whether we hold personal information about you, and ask for a copy;
• ask us to correct or delete information that is wrong, out of date or no longer needed;
• object to us using your information, and withdraw your consent at any time (this won’t affect anything we did before you withdrew it, but we may then be unable to arrange care);
• opt out of marketing messages; and
• complain to the Information Regulator.

To use any of these rights, contact our Information Officer using the details below. We may ask you to confirm your identity first. Requests for access to records are handled under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

You can contact the Information Regulator (South Africa) through its website, inforegulator.org.za.

Cookies and website data

This website doesn’t currently use analytics or advertising cookies. If we add them, for example to see which pages are useful, we will update this policy and, where the law requires, ask for your consent first.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change affects how we use your information in an important way, we’ll let you know.

Contact us 

Information Officer: Nombuso Nkambule
Email: info@stillhome.co.za
Phone and WhatsApp: +27 74 034 1746
Address: 71 4th Street, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg