Privacy policy

Information we may collect from you

We may collect and process the following data about you.

Information you give us

You may give us information about you by filling in forms on OHID websites (our sites) or by corresponding with us by phone, email or otherwise.

This includes information you provide when you register to use our site, subscribe to our service, participate in discussion boards (or other social media functions on or linked to our websites), enter a competition, promotion or survey or carry out any other activity and when you report a problem with our site. The information you give us may include your name, address, email address and phone number, personal description, and any other information you provide.

Information we collect about you

With regard to each of your visits to our site we may automatically collect the following information:

• technical information, including the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform
• information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time); products you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information, and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number

Information we receive from other sources

We may receive information about you if you use any of the other websites we operate or the other services we provide. In this case we will have informed you when we collected that data that it may be shared internally and combined with data collected on this site. We are also working closely with third parties (including, for example, business partners, sub-contractors in technical, delivery services, analytics providers, search information providers) and may receive information about you from them.

Uses made of the information

We use information held about you in the following ways.

Information you give to us

We will use this information:

• to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us
• to provide you with information about other OHID services we offer that we feel may be of interest to you, you can opt out of receiving any communication we send you relating to this at any time
• if you are an existing customer, we will only contact you by electronic means (email or SMS) with information about services we feel may be of benefit to you. If you are a new customer, we will contact you by electronic means only if you have consented to this. If you do not want us to use your data in this way, please tick the relevant box situated on the form on which we collect your data (the registration form)
• to notify you about changes to our service
• to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer

Information we collect about you

We will use this information:

• to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes
• to improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer
• to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so
• as part of our efforts to keep our site safe and secure
• to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our site about services that may interest you or them

Information we receive from other sources

We may combine this information with information you give to us and information we collect about you. We may us this information and the combined information for the purposes set out above (depending on the types of information we receive).

Where we store your personal data

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers held in England only. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Access to information

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by email. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Privacy Policy.

Information about our use of cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. We use the following cookies:

• Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.
• Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
• Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
• Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them on Cookies on the NHS website.

Please note that third parties (including, for example, providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

To find out how to allow, block, delete and manage the cookies on all standard web browsers, please go to About cookies on the Information Commissioner's Office website. If you use a mobile phone to browse our websites or other sites that use cookies, please refer to your handset manual for guidance.