Privacy policy

Cookies

The website is built using WordPress (a free, open source, content management system). Most people do not need to login to the website to access the site. If you do login to the website, a cookie will be set to ensure that you remain logged in. No advertising, third-party, or tracking cookies are used.

A single cookie will be set to record whether you have consented to cookies in line with GDPR. This cookie simply controls whether you see the GDPR consent when you come back to the site.

Hosting

The site is hosted by IONOS which is based in Europe. In order to improve the performance of the website (how quickly it is downloaded to the user), the site uses a CDN (Content Delivery Network) using computers managed by the Cloudflare network. A CDN works by storing the site on computers that are much closer different users around the world. This means that, depending on where you live, parts of the site may be served from computers in different parts of the world (including the USA).

Information recorded by the website

Some information (such as your browser, operating system, and the pages you visit) is collected automatically by the server on which the site is hosted. This provides us with information on how the site is used, which pages are viewed, and in which country the user is based. This information is anonymous and cannot identify you personally. This information is used to understand how the site is being used and to improve the performance of the site. We do not log users' personal information and we cannot link a particular user to how they use the site or what pages they accessed.

Completing rating scales

Because we used https encryption, all information sent between your browser and the server is encrypted. The form responses are automatically emailed to the service.

When completing online rating scales you should not enter any identifiable information. We will give you a unique ID so that we can match the completed form to you after we receive the anonymised form. This ID is specific to you and is not shared with anyone else. You do have the opportunity to enter your initials, but this is not required. Rating scales are automatically emailed to the service as soon as they are completed.

In order to prevent excessive or malicious completion of the rating scales, the IP address of the computer completing the scale is recorded along with the form responses.

Emails

If you send us an email regarding the service, or ask about a possible referral, we will retain this email and file it with any clinical notes that arise out of the referral. This ensures that we have as much information as possible on individuals who may be seen by the service (including the referral journal), and so that we can track any delays in referrals.

Information Security and Governance

Please note that the email addresses and contact forms provided on the site are not secure and patient-identifiable information should not be sent. If you do send information which identifies an individual (e.g. name, address, date of birth) you may be jeopardising patient confidentiality and be in breach of information governance rules.

If you do need to send patient-identifiable information (such as sending a referral or updating us on how someone is doing), please contact us first to get our nhs.scot email address. Once you have this, you can send the information via NHS email since information sent between NHS.net and nhs.scot email accounts is considered secure. We cannot be held responsible for any breaches in confidentiality caused by you sending information via unsecure routes.