Privacy policy

About Virgin Care

This website is owned and operated by Virgin Care Limited in conjunction with its subsidiaries (Virgin Care Services Limited, VH Community Services Limited and Virgin Care Provider Services Limited) and a number of Limited Liability Partnerships that operate under Virgin Care LLP’s,). Each of these organisations is a registered Data Controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Virgin Care Limited, its subsidiary companies and the Virgin Care LLPs are part of the Virgin Group and provide NHS services.  For the purposes of this privacy notice, Virgin Care Limited and, its subsidiaries and the Virgin Care LLPs will be known as ‘Virgin Care’.

How we use your information

We take the privacy of our website users seriously. This Privacy Policy tells you what to expect when Virgin Care collects personal information through its website. It applies to information we collect about:

  • Visitors to our website
  • Job applicants through our job application page
  • General requests for information through our contact page

When you provide information to us via this website we will store this data and hold it on a computer and/or in hard copy form. We will use this data to provide you with the services for which you have registered with us (e.g. to process job applications) and for the purposes described in this statement including, where relevant, marketing, administration, development and improvement of this website.

Read about ChatHealth and your information >

The information we collect

In order to provide you with a range of services, we may collect personal information from this website, from telephone responses, from written information sent to us and from other communications. We may for example, keep a record of your name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, preferences and any other information you provide to us or is collected by us. We may supplement the information that you provide to us with information that we receive or obtain from other sources.

Visitors to our website

When you visit our website www.virgincare.co.uk we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviours. This is statistical data only which we collect in order to find out the numbers of visitors to the site and the pages visited. The information is collected in such a way that does not identify individuals and we do not make any attempts to identify visitors this way.

Where we do collect personal information on the site, this will be made obvious to you through the relevant pages.

Web server log files

IP addresses are used by your computer every time you are connected to the Internet. Your IP address is a number used by computers on the network to identify your computer. IP addresses are automatically collected by our web servers so that data (such as the web pages you request) can be sent to you.

Web server log files are used to record information about our site, such as system errors. Log files do not contain any personal information or information about other sites which you have visited.

Use of Cookies

A cookie is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. This helps us to distinguish you from other visitors to our web site. The following lists the cookies used on this web site.

Google

Google Analytics

__utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmz
These cookies help tell us understand how many people have been to the site before, what time people visited the site and what pages were looked at.

Google Maps

google.com PREF, google.com NID
These are used by Google to track how many people use their maps. For more information, please refer to Google’s Privacy Policy for more information:

http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/policies/privacy/faq/#toc-terms-cookie

WordPress (site host)

Authentication

On login, wordpress uses the wordpress_[hash] cookie to store your authentication details wp_set_auth_cookie( $user_id, $remember, $secure )
Use is limited to the admin console area. After login wordpress sets the wordpress_logged_in_[hash] cookie, which indicates when you are logged in and who you are, for most interface use, WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual User ID (or UID) from the user database table.

Using the login pages (job application)

wp_setcookie($username, $password, $already_md5 = false, $home = ”, $siteurl = ”)
When you log into WordPress from http://example.com/wp-login.php, WordPress stores the following two cookies:

  • Your user name
  • A double-hashed copy of your password

The cookies are set to expire two weeks from the time they are set.

For more information about WordPress’s cookies, please refer to their Privacy Policy which can be found at http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Cookies

Find out more about cookies

For more information about cookies, including how to view the cookies that have been set and how to manage or delete them, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

Disclosures of your information

We may give information about you (on the understanding that such information will be kept confidential) to employees and agents of Virgin Care to administer any accounts, products and services provided to you by Virgin Care now or in the future. Otherwise we may disclose information about you to third parties:

  • where we have a duty to do so or if the law permits or requires us to do so; and
  • to anyone to whom we transfer or may transfer our rights and duties under our agreement with you.

Marketing information

Information that you provide, or that is obtained by us as a result of your use of this website, will be used by us for assessment and analysis to enable us to review, develop and improve the website and the services we offer. It will also enable us to provide you (by email, fax, telephone, post or text message (e.g. SMS)) with information which we think may be relevant and of interest to you where you have consented to being contacted for such purposes.

We will not provide you with marketing information unless you consent to receiving it when you provide your personal information, for example, when submitting your information in an online enquiry form. If you wish to receive such information you should indicate this within your correspondence when submitting your information to us.

Use of your information outside the European Economic Area

We may need to transfer your personal information to, and store it in, countries outside the European Economic Area which may not protect your personal information as extensively as the United Kingdom. If we do so we will ensure that an agreement is in place with anyone to whom we pass your information to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  By submitting your personal information, you agree to this transfer, storage and processing.

Security

We take the security of your personal data very seriously. Technical and organisational controls have been designed and implemented to protect the personal information that we hold about you. These controls have been designed to prevent unauthorised access to your personal data. However, due to the inherent security risk of providing information and dealing online, we cannot guarantee the security of any data you disclose online. Therefore, you recognise that your use of our website is entirely at your own risk.

Links to other websites

Please be aware that our site may link to other websites which may be accessed through our site. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that they will have their own cookies and privacy policies. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy and security practices of such third party websites and your use of such website is entirely at your own risk.

Your rights to access personal information

You have the right to receive information about the personal data we hold about you by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we hold information about you we will:

  • Inform you why we are holding it
  • Give you a description of the data
  • Tell you who it could be disclosed to
  • Provide you with a copy in an intelligible format

In most cases, the maximum fee for a subject access request will be £10, but this may vary if the information is about your health records. Please ensure that you direct any requests as below:

Your Health and Social Care information

We will not collect information about your health through this website.  Each of our health and social services maintains its own privacy policy in relation to your health record. The health and social professionals caring for you keep records about your health and the care you receive.  The information is stored on both paper and computer systems.  You records will include basic information such as your address, ethnic group and next of kin.  They may also contain facts about your health, including appointments and test results.  They may also contain information based on the professional opinion of the staff caring for you.  Your records are used to ensure that:

  • Staff caring for you have accurate, up to date information to help them decide the best possible care and treatment for you
  • The information is available should you need another form of care, for example referral to another service
  • There is a good basis for looking back and checking on the type and quality of care you received
  • Your concerns can be properly looked into if you have a complaint
  • We have an accurate record

For more detailed information about how healthcare record is managed, please contact the health service where you are registered or have attended. This can be found through our service summary pages or you can ask the reception staff when next attending.  Alternatively, you can direct your request to the Head of Information Governance, Virgin Care, 6600 Daresbury Business Park, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4GE or call +44 (0)845 504 0594.

All other information

Please write to the Head of Information Governance at Virgin Care at the above address.

Notification of changes

We may occasionally modify our Privacy Policy. When this happens we will publish details on this web page (see date at top of page). We will not however significantly change how we use information you have already given to us without your prior agreement.

Unsubscribe

You may unsubscribe or opt-out of marketing services at any time. You will be provided with an opportunity to do so each time we contact you with marketing information by post or email. Alternatively, you may opt out of our marketing lists at any time:

  • by sending us an email via the ‘contact us’ button at the top of the page, or
  • by sending postal mail to this address: Head of Information Governance, Virgin Care, 6600 Daresbury Business Park, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4GE.

How to contact us

If you have any comments or queries in connection with our Privacy Policy or would like more information about how your health record is managed, please either request this from service or contact the Head of Information Governance (Data Protection Officer) by sending an email via the ‘contact us’ button at the top of the page, or call +44 (0) 845 504 0594, or write to: The Head of Information Governance, Virgin Care, 6600 Daresbury Business Park, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4GE.

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller for this website is Virgin Care Limited (registered company number 5466033) of Lynton House, 7-12 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9LT.