Privacy Policy

Privacy Protection

This policy establishes how we handle information we learn about you when you visit our website. Protecting the privacy and personal data of our visitors is of utmost importance to us. Protecting your privacy and your personal data is an important aspect of the way we create, organise and implement our activities on-line and off-line.

Linkages Characteristics

The specific practices outlined in this privacy statement apply to the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website. Other bodies/entities linked to the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website may have different practices, though the commitment to your privacy will always be the same. You are encouraged to review the privacy statements of other bodies/entities when visiting their website(s).

Purpose Specifications and Data Collection

In general, you can browse the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website without disclosing any information about yourself. If you visit the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website to read or download information, we collect and store only the following information that is automatically recognised: the date and time, the originating IP address, the domain name, the type of browser and operating system used (if provided by the browser), the URL of the referring page (if provided by the browser), the object requested and the completion status of the request.

Cookies and Other Technologies

As described above, we sometimes collect anonymous information from visits to our site to help us provide better customer service. For example, we keep track of the domains from which people visit and we also measure visitor activity on the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website, but we do so in ways that keep information anonymous. We use the information that we collect to measure the number of visitors to the different areas of our site, and to help us make the site more useful to visitors. This includes analysing these logs periodically to measure the traffic through our servers, the number of pages visited and the level of demand for pages and topics of interest. The logs may be preserved indefinitely and used at any time and in any way to prevent security breaches and to ensure the integrity of the data on our servers.

We collect the anonymous information we mentioned above through the use of various technologies, one of which is called "cookies". A cookie is an element of data that a website can send to your browser, which may then be stored on your hard drive. For example, on a website with a login system (if users register for it), cookies are used to save the visitor's password so that it does not have to be entered at each new visit.

This anonymous information is used and analysed only at an aggregate level to help us understand trends and patterns. None of this information is reviewed at an individual level. If you do not want any transaction details used in this manner, you can disable your cookies.

Visitor's Choice

Registering on the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website is optional. If you choose not to register or provide personal information, you can still use the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust views the information that it collects as a valuable and confidential asset of which we take great care to ensure its safety.

You may choose to register and receive promotional or marketing information from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, by selecting the appropriate option when you register personal data.

We use the information for three general purposes: to fulfil your requests for certain areas of the website, to contact you if needed, and to help us maintain the website software and hardware.

Security

We intend to protect the quality and integrity of our personal information. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has implemented technologies and security policies to protect the stored personal data of our users from unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction and accidental loss. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust employees and processors who have access to personal data are obliged to respect the privacy of our visitors and the confidentiality of their personal data.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust will not sell or rent your personal information to anyone.

We will only send personally identifiable information about you to other companies or people when:

  • We respond to court orders, or any legitimate request by authorities with which we must comply for legal process; or
  • We find that your actions on our website violate these instructions.

Links

Throughout the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust website, you will find links to third party websites. Please note that Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is not responsible for the privacy policies or content on third party websites.

Privacy Support

If you have any enquiries about our privacy statement, please contact sth.infogov@nhs.net