NHS Scotland fully respects your right to privacy when using our websites. On this page you will find details of our privacy practices in connection with this website and what we do to maintain your right to privacy.
Collection of personal information on this website
NHS Scotland does not collect any personal data about you on this website, apart from information that you volunteer, either by emailing us or by submitting the online forms.
Use of personal information collected via this website
Any information, which you provide via this website is not made available to any third parties. Any information provided is used by NHS Scotland solely for the purpose of processing your information request.
Collection and use of technical information
Technical details in connection with visits to this website are logged, collected and used by our website host, Scottish Health on the Web (SHOW).
NHS Scotland will make no attempt to identify individual users. You should be aware, however, that access to web pages will generally create log file entries in the systems of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or network services provider. These entities may identify the client and device used to access a page. Such monitoring would be done by the provider of network services and is outwith the responsibility or control of NHS Scotland.
Log files are maintained and analysed of all requests for files on SHOW servers. Aggregated analyses of these log files are used to monitor website usage. These analyses are used to allow us to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our websites. All log file information collected by NHS Scotland is kept secure and is not provided to any third parties.
Use of Cookies
Due to changes in EU legislation, which came into force on 26 May 2012, we need to inform you about cookies we store on your device.
To allow us to meet the legislation we have implemented an ‘implied consent’ solution. You will see a bar across the top of the site informing you that cookies are used, and inviting you to acknowledge the message by clicking ‘OK’. You do not need to click OK and the site will continue to function as expected. If you click OK the information bar will be removed on all pages and on subsequent visits to this site.
What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small files stored in your browser and are used by most websites to help personalise your web experience. Some features on this site will not function if you do not allow cookies.
For additional information on cookies please see the Information Commissioner’s Office.
All the cookies we set on this site are deemed to be minimally intrusive in terms of your privacy. By continuing to use this site you imply that you consent to these cookies being set.
Compliance Cookies
This is a small cookie used to store your cookie preferences.
Analytics Cookies
We use Piwik Analytics service on this website to track page and visitor statistic.
Third Party Cookies
We use a number of tools and external applications to enhance visitor interaction on our site.
Functional Cookies
These cookies are used on some sites when completing online forms, logging in to the site or using other functions. They do not contain any personal information and for the most part are automatically deleted when you close your browser. This site does not use any functional cookies.
If you want to delete any cookies that are already on your computer, please refer to the instructions for your file management software to locate the file or directory that stores cookies. You can access them through some types of browser. Search in your cookie folders for ‘nhsnss’ to find our cookie if you wish to delete them.
More information about cookies, including how to block them or delete them, can be found at AboutCookies.org.
Visitors can use this website with no perceived loss of functionality if cookies are disabled from the web browser.
Details of cookies used by this website
This list shows all cookies used by Scotland’s Health on the Web , and what each is used for.
| Cookie Name | Purpose | More Information |
|---|---|---|
| _pk_ref _pk_cvar _pk_id _pk_ses | These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where vistors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. | Click here for an overview of privacy at Piwik |
| _clck | Persists the Clarity User ID and preferences, unique to that site, on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. | String |
| _clsk | Connects multiple page views by a user into a single Clarity session recording. | String |
| CLID | Identifies the first-time Clarity saw this user on any site using Clarity. | String |
| ANONCHK | Indicates whether MUID is transferred to ANID, a cookie used for advertising. Clarity doesn’t use ANID and so this is always set to 0. | Flag |
| MR | Indicates whether to refresh MUID. | Flag |
| MUID | Identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. These cookies are used for advertising, site analytics, and other operational purposes. | GUID |
| SM | Used in synchronizing the MUID across Microsoft domains. | Character Flags |
Settings
Enquiries
Privacy and data protection enquiries relating to this website may be made in writing to: SHOW Team
NHS National Services Scotland
Gyle Square
1 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9EB
email NSS.showteam@nhs.scot
Page last reviewed: 21 November 2023