Privacy Policy

We are committed to preserving your privacy and maintaining the confidentiality of any information that you provide us with. This policy explains how we use and protect that information. Please read this policy carefully as this policy will apply each time you submit information or data to this site and you agree that we may use that data and information in accordance with this policy.

DATA COLLECTION

When you register with us and each time you use or access the interactive parts of this Site we will collect information and data from you. This will include:

  1. Your personal details, such as the name and the contact details you give us when you register to use the interactive parts of this site and any updated personal information which you provide us with from time to time;

  2. The personal information and data you submit about yourself or on behalf of any third party in participating in any surveys, questionnaires, polls or participating in or using the other interactive parts of this site each time you use or access the interactive parts of this site. That personal information and data may include sensitive personal information relating to such matters as your racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs, political opinions, health and sex life and demographic position as well as information relating to lifestyle choices, interests, leisure activities and shopping habits.

We will also collect any other personal information which you send us by email or letter from time to time.

In this privacy policy, when we refer to your "personal information and data" we mean all the personal details, information and data that you send or submit to us from time to time including the sensitive personal information referred to earlier on in this section.

WHAT WE WILL USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION AND DATA FOR

We conduct all research, carry out polls, compile reports, track changing opinions and carry out other activities in relation to healthcare, health planning, nutrition, fitness and clinical conditions and to other areas and fields described on this site from time to time ourselves. We do not sell our database of personal information to others for such purposes or for the purposes of carrying out direct marketing. We only publish information or data or make it available to clients who commission research, reports or other information from us in non-personal form. So you should rest assured that the information and data that you submit to us will be put into nonpersonal form before it is published or made available to anyone else in these circumstances.

In order to achieve our objectives, our staff will need to store, process, reproduce, collate, adapt, use, analyse and modify the personal information and data you submit to us from time to time and to take any other steps in relation to that personal information and data we need to (in all cases whilst that personal information and data remains in personally identifiable form) in order to do the following:

  1. To meet the specific requirements of any research, survey, poll or other interactive activity you participate in from this site or any such activity which we carry out in the future using data you have previously submitted to us,

  2. To carry out group profiling (whether or not for the purposes set out in the previous paragraph), for example by analysing the personal information or data you provide us in relation to any medical condition and grouping it with the information and data of others with the same condition;

  3. To track opinions;

  4. To meet the specific requirements of any other activity we carry out from time to time;

  5. To retain that personal information and data on our database for use in relation to future activities of the type described on the first paragraph of this section

  6. To put that personal information and data into non-personal form for us to make available to others or to publish or disseminate in any form:

We will also need to store your personal information and data in a personalised form to do the following (by email to the email address or by mail to the address that you have registered with us from time to time):

  1. send you the results of the surveys, polls and questionnaires you have participated in from time to time;

  2. send you our newsletters from time to time;

  3. respond to any requests for information from you;

  4. notify you occasionally about important changes or developments to this Site;

  5. record the points earned on your account;

  6. notify you of the points you have earned; and

  7. send you cheques for any money payable to you.

If we enter into a joint venture with or sell or merge our business to or with another company, entity or business, we will need to disclose and/or provide any personal information or data that you have provided to us to our new business partners or owners in a form which is personally identifiable. We will only do so on the basis that such new partners or owners agree to treat such personal information and data in accordance with this privacy policy. Such business partners or owners shall be entitled to do everything with your personal information and data that we would be entitled to with it under this privacy policy.

Nothing in this privacy policy affects your right to decline to provide us with any personal information or data and you should not provide us with any personal information or data if you do not agree to us collecting, using and transferring it in accordance with this policy.

COOKIES

Cookies are small amounts of information which we store on your computer. Unless you have indicated your objection by emailing panel@opinionhealth.co.uk. Our system will issue cookies to your computer when you log on to this site. Cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use this site during future visits.

SECURITY

We employ security measures to protect your personal information and data from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage.

CONTACT

If you have any comments, queries and requests relating to our use of your personal information and data please contact the data manager at panel@opinionhealth.co.uk

Issue Date: 27 September 2005