Privacy & Cookies

This privacy policy sets out how St. Mark's Hospital Foundation uses and protects any information that you give us when you use this website.

We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website; you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

St Mark’s Hospital Foundation may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page frequently to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 1 August 2014.

How we use cookies

Cookies are harmless text files which may be stored on your computer while using the site. We use cookies to improve your browsing experience and enable certain features or functionality.

We also measure statistics about visitors to the site and their usage, for example where they came from, what pages they visit and what browser they are using. Knowing how our site is being used means we can improve our users’ experience in the future. We do not use cookies for advertising purposes or pass user data to any other organisation.

All cookies used on this site are listed below. If you do not wish these cookies to be tracked you can disable them in your browser, but this may negatively affect your experience on the site.

First party cookies

These are cookies that may be controlled and set by us on this domain, used to provide site functionality and optimisation.

Name Purpose
resolution Set and used by Adaptive Images to serve appropriately sized images to your device
wordpress_test_cookie Set and used by WordPress to test for cookie capability
comment_author, comment_author_email Set and used by WordPress to remember a commenting user’s data
wp-settings, wp-settings-time Set and used by WordPress to remember a logged-in user’s preferences

Third party cookies

These are cookies that may be controlled and set by external services / tools, used to enhance our site and provide usage information.

Name Purpose
__utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmv, __utmz Set and used by Google Analytics to track user activity
NREUM, NRAGENT, JSESSIONID Set and used by New Relic to track user activity
khcookie, NID, SNID and PREF Set and used by Google Maps to provide interactive location maps
APISID, HSID, NID, PREF, SSID, SID, SAPISID Set and used by Google Site Search to provide search functionality

Form data

We may collect the following information from any of the site’s input forms:

  • Your name and job title
  • Contact information including email address and telephone
  • Your address and postcode
  • Subscriptions to our email newsletter

Any email address data collected is never passed on to any third parties. If you do not wish to receive email newsletters from ourselves, please leave the “subscribe” option unticked when submitting any contact forms.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide while visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

  • Whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, do not tick the box to indicate that you want your email address to be used by for email marketing purposes
  • If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for email marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to the address given below
  • We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the Data Protection Act 1998. A small fee may be payable. If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to:

Data protection officer
University Hospital of North Tees
Hardwick Road
Stockton on Tees
TS19 8PE

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.