Privacy policy

We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and this privacy policy sets out how we process your data when you use our website or app. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your data and how we will deal with it.

By clicking the “I Accept” box where indicated, submitting your data to us, or using the services, you acknowledge and accept the practices described in this policy. Accepting this policy is not the same as giving consent. Where we rely on your consent, including for research and for developing artificial intelligence (AI) models, we ask you for it separately, and you can say no without it affecting your care or your use of the Services.

This policy (together with our Terms of Use and any additional terms of use incorporated by reference into the Terms of Use, together our Terms of Use) applies to your use of:

• Our mobile application software known as NowPatient (App), available from the App Store and Google Play, once you have downloaded or streamed a copy of the App onto your mobile telephone or handheld device (Device).
• Use of our Website www.nowpatient.com (Website).
• Any of the services accessible through the App or Website (Services).

This policy sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Neither the Website nor App is intended for children, and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children except about a sub-account set up and administered by an adult. Please read the following carefully to understand our practices regarding your data and how we will treat it.

This policy is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below.

InfoHealth Limited (company number 04004930, ICO registration number Z9217372) is the controller and is responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this policy).

Infohealth Limited also runs research studies, sometimes with university partners. If you join one of those studies, you will receive a study information sheet and a research privacy notice. That notice explains how your study data is used, and it applies to your study data alongside this policy.

Our full details are:

• Full name of legal entity: InfoHealth Limited
• Email address for data protection purposes: dpo@nowpatient.com
• Data Protection Officer: Amish Patel BPharm
• UK Postal address: 28 Chipstead Valley Rd, Coulsdon, Surrey. CR5 2RA. United Kingdom.
• US postal address: 8911 North Capital of Texas Highway Suite 4200 #1263, Austin, TX 78759 United States.

If you have a concern about how we use your data, please contact our Data Protection Officer first, using the details above. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it without undue delay and tell you the outcome. You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection issues, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. Where you are resident in the EEA, you have the right to make a complaint to the relevant supervisory authority.

We keep our privacy policy under regular review.

The new policy may be displayed on-screen, and you may be required to read and accept the changes to continue your use of the App or the Website.

The personal data we hold about you must be accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your Data changes during our relationship with you.

Our App and website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers, and affiliates. Please note that these websites and any services that may be accessible through them have their privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies or for any personal data that may be collected through these websites or services. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites or use these services.

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you as outlined in the description of categories of personal data.

• Identity Data: First name, last name, maiden name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, gender and insurance status (applicable to US users only).
• Contact Data: Billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Health and Medical Data: NHS number, medicines prescribed, GP contact details, medical and health information (including symptoms) and history shared by you during consultations via the Symptom Checker or provided by third parties, such as the NHS or a family member, and NHS services used, together with records our clinicians create about your care, such as consultation notes and summaries, including any drafted with the help of AI-assisted tools and reviewed by a clinician. This data is a “Special Category of Personal Data”, to which greater protections apply under data protection law.
• Research Data: if you choose to take part in a research study or allow your data to be used for research and product development, the information described in the study information sheet or opt-in request, such as readings from a wearable device or blood pressure monitor. Research data is held under a code rather than your name, kept separately from your NowPatient account, and protected as personal data.
• Financial Data: Bank account and payment card details.
• Transaction Data: Includes [details about payments to and from you and details of website or in-App purchases, and details of repeat prescriptions ordered by, and delivered to, you].
• Device Data: Includes (App) the type of mobile device you use, a unique device identifier (for example, your Device’s IMEI number, the MAC address of the Device’s wireless network interface, or the mobile phone number used by the Device), mobile network information, your mobile operating system, the type of mobile browser you use, time zone setting, (Website) internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
• Profile Data: Includes your username and password, in-App and website purchase and repeat prescription ordering and delivery history.
• Usage Data: Includes details of your use of our Website and/or App.
• Marketing and Communications Data: Includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
• We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for the purposes described in this policy. Aggregated Data could be derived from your data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific App feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used by this privacy policy. We only treat data as aggregated or anonymous when it meets the standard in the ICO’s guidance on anonymisation, taking into account the other information that we, or anyone receiving the data, could use to identify you. Data that has had your name and contact details replaced with a code (pseudonymised data) is still personal data, and we protect it as personal data.

We will collect and process the following data about you:

• Information you give us. This is information (including Identity, Contact, Health and Medical, Financial, and Marketing and Communications Data) you consent to give us about you by filling in forms on the Website or App, by corresponding with us (for example, by email or chat) or by telling us during a consultation or otherwise. It includes information you provide when you register, set up an account on our Website or App, download or register an App, use our services, and when you report a problem with the Website, the App, or our services. If you contact us, we will keep a record of that correspondence.
• Information we collect about you and your device. Each time you visit our Website or use our App, we will automatically collect personal data including Device, Content, and Usage Data. We collect this data using cookies and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Information we receive from other sources including third parties and publicly available sources.

We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below.

• Analytics providers, such as Google, Hotjar, Bing and Plausible; and search information providers such as Google
• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services
• Medical and Health Data from the NHS. Our pharmacists will have access to your National Care Record to ensure patient care; however, we will not be able to access your full NHS medical records without your express consent. Information we view in your NHS records is used to provide your care. We do not use NHS records to find, select or contact people for research, and we do not use them to train AI models.
• Medical and Health Data for family members from any person setting up a family account.

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users of the website, App and Services, and to remember your preferences. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you use the Website or App and also allows us to improve our website and App. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites or apps set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our Website or App may become inaccessible or not function properly.

For detailed information on the cookies we use, the purposes for which we use them and how you can exercise your choices regarding our use of your cookies, see our Cookie Policy.

Where you fail to provide personal data when requested, we may not be able to provide some or all of our services.

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to do so. Most commonly we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where you have consented (and in the case of Special Category Data, where you have provided your explicit consent).
• Where we need to perform a contract we are about to enter or have entered with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

By providing your phone number and opting in, you consent to receive SMS communications from NowPatient. These communications may include but are not limited to, updates, notifications, promotional offers, and other information related to our products and services. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your carrier and plan. You can opt out of receiving SMS communications at any time by replying “STOP” to any message or updating your preferences in the ‘Notification Settings’ section of your account. Your consent to receive SMS communications is not a condition of purchase.

We will only send you direct marketing communications by email or text if we have your consent. You have the right to withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us.

Note: If you are a user in England, you will not be automatically giving us access to your NHS medical records by inputting your NHS Linkage Code or NHS login in your account on the website or App. The NHS Linkage Code or NHS login in your account simply provides a portal by which you can access your NHS records. We will not have access to your NHS medical records unless you specifically consent and allow us access.

We use AI-assisted tools to support our clinicians, for example to help prepare consultation summaries. A clinician reviews AI output before it is acted on or shared. Our AI Build Policy explains how these tools are governed. AI providers we use act only on our instructions, receive de-identified data, and are not permitted by contract to train their own models on it.

We do not use your identifiable health data to train AI models, or share it with anyone for research, unless you have opted in. We ask for this separately from accepting this policy and from your care. Saying no will not affect your care or the Services you receive, and you can change your mind at any time in your account settings or by contacting our Data Protection Officer.

If you opt in, this is what it means:

• Your name, contact details, date of birth and NHS number are replaced with a code and kept in a separate, secure store. Only a small number of named staff can link the code back to you.
• Coded data is still personal data, and we protect it as personal data. Free-text notes are not included.
• Researchers, including university partners, work on coded data inside our own secure environment and are not permitted to try to identify you.
• If you have also agreed to sharing, we may share coded data with other research organisations and technology companies, some outside the UK, under a written contract that bans any attempt to identify you, bans passing the data on and requires deletion at the end. Wherever we can, we give access inside our own secure environment instead of sending a copy.
• Infohealth is a commercial company. Models and products developed using your data may be sold or licensed in the UK and other countries. You will not be paid for this, and you will not own any part of the products developed.
• Results may be published. Nobody will be identifiable in anything we publish.

If you withdraw, we stop using your data for these purposes and remove it from our active research datasets and from any future sharing within 30 days. We cannot remove it from a model that has already been trained, from a copy already provided to another organisation under contract before you withdrew, or from results already published. We keep a minimal record that you withdrew so that your choice is respected.

Research studies: if you take part in a specific research study, for example one run through one of our pharmacies with a university, you will receive a study information sheet, consent form and research privacy notice. Research data is kept separately from your NowPatient account and is not used for marketing.

National data opt-out: where we hold confidential patient information in connection with NHS services we provide, and you have registered a national data opt-out, we apply it to any use of that information for research or planning, as NHS England policy requires.

Automated decisions: we do not make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects based solely on automated processing, including AI. A registered clinician makes every clinical decision.

US users: protected health information is also covered by our HIPAA Privacy Notice. We do not use or disclose protected health information for research or AI development without your written authorization unless HIPAA permits it, for example when the information has been de-identified to the HIPAA standard. We do not sell protected health information.

We will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish us to explain how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us. We do not treat training AI models, developing products or carrying out research with your identifiable health data as compatible with the purpose of providing your care. We will ask for your consent first, unless the data has been anonymised.

If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

We may share your personal data with the third parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above. See “Purposes for which we will use your personal data”.

We may share your NHS number with other organisations providing your care. This is so that the health and care organisations are using the same number to identify you whilst providing your care. By using the same number, the health and care organisations can work together more closely to improve your care and support. See “Sharing your Data with other Healthcare Professionals“ below for more details.

• Service providers acting as processors, who provide IT and system administration services and video conferencing facilities, such as Aptible, Keycloak, Vonage, Lloyds Bank PLC, Capital Rx inc., and Amazon Web Services, and providers of AI models we use through our governed AI system (OpenAI, Anthropic), who receive de-identified data only and are not permitted to train their models on it.

• Research partners, such as City St George’s, University of London, who analyse coded data inside our secure environment as our processors and only on our instructions.

• Other research organisations and technology companies, only if you have opted in to sharing, who receive coded data under a contract that bans re-identification, onward sharing and use beyond the agreed purpose. A list of recipients is available from our Data Protection Officer.

• Research ethics committees, auditors and regulators, such as the ICO, the General Pharmaceutical Council and the MHRA, where the law or their oversight role requires.

• Credit card providers and banks for the processing of payments.

• HM Revenue and Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the UK who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

Please note that if you access our service using your NHS login details, the identity verification services are managed by NHS England. NHS England is the controller for any personal information you provided to NHS England to get an NHS login account and verify your identity, and uses that personal information solely for that single purpose. For this personal information, our role is a “processor” only and we must act under the instructions provided by NHS England (as the “controller”) when verifying your identity. Click here to see NHS login’s Privacy Notice and Terms and Conditions. This restriction does not apply to the personal information you provide to us separately.

Personal Demographic Services: Your NHS number is accessed through an NHS Digital service called the Personal Demographic Service (PDS). We may send basic information such as your name, address and date of birth to the PDS in order to find your NHS number. Once retrieved from the PDS, the NHS number is stored in accordance with this privacy policy. Further information on how your data is stored by the PDS can be found on their website:

• Privacy and cookies – NHS Digital

Special Category Data: We will not ordinarily share any of your medical or health information with any third party, including your GP, without your specific and explicit consent (unless you are physically or legally unable to give consent and the sharing is necessary to protect your vital interests).

Please note that we utilise the services of:

• Infermedica, Sp. z o.o. in providing the Symptom Checker. Any information that is used in the Symptom Checker will therefore be shared with Infermedica, Sp. z o.o. who will be permitted to process it on our behalf and strictly in accordance with our instructions to provide your results.

• The Doctors Laboratory Limited in providing Home Health Tests. Any information that is used in the Home Health Test will therefore be shared with The Doctors Laboratory Limited who will be permitted to process it on our behalf and strictly in accordance with our instructions to provide your results.

• Aura Genetics inc., in providing Pharmacogenetic and Home Health Tests. Any information that is used in the Home Health or Pharmacogenetics Test will therefore be shared with Aura Genetics inc. who will be permitted to process it on our behalf and strictly in accordance with our instructions to provide your results.

• ZotzKlimas in providing Pharmacogenetic Tests. Any information that is used in the Pharmacogenetics Test will therefore be shared with ZotzKlimas who will be permitted to process it on our behalf and strictly in accordance with our instructions to provide your results.

Some of our third parties are based outside the UK so their processing of your data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data. This includes the EEA and, for organisations certified under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, the United States. Where a country is not covered, we use the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU standard contractual clauses approved for use in the UK, together with a transfer risk assessment. Wherever possible, we give research recipients access inside our UK environment instead of sending them a copy.
• Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your data out of the UK.

We may share your NHS number (Users in England only) and other relevant information only to provide health and care professionals directly involved in your care access to the most up-to-date information about you. Access to your information is strictly controlled, based on the role of the professional, and is allowed only where the recipient has a direct care relationship with you.

The use of joined up information across health and social care brings many benefits. One specific example where this will be the case is the discharge of patients into social care. Delays in discharge (commonly known as bed blocking) can occur because details of social care involvement are not readily available to the staff on the hospital ward. The hospital does not know who to contact to discuss the ongoing care of a patient. The linking of social care and health information via the NHS number will help hospital staff quickly identify if social care support is already in place and who the most appropriate contact is. Ongoing care can be planned earlier in the process, because hospital staff will know who to talk to.

All information you provide to us is stored on cloud servers operated by leading operators with high levels of security. Any payment transactions carried out by our chosen third-party provider of payment processing services will be encrypted using Secured Sockets Layer technology.

Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent your data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, including encryption of your data “at rest” on our systems. Research and AI development datasets are kept separately from our operational systems, held under a code, and the key that links codes to people is kept in a separate store with its own access controls.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator when we are legally required to do so.

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your data are available in our data retention policy which is published on our Website.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see your legal rights below for further information.

We may anonymise your data to the standard in the ICO’s guidance on anonymisation and use the anonymous data for research, statistics and improving our services. Anonymous data is no longer personal data. We check that data is anonymous before using it this way and review this regularly, because what counts as anonymous can change as other data becomes available. Coded (pseudonymised) data is personal data and is kept only for the periods in our data retention policy, including the research and AI development records listed there.

If you do not use your account on the Website or the App for a period of 2 years then we will treat the account as expired and your data may be deleted.

Under certain circumstances, you have the following rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data.

You have the right to:

• Request access to your data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request. If your data has been used for research or AI development with your consent, see “Research and artificial intelligence (AI)” above for what we can and cannot remove.
• Object to processing of your data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object to where we are processing your data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your data in the following scenarios:
  • if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy;
  • where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it;
  • where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
  • you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your data to you or a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your data, including any consent to research, AI development or sharing, which you can do in your account settings or by contacting us.
• Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that has legal or similarly significant effects on you, and, where any such decision is made, to be told about it, to make representations, to have a person review it and to contest it.
• Object to the processing of your NHS number. This will not stop you from receiving care, but will result in the benefits outlined in “Sharing your Data with other Healthcare Professionals” above not being realised. To help you decide, we will discuss with you how this may affect our ability to provide you with care, and any other options that you have.

However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

You also have the right to ask us not to continue to process your personal data for marketing purposes.

You can exercise any of these rights at any time by contacting us at dpo@nowpatient.com or by post to the UK address above. We will respond within one month.

Consent means processing your data where you have signified your agreement by a statement or clear opt-in to processing for a specific purpose. Consent will only be valid if it is a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of what you want. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us.

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal obligation means processing your data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.

Explicit consent means consent given by a clear, specific statement, which we ask for separately for health data and other special category data where we rely on consent, for example to use your data for research or AI development.

Provision of health care means processing health data where it is necessary to provide or manage health care, carried out by or under the responsibility of a health professional who owes you a duty of confidentiality.

Pseudonymised data means data where your direct identifiers have been replaced with a code, so that it can only be linked back to you using separate information we keep securely. It remains personal data.

Anonymous data means data that no longer relates to an identifiable person, taking into account all the means reasonably likely to be used to identify someone. It is not personal data.