User Policy

Please take a moment to read the following User Policy. If there is anything you do not understand, then please contact us.

1. Acceptance of this User Policy

Your access and use of this website (located at https://cppd-portal-london.nhs.uk, www.synapse.nhs.uk and secure.synapse.nhs.uk), including any and all content, information and materials provided within it (together referred to as "Portal"), is subject to your acceptance of, and compliance with, the provisions of this User Policy, which incorporates our Discussion Forum Policy, our Privacy Policy, (both of which you should also read), and any other legal notices and/or instructions which may appear on Portal and/or within any Content from time to time (together this "User Policy"). The User Policy is a legal agreement between You and NHS London.

IMPORTANT: By accessing and using Portal you will automatically be taken to have read, understood and accepted this User Policy. If there is anything you do not understand you may contact us, but this User Policy shall remain in effect regardless of any such enquiry. If you do not agree to be bound by this User Policy you must cease to access and use Portal and any of the Content found within it (including any Content you have copied or downloaded).

2. Portal and Synapse

Portal and Synapse provides you with a rich collection of online facilities, which have associated rights and obligations.

Synapse has primary components:

• Content, including documented processes compiled and contributed by Members;
• Discussion Forums
• Designated private areas for Members containing Content specific to them, and which can only be accessed by its Members ("Member Areas");
• My People which allows Members to search for peers, and other Members of Synapse

3. Your obligations

IMPORTANT: You may only use Portal (including any Content you access, copy or download) for either the lawful purpose(s) of your training and work within the United Kingdom public sector or your own personal non-commercial use, and in any event in accordance with this User Policy.

You agree:

• not to use Portal (including any Content) for your personal commercial gain or to provide it to any other person to use for commercial gain
• not to change any of the text or images contained in Portal or merge it with any other text or images, or forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any of the Content;
• to comply with any legal notices contained in Portal and
• to respect and comply with the legal rights of others, in particular our rights, and the rights of our licensors (please see the paragraph on Ownership below) and any rights of individuals under the Data Protection Act 1998, the law of confidentiality, and the right of privacy under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
• To notify us promptly if you reasonably believe there may be any viruses, trojan horses, worms, time bombs hosted within Portal,
• To notify us promptly of any material hosted within Portal of which you are aware and which you reasonably believe may infringe this User Policy

In addition you agree NOT to upload, post, email or otherwise send (together "upload") or knowingly receive any Content which:

• is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, offensive, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, indecent, obscene, defamatory, invasive of another's privacy, or discriminatory whether racially, ethnically, sexually, religiously or on grounds of age, disability, sexuality or otherwise, or which may incite or instruct any person or organisation to undertake such activities;
• contains any viruses, trojan horses, worms, time bombs or any similar component likely to cause harm;
• constitutes an advertisement, encouragement, or specific recommendation to trade in any specific share or security;
• contains forged headers or manipulated identifiers in order to disguise the origins of any Content;
• infringes our legal rights or any other User, or any other person or organisation; or
• passes you off as, or in which you impersonate any person or entity, including any Public Sector Organisation or NHS London official, or otherwise misrepresents yourself or your connection with a third party in any way.

4. Uploading Content on Portal or Synapse

In addition to Your obligations you shall only upload Content:

• in accordance with any instructions we may issue from time to time;
• which does not contain any information which may constitute investment advice under the Financial Services Act 1986. Under this Act it is a criminal offence to pass on any opinion (whether your own or another person's) on investment merit and potential, unless you are subject to regulatory rules of membership of a self-regulating organisation;
• in accordance with any legal rights of other persons, including any rights under the Data Protection Act 1998, the law of confidentiality, the right of privacy under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998, or any other rights or which you are otherwise not entitled to so upload; and
• where it is into a Member Area in accordance with our requirements set out below.
• You warrant and undertake that any Content you upload is accurate and up to date, and of a quality reasonably appropriate to the nature of the Content.
• You warrant and undertake to ensure that no copyright or other IP Rights (as defined in the section on Ownership and Licence below) will be infringed by either:
• your uploading of any Content; or
• such Content being accessed, downloaded and used (in accordance with this User Policy) by either Users or, where you upload Content only to a Member Area, by the relevant Members.

IMPORTANT: Unless you include a clear legal notice, prominently positioned on the first page of any Synapse Content you upload, informing Users of any restrictions in their use of such Content, it will be deemed that Users are free to access, download and use such Content as they see fit, in accordance with this User Policy.

IMPORTANT: We reserve the right to either block access to, delete or amend any Portal and Synapse Content which you upload, as and when we deem appropriate (in our absolute discretion) from time to time, without notice to you.

If we receive any complaint in relation to any Content you have uploaded, in addition to our right to block access to, delete or amend such Content, we shall also be entitled to suspend or terminate your access to Portal and Synapse.

Where we consider it appropriate, we will endeavour to contact you to inform you that a complaint has been received in relation to Content which you have uploaded, the action that we have taken, our evaluation of the allegation, and what steps (if any) we require you to take.

5. Availability of Portal and Synapse

We shall use reasonable endeavours to ensure that Portal and Synapse is available between the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. Portal and Synapse may be available outside of those times. However We make no representation or guarantees as to availability.

We reserve the right to withdraw access to all or any part of Portal and Synapse for periods of time in order to modify Content, scheduled or emergency maintenance and other purposes without notice to you.

Since you will receive Portal and Synapse via third party telecommunications networks, you acknowledge that we cannot guarantee that the availability of Portal or Synapse will be uninterrupted or error free. Similarly we cannot guarantee that the transmission of any information over such telecommunications networks will be secure nor that you will be able to access Portal or Synapse at all times.

IMPORTANT: Portal and Synapse is therefore provided to you on an "as is" and "as and when available" basis, and your use of Synapse is at your own risk.

6. Registration and use of your data

(Please see paragraph 3 Discussion Forum Policy, in relation to the registration and use of Forum User's data.) In order to register as a Member on Synapse you must have a valid email address. In any event we may from time to time register persons as Members as we see fit.

When registering as a Member, you agree to provide accurate, up-to-date and complete information about yourself, as prompted by Synapse ("My Profile") and to promptly update Your Profile as and when any changes to Your Profile occur. In return we agree to use the data in Your Profile only in accordance with our Privacy Policy. When you successfully register as a Member you will create a Password. You are responsible for keeping your Password confidential and shall take all necessary steps to ensure that it is kept secure and not disclosed to any other person.

IMPORTANT: If you know or suspect that your Password has been disclosed to any other person you must contact us immediately and change your password. Please note that you are responsible for all activities that occur under your Password.

7. Synapse: My People

My People (the "Search Facility") is a search facility accessible by all Members to search for colleagues in Synapse, based upon enhanced search criteria. This Search Facility searches through the fields contained in Members', Records in the "My Profile" section of Synapse, to produce one or more links to profiles of relevant Members.

Your use of the Search Facility shall at all times comply with this User Policy. All communications with any other person via or arising out of Synapse shall be subject to strict adherence with the following rules:

• Sharing information - you will not sell, pass or otherwise make available any Search Facility Data to a third party. You may share Search Facility Data with your colleagues in your Organisation only where there is a reasonable need to do so (and for the purpose of the provision of a relevant public sector services), and provided that you ensure such colleagues are aware of these rules.
• Communications - any communication you make with individuals must not be unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, offensive, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, indecent, obscene, defamatory, invasive of another's privacy, or discriminatory whether racially, ethnically, sexually, religiously or otherwise, or which may incite or instruct any person or organisation to undertake such activities.
• Use of Language - your communications with individuals must not contain language that is in any way unlawful, threatening, harassing or offensive. This includes the use of swear-words, bad language and offensive nicknames.
• Breach of Confidence - your communications with, and your use of any communications received from, individuals, must not in any way breach the confidence of any person.
• Impersonation - you must not impersonate any person or identity, falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or organisation or disguise the origin of any content of such communication with any Individual.
• Viruses - you must not send any communications that contain computer viruses or any other computer code, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment.
• Illegal and Harmful Activities - you must not send any communications relating to (or including links to) pirated software (including computer games), counterfeit goods or any other material which is, or might reasonably considered to be, illegal or otherwise harmful.
• Pornography - you must not send any communications relating to (or including links to) any kind of pornography.
• Advertising - you must not send any communications containing or including links to any overt advertisements or promotional materials, or otherwise use the Search Facility or such communications to generate personal business.

8. Forums

You agree to only access and use Synapse's Discussion Forums in accordance with the Discussion Forum Policy.

9. Ownership and Licence

You acknowledge that all rights in copyright, patents, design rights, trade marks and other intellectual property rights (whether registered, capable of registration or otherwise) throughout the world, for the full duration of such rights ("IP Rights") in Portal (including in the Content) are owned by us.

Except for your use of the Content in accordance with this User Policy, you are granted no IP Rights in respect of Portal.

You may print, copy or download the content provided always that:

• Portal and/or any Education Provider are responsible for creating the content, is the acknowledged source;
• all titles credits and URLs are included; and
• you comply with any legal notice contained in the content of Portal.

This permission is revocable by us at any time.

All trade marks, logos, titles, brand and product names ("our Trade Marks") which are featured in Portal are owned by us or our licensors You may only use or refer to our Trade Marks which are included in Content downloaded, copied or printed by you in accordance with this User Policy. Otherwise you must not offer or distribute any products or services under or by reference to our Trade Marks, or otherwise reproduce any of our Trade Marks without our express written consent. In relation to any Content which you upload, you grant to us a non-exclusive royalty free licence (which includes the right to grant sub-licences) to include such Content on Portal so that it can be made available by us as part of Portal and be viewed and downloaded by Users and used and exploited as they see fit, subject to them respecting any reasonable legal notice which you may place on such Content.

12. Links

Portal and Synapse contains links to websites which are not under our control. These links are provided for your convenience only. We are not responsible for the availability or content of such websites, nor for any products or services available on them. Any such link should not be seen as an endorsement of such websites, or any products or services contained on them.

You should be aware that your use of such other websites may be subject to additional terms and conditions imposed by the owners of those websites. Your dealings with such third parties are between you and the third party, and we accept no liability as a result of you accessing such websites or entering into contractual arrangements with the operator in question.

13. Modifications to this User Policy

This User Policy (including the Privacy Policy and Discussion Forum Policy) may be amended by us in our discretion from time to time, and any such amendments shall take effect as soon as they are posted on Portal. We therefore suggest that you review the User Policy periodically.

14. Disclaimers

We do not limit our liability if you die or are injured as a result of our negligence or you suffer loss as a consequence of any fraud by us, and nothing in this User Policy should be read as making any such limitations.

You should note that since Content is provided not only by us but also by Members of Synapse we cannot and do not undertake to monitor every item of Content uploaded onto Synapse.

We do not guarantee that Portal and Synapse is virus and/or error free nor do we undertake that we have taken any particular steps to seek to ensure that it is virus and/or error free. You should always check Content before down loading. Any Content is downloaded by you at your own risk, and on the basis that you have taken reasonable steps to ensure the security of any computer equipment that you use to access Portal and Synapse (including but not limited to the installation and use of effective and up to date security programmes such as anti virus software and firewalls, and downloading and installing all security updates and patches for any software used on such computer equipment) and that you will be solely responsible for any damage to your computer system or loss of data that result from the download of such Content; and

We make no representations, warranties or endorsements about the information included in Portal and Synapse or its accuracy (including in relation to any opinions or advice given, or any links to other websites). Anything on Synapse is for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, legal or professional advice and should not be relied on without taking independent advice. Nor can we guarantee the prompt editing or removal of any inappropriate or inaccurate Content.

IMPORTANT: Please note that you are solely responsible for any decisions you take based on the information contained in the Content on Synapse. Unless we specifically state otherwise, we provide Portal and Synapse to you without any conditions, warranties, or guarantees, whether express or implied, including but not limited to any implied warranties or conditions as to the satisfactory quality or fitness for a particular purpose. All warranties are expressly excluded to the extent permitted by law.

15. Our liability

We shall not be liable to you in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for:

• any damage or loss arising from the consequences of viruses or any other malicious code received by you via Portal and Synapse or of our failure to provide Portal and Synapse in accordance with this User Policy;
• any economic losses (including loss of profits) any indirect or consequential losses, loss of data, goodwill or reputation, or for any wasted expense including but not limited to losses caused by viruses or any other malicious code,
• and any other liability we may have to you whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for any loss or damage suffered by you in relation to Portal and Synapse

In any event we will not be liable for any failure to perform our obligations if we are prevented from doing so by an event beyond our reasonable control including (but not limited to):

• strikes or labour disputes;
• acts of God, war, riot, civil action, malicious acts or damage, fire, flood or storm;
• compliance with any law, governmental or regulatory order, rule, regulation or direction, any act or omission of any government or other competent authority; and/or
• accident, equipment or services failure, including the unavailability of third party telecommunications services, lines or other equipment.

IMPORTANT: You acknowledge that, on the basis inter alia that you are accessing Portal and Synapse for educational purposes and that Portal and Synapse is provided without charge to You that the disclaimers and limits on our liability contained in this User Policy (in particular Paragraphs 13 Disclaimers and 15 Our Liability) are fair and reasonable.

16. Your liability

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your registration as a Member/User and/or your access to all or any parts of Portal and Synapse without notice to you, if we reasonably believe you to have breached this User Policy. You agree to indemnify us from and against any liability, loss, damage or expense caused to any person (including us or any other User), to the extent such losses, damages and expense is caused by:

• your use of Portal and Synapse, or to whom you have disclosed your Password (whether inadvertently or not); and/or
• any Content which you have uploaded to Synapse.

17. Termination

We are entitled to revoke your status as a Member/User or otherwise limit your right of access to Portal and Synapse at any time:

• where we believe you have materially or persistently breached this User Policy, Privacy Policy or Discussion forum Policy ; or
• in any event on 1 week's notice.

18. General

Please note the following:

• any failure or delay by us to bring legal proceedings in relation to Portal and Synapse, the Content or this User Policy shall not be regarded as a waiver of any rights, and any such waiver may only be made in writing. If we do waive any such rights, this shall not be regarded to be a waiver of any other or future rights we may have;
• if any paragraph, or part of any paragraph, of this User Policy is found by any Court, or other competent body to be wholly or partly illegal, invalid, void, voidable, unenforceable or unreasonable, that part shall be deemed to be severable from this User Policy and the remaining provisions of this User Policy shall continue in full force and effect;
• the User Policy is not intended, nor shall it operate, to create a partnership or joint venture of any kind between us and you, and you are not authorised to act as our agent;
• no term of this User Policy shall be enforceable under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 ("Act") by a third party, who is not a party to this agreement save for any other User who shall be entitled to exercise any rights it may have under that Act against you. Notwithstanding that any term of this User Policy may be or become enforceable by any other User, we shall be entitled to vary, amend, modify, suspend, cancel or terminate our agreement with you in accordance with the other terms of the User Policy, without their consent;
• you may serve any formal notice on us by contacting us, and we may serve a formal notice on you, by either first class post or email to the contact details you submitted upon registration (as may be updated by you from time to time) and such notice will be regarded as formally received by the other on the next day that is not a week end or a public holiday;
• this User Policy represents all the terms and conditions of your agreement with us that arises automatically when you use Portal and Synapse, and supersedes any previous agreements between us relating to your use of Portal and Synapse. If there are any inconsistencies between our Discussion Forum Policy, our Privacy Policy or any legal notices or instructions, and the terms and conditions set out on this webpage, then the latter shall prevail;
• you acknowledge that (in relation to your use of Portal and Synapse) you have not relied on any statement, representation, warranty or understanding made by us or on our behalf (whether or not made negligently) other than those expressly set out in this User Policy;
• this User Policy shall be interpreted in accordance with English Law and you and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

19. Contacting Us

You can contact us by sending an email to: ld.cpd@nhs.net

Or by writing to us at:

CNMET CPPD Team
105 Victoria Street
Southside
London
SW1E 6QT

Synapse Discussion Forum Policy

Please take a moment to read the following Discussion Forum Policy. This should be read in conjunction with our User Policy and Privacy Policy. If there is anything you do not understand, then please contact us. This Discussion Forum Policy sets out certain rules that will govern your use of the discussion forums ("Discussion Forums") including some guidelines that we hope you will find helpful. The Discussion Forums are only available to users registered with Synapse ("Forum Users"). Some specific Discussion Forums are further limited to specific user groups.

To become a Forum User you must be registered as a Member of Synapse (please see our User Policy for details).

The Discussion Forums are provided as a place for Forum Users to report information, seek advice and share ideas. Forum Users are asked to respect other Forum Users and their rights.

1. This Discussion Forum Policy

Your access and use of the Discussion Forums is subject to your acceptance of, and compliance with the provisions of this Discussion Forum Policy and any other legal notices and/or instructions which may appear in the Discussion Forums (including in any messages or attachments posted on a Discussion Forum) from time to time.

IMPORTANT: By accessing and using the Discussion Forums you will automatically be taken to have read, understood and accepted this Discussion Forum Policy. If you do not agree to be bound by this Discussion Forum Policy, please cease to access any Discussion Forums. If you fail to observe any of the provisions of this Discussion Forum Policy, we reserve the right, at our discretion and without notice, to remove or edit any Messages and/or to exclude you (either temporarily or permanently) from the Discussion Forums, depending on the nature and severity of your breach. This Discussion Forum Policy may be amended by us in our discretion from time to time, and any such amendments shall take effect as soon as they are posted on Synapse. We therefore suggest that you review it periodically.

2. Rules for using the Discussion Forums

• General Behaviour - Forum Users must not transmit to any Discussion Forum ("Post") any message or reply (including attachments) ("Message"), or knowingly receive via a Discussion Forum ("Access") any Message that is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent, offensive, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, indecent, obscene, defamatory, invasive of another’s privacy, or discriminatory whether racially, ethnically, sexually, religiously or on grounds of age, disability, sexuality or otherwise, or which may incite or instruct any person or organisation to undertake such activities.
• Use of Language - Forum Users must not Post or Access Messages containing language that is in any way unlawful, threatening harassing or offensive. This includes the use of swear-words, bad language and offensive nicknames.
• Breach of Confidence - Forum Users must not Post or Access Messages that might in any way breach the confidence of another individual. For example, an email received from an individual cannot be placed on a Discussion Forum without first obtaining that individual’s consent.
• Breach of Intellectual Property - Forum Users must not Post or Access Messages that might in any way infringe any patent, trade mark, trade secret, copyright, database right or other similar right of any person.
• Impersonation - Forum Users must not impersonate any person or identity, falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or organisation or disguise the origin of any content of a Message.
• Viruses - Forum Users must not Post or Access Messages that might contain computer viruses or any other malicious computer code, or programs designed to interrupt, destroy alter or limit the functionality of any computer software, hardware, or telecommunications equipment.
• Illegal and Harmful Activities - Forum Users must not Post or Access Messages relating to (or including links to) pirated software (including computer games), counterfeit goods or any other material which is, or might reasonably considered to be, illegal or otherwise harmful.
• Pornography - Forum Users must not Post or Access Messages relating to (or including links to) any kind of pornography.
• Permitted Use - You may only use the Discussion Forums for either an Organisations lawful purpose(s) or your own personal non-commercial use. You must not Post any Messages containing or including links to any overt advertisements or promotional materials, or otherwise use the Discussion Forums overtly to generate personal business from other Forum Users.
• Patient Confidentiality – Patient confidentiality must be respected at all times. Information identifying individual patients must never be disclosed on Synapse. This includes information from which such patients could be identified, either on its own, or taken in conjunction with other information which may be publicly available. Information provided by patients to the health service is provided in confidence and must be treated as such. The same legal, professional and ethical considerations apply to the release of information on Synapse as would apply to the release of information to any other public forum. Key identifiable information includes but is not limited to: patients name, address, full post code, date of birth, pictures, photographs, video, audio-tapes or other images of patients, NHS number and local patient identifiable codes or anything else that may be used to identify a patient directly or indirectly. For example, rare diseases, drug treatments or statistical analyses which have very small numbers within a small population may allow individuals to be identified. Significant care must be taken if an anonymised case study is used. To ensure that the patient is not identifiable, anonymised information requires the removal of name, address, full post code and any other detail or combination of details that might support identification. In addition to the policies listed here, information sharing policies and data sharing policies from your trust or employer are always in effect and must be observed.

3. Your Personal Information

You are responsible for ensuring the safety of your personal information. We recommend that you do not include your home address, telephone number or other more sensitive personal information in any Messages, unless you are entirely satisfied that such information should be made public. You are reminded that it is often not possible entirely to erase any information once it has been posted on any internet discussion forum, You must not include any personal information relating to any other person in any Message.

4. Monitoring

In order to provide Forum Users with general support and advice in relation to their use of the Discussion Forums and for security and abuse-management reasons, we reserve the right to:

• access and monitor the use of Discussion Forums and any Messages Posted on them; and

• take whatever other steps we consider are necessary to protect our Forum Users, including editing or removing any Messages or suspending or discontinuing any Discussion Forums. We do not undertake to monitor every Message nor to monitor the conduct of every Forum User, nor to use any particular level of care or skill if we do undertake such monitoring. Facilitators will access the Discussion Forums from time to time in order to help ensure that other Forum Users are adhering to this Discussion Forum Policy. Forum Users should use the ‘report this post’ link to notify the web team of abusive or inappropriate posts. Users who contravene the rules of the Discussion Forum Policy could face disciplinary action.

5. Liability and Disclaimers

Please read carefully the paragraphs entitled Disclaimers in our User Policy.

Please note that:

• We accept no liability in respect of the content of any Messages, including the accuracy or truthfulness of any such Messages or any responsibility for the consequences of your acting in reliance on such Messages, nor do we endorse any opinions expressed by any Forum Users in any Messages;
• we cannot guarantee the prompt editing or the prompt or complete removal of any Messages;
• we reserve the right at our sole discretion to remove or edit Messages from the Discussion Forums or to suspend or discontinue any Discussion Forums at any time for any reason; and
• we reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to deny any Forum User access to the Discussion Forums, without notice, for any breach of this Discussion Forum Policy.

Privacy Policy

Please take a moment to read the following Privacy Policy. This should be read in conjunction with our User Policy and Synapse Discussion Forum Policy. Please note that words which are defined in our User Policy also apply to this Privacy Policy. If there is anything you do not understand then please contact us.

1. This Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting your privacy online. This Privacy Policy sets out how we treat your personal information, allowing you to make informed choices about the personal information that you provide to us either via our website at https://cppd-portal-london.nhs.uk/ or www.synapse.nhs.uk, or otherwise in relation to Portal or Synapse.

IMPORTANT: By accessing and using Synapse and submitting any personal information to us via or in relation to Synapse or (including our Synapse Discussion Forums) or your registration as a Member, you will automatically be taken to have read, understood and accepted this Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to collect, use and/or transfer your personal information in this way then you should (depending on what it is you object to) cease to access and use Synapse and/or contact us and ask for your registration as a, Member, to be deleted.

This Privacy Policy may be amended by us at our discretion from time to time, and any such amendments shall take effect as soon as they are posted on Portal. We therefore suggest that you review it periodically.

2. What we mean by personal information

Personal information means any data from which you can be identified (including information such as your name, email address and password) and which concerns you. All personal information that we obtain from you in relation to Portal and Synapse will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of this Privacy Policy and the Data Protection Act 1998.

3. Personal information that we collect

Your "Record" constitutes the information we collect via Synapse:

• via the "Registration" page as a, Member, of Synapse comprising various details about you, including your name, email address, job title, and any other comments you may have about your application to register to use Synapse;
• via the "My Profile" page about your areas of interest. We also collect personal information when you submit personal information contained in any Content you may upload onto Synapse (including posting messages on a Discussion Forum), or when you email, write to, or telephone us. From time to time we may also request additional information, either by contacting you directly or through Synapse.

Finally, we use session cookies to store information about your current Portal and Synapse session. These cookies are deleted when you leave Portal and Synapse and close your browser. Please see below for more information About Cookies.

4. How we use your personal information

Your personal information is used by us so that we can administer and support Portal and Synapse and your registration as a Member/User, and to provide you with access to the appropriate areas and functions of Portal and Synapse (including to particular Content) depending on your status as a User. For example:

• access to certain areas of Synapse are given only to Members of the relevant Group
• access to certain discussion forums depends on whether you are a Member to that group on Synapse
• Synapse Members are entitled to access and use the People Search
• Content (other than postings on Discussion Forums) may only be uploaded by certain Members to certain areas; and
• to contact you from time to time, in order to ask for your views on Portal and Synapse and/or any of the Content and to notify you occasionally about important changes or developments to Portal and Synapse;
• for Members of Synapse to access and search the People Search (see paragraph 6 below);

We may use information provided by you (such as what you think about Synapse and improvements that you would like to see made) or statistical information collected, so that we can administer and deliver the Synapse services, improve our service to you or make your visits to Synapse more rewarding. Except in very specific circumstances, we do not disclose any of your information to other parties, except where you have given your consent in the "My Profile" section of Synapse. Otherwise, we reserve the right to give your personal information to a third party without your consent where:

• the disclosure is required by law, such as where there is a court order, or statutory obligation requiring us to make such a disclosure; and/or
• we believe that such disclosure is necessary in order to assist in the prevention or detection of any criminal action (including fraud) or is otherwise in the overriding public interest, and is permitted by law.

5. Synapse: My People

My People provides members with a dynamically updated and personalised view of the people who are their closest colleagues and primary resources. The London Deanery attempts, in partnership with all members of Synapse, to accurately represent relationships between individuals and to present to you those people and information that are relevant to you. The London Deanery accepts no responsibility or liability for any out of date, incorrect or misleading content or information posted by any member of Synapse resulting in:

• inaccurate links or relationships between people
• incorrect or out of date names appearing on lists or in "my people" page
• members in inaccurate self-designated roles
• confusion, misdirection, missed deadlines or other inconveniences or consequences

My People also acts as a search facility accessible by all Members to search for peers, based upon enhanced search criteria (the "Search Facility").This Search Facility will search through the fields contained in the "My Profile" section of Synapse. For example:

• name
• job title

A successful search will produce one or more links to profiles of relevant Members. These profiles will include a photograph, name, job title and/or role from such person’s Record contained in the "My Profile" section of Synapse but will not reveal such persons email address. Members’ use of the Search Facility must at all times comply with the User Policy, and in particular is subject to strict adherence with a number of rules set out in Paragraph 7 of the User Policy.

IMPORTANT: Please note that we may update the "My Profile" section of Synapse which may alter or add to the fields available for the Search Facility.

6. How we protect your personal information

We are strongly committed to data security and we take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption. We have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information you provide to us. These steps include communicating this Privacy Policy to our employees and relevant contractors. Only authorised employees and contractors under strict controls will have access to your personal information.

However, while we strive to protect your personal information, due to the nature of the internet we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us. With this in mind, we urge you to take every precaution to protect your personal information while you are on the internet.

7. How long we keep your personal information

We will keep and use the personal information contained in your Record for as long as you are registered as a Member, and for at least 7 years afterwards, in order to deal with any consequent queries or complaints you may have.

If you cease to access Portal and/or Synapse for over 7 years then your Record will be expunged from our systems, unless there is a specific legal reason or requirement to keep the information for longer, for example if it is relevant to any current or potential legal proceedings.

Any references to you in any current Portal and/or Synapse records, and any statistical or anonymised information (from which you cannot be identified) may be kept for longer periods.

All trainee member accounts will expire within 0-6 months of completion of training (awarding of CCT or CESR), surrendering their NTN or leaving the sphere of training managed or commissioned by the London Deanery.

All trainer accounts will expire within 0-6 months of that trainer no longer carrying out a training role. All support and administrative staff accounts will expire within 0-6 months of that staff member no longer carrying out a role that involves training.

Trainers, support staff or their line managers are required to alert NHS London CPPD team via email to ld.cpd@nhs.net within 2 weeks of leaving their post to close down that member's account.

8. Liability

Please read carefully the paragraphs entitled Disclaimers, Our Liability and Your Liability in the User Policy, as they also apply to this Privacy Policy.

9. About cookies

Cookies are small files stored in your computer’s hard drive by your web browser. When you access Portal and/or Synapse our computer server will access these cookies so that it can recognise your computer, and make using Portal and/or Synapse easier for you.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can alter your settings to allow you to be prompted every time a cookie is sent to you or you can choose not to receive cookies at all. However, please note that if you have ‘disabled’ cookies in your browser this way you may not be able to use certain features on Portal and/or Synapse.

For independent information about cookies you can go to www.allaboutcookies.org.