This website is provided as a resource for patients, the public and healthcare professionals. It provides information about our hospitals, our staff and our services. We aim for high standards of accessibility – read more on our accessibility page. Our position on various legal issues relating to this site, including cookies, are laid out below.
Privacy statement
We are committed to respecting the privacy of individuals using this website. The information in this statement relates to The Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals website www.rbht.nhs.uk
Cookies
Our website uses cookies to help us monitor site usage, for example pages looked at and the type of browser used. Cookies are not used to identify you as an individual.
Cookies are small pieces of information gathered from the device you use to access our website. This could be your computer, tablet or mobile phone.
We set one cookie on your browser, while you are visiting the site, to help us monitor traffic and continuously improve the site. As soon as your browser is closed, the cookie expires.
We do not collect any personal information about visitors to the site. The cookie we set on the website helps us to analyse the site's usage such as the pages looked at, the times of day and the type of web browser used, not to store personal information. The cookie will appear on your device as "ASP.NET_SessionId". and is clearly labelled as "www.rbht.nhs.uk".
You can change the way your device manages cookies by changing your browser's settings. Please note, that if you change your settings, our website may not appear correctly or work as efficiently.
Third party cookies
In addition to our session cookie, Google Analytics adds four cookies to your computer or device to help us with our site monitoring. These cookies are named "_utma", "_utmb", "_utmc" and "_utmz". You can find out more about these cookies on Google's cookie information page.
You can also choose to stop Google Analytics tracking your activity on your site by opting out.
Forms on our website
Some of the forms on our website collect personal information from you. We're asking you to 'opt-in' before giving us any personal details. This is due to a change to the rules which govern how we can communicate with you and a new regulation on personal data (the General Data Protection Regulation) coming into force. Therefore the new approach relies on you giving us your consent before sharing any personal details with us. If you don't want to share any information there are other ways you can get in touch, for example by phone and email.
We prioritise the security and privacy of your data by utilising Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Drupal to manage and store backups. They are retained in their original state until overwritten, ensuring data availability and recoverability with data persistence is maintained until overwritten. We have industry-standard security measures like encryption and access controls in place, and backups are periodically updated and overwritten as part of our regular maintenance schedule. This ensures the most current data is available while efficiently managing storage resources. By using our services, you acknowledge and agree to these data retention practices.
Any information you do submit will be kept in the strictest confidence and will never be passed on to a third party, unless there is a legal obligation to do so.
Disclaimer
This website is designed to provide information and education about heart and lung disease to healthcare professionals, patients and the public.
We are unable to offer medical advice or professional services through this site. Referrals for expert opinion or treatment for heart or lung disease are made only by registered medical practitioners, and not by patients themselves.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided on this website is accurate. However, neither our hospitals, our partners, nor the authors or maintenance staff for this website, can accept any responsibility whatsoever for any consequence of inaccuracy, howsoever caused.
The information provided here is not intended as a substitute for professional medical care, does not constitute business, medical or other professional advice, and is subject to change. If you have, or suspect that you may have, heart or lung disease, you are strongly advised to consult your own General Practitioner without delay.
We are not responsible for the content or reliability of the linked websites and does not necessarily endorse the views expressed within them. No guarantee is offered in relation to the availability or operation of linked pages. A link does not imply an endorsement of a site; likewise, not linking to a particular site does not imply lack of endorsement.
We cannot guarantee uninterrupted access to this website, and accept no responsibility for any damages arising from the loss of use of this information.
Copyright
Content on this website is the copyright of the Royal Brompton and Harefield Clinical Group unless otherwise stated. Where copyright applies, visitors may download material for private research, study or in-house use only. Visitors must not copy, distribute, or publish any material from this website. Any other use of copyright material requires the formal permission of the Royal Brompton and Harefield Clinical Group. Email the web editor with any requests.
Links
We are not responsible for the content or reliability of linked websites and does not endorse any views expressed within them.
The content and availability of external sites will change over time.
Please email us if you encounter any broken links or material you feel inappropriate on a linked site.
Email us at gstt.digitalteam@nhs.net
We aim to deliver links that allow access to additional information, background material or, if appropriate, informed comment.
The content of other sites is beyond our editorial control and may change over time. This means before linking to any site we check the content of the site thoroughly and carry out further checks after the link is established.
We never include a link in return for cash, services or any other consideration in kind. In accordance with NHS guidelines we do not link to commercial sites, unless working with a commercial partner.
Links are made available on relevant pages rather than a dedicated links page, in accordance with NHS guidelines.
NHS App
If you use the NHS App to view or manage hospital appointments, we share your data with NHS England. This is so they can provide the NHS Wayfinder service, which lets you see information about your referrals and elective care. For more information, read the NHS Wayfinder services privacy policy.
Social media channels
Our social media channels are managed by the communications team. Find out more about our use of social media channels.
Feedback
You can help us to improve our website by letting us know if you have find problems or if you find anything that you think could be done better. This could include finding things like broken links, out of date or inaccurate information or pages not working as you would expect on your browser.
Any feedback to the site will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Email us at gstt.digitalteam@nhs.net