Terms of Use

These Terms and Conditions govern your use of this website including your use of any materials, information and services which may be made available to you from this website.
By using the website you accept and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use supersede any and all previous Terms of Use relating to your use of this website or any related websites. We may amend these Terms of Use at any time by posting such changes on the website. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with these Terms of Use regularly to ensure that you are aware of any changes. Your continued use of this website following the posting of any such changes will constitute your acceptance of the revised Terms of Use.

Table of Contents

1. Disclaimers and Liability
2. eSpace
3. Your obligations
4. Uploading Content
5. Participation in eSpace
6. Availability of eSpace
7. Registration of your details
8. Ownership and Licence
9. Links
10. Modifications to this Term of Use
11. Termination
12. General
13. Monitoring
14. Contacting us

1. Disclaimers and Liability

Department of Health Informatics Directorate (DHID) has used all reasonable care and skill in creating the website and collating, creating and publishing the information on this website but makes no guarantee or warranty as to the accuracy of this information, that this information will meet individual requirements or that the website will be uninterrupted, secure, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components.
The purpose of eSpace is not to provide healthcare information to patients: it should be understood that the website is provided for information and guidance only and is not intended to replace proper consultation, advice or treatment from appropriately qualified health professionals.
This website and the materials published or posted on this website are intended for use within the United Kingdom only. DHID makes no guarantee, promise or representation that any information, guidance or service provided from this website is suitable for use in any other countries. Users who access this website from other locations do so at their own risk.
You acknowledge and agree that DHID will not be liable to you or any person for any claims, losses or damages (whether direct, indirect or consequential) that may arise from your use of this website or any materials or information published on this website, except to the extent that such liability cannot be excluded by law.
Save as precluded by law, DHID and its affiliates will not be liable to you for any indirect, incidental or consequential damages or expenses arising from breach of contract, tort or otherwise in connection with these Terms of Use, this website and/or the content posted by you (including but not limited to any loss of data, loss of profits, damage to goodwill or reputation, loss of savings, business interruption or wasted expenditure) howsoever arising out of your use of this website even if we have been advised of (or know or should have known of) the possibility of such damages.
This website and the content of this website are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. Other than expressly set out in these Terms of Use, DHID makes no representations or warranties, express or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, correctness, timeliness or fitness for a particular purpose. To the extent permitted by law, we expressly exclude all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity.
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless DHID and its employees, contractors and sub-contractors, against any liability (including but not limited to damages, losses, claims and costs) from any claim or cause of action arising out of or in connection with your breach of these Terms of Use and, in particular, (but without limitation), any claims or cause of action relating to any content posted by you on this website.

2. eSpace

eSpace provides you with a rich collection of online facilities, rights and obligations.
eSpace has many different interactive services that include:

• News, Documents and Links, including documented processes compiled and contributed by other users;
• Discussion Forums;
• Polls and surveys
• Email bulletins from communities
3. Your obligations

You may only use eSpace (including any Content you access, copy or download) for either the lawful purpose(s) of the Public Sector or your own personal non-commercial use, and in any event in accordance with this Term of Use.
You agree:

• Not to use eSpace for your personal, financial or commercial gain.
• Not to use eSpace content for your financial or commercial gain, either directly or by creating derived works without explicit permission.
• To comply with any legal notices contained in eSpace (including in any Content); 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.

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

• Is illegal under UK law by reason of being: fraudulent, offensive, threatening, abusive, harassing, 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;
• Contains any viruses, trojan horses, worms, time bombs or any similar component likely to cause harm;
• Constitutes an advertisement or encouragement to trade with any specific organisation outside of the NHS;
• Constitutes an advertisement, encouragement or recommendation to trade or invest in stocks, shares, or financial instruments.
• Could bring the reputation of eSpace into question;
• Infringes our legal or crown copyrights, or those of any other person or organisation;
• You pass yourself off as, or impersonate another person or entity, including any Public Sector Organisation or NHS official, or otherwise misrepresent yourself or your connection with a third party in any way that would result in the information that you supply being misleading or tending to obscure your true identity. Is private or confidential information, specifically, but not limited to patient information, commercial or private financial information.

Activities not in accordance with these obligations may result in withdrawal of eSpace membership.

4. Uploading Content

In addition to your obligations you shall only upload Content:

• In accordance with any legal rights of other persons, including any rights under the Data Protection Act 1998, the common law duty of confidentiality
• 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 only upload photographic images to your profile in the member directory that are an accurate representation of yourself.
• You warrant and undertake to ensure that no copyright or other Intellectual Property (IP) Rights will be infringed by either:
• Your uploading of any Content; or
• Such Content being accessed, downloaded and used (in accordance with this Term of Use) by Users.

IMPORTANT: Unless you include a clear legal notice, prominently positioned on the first page of any 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 Term of Use.
IMPORTANT: We reserve the right to either block access to, delete or amend any 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 or other activity connected to eSpace, in addition to our right to block access to, delete or amend such Content, we shall also be entitled to terminate your access to eSpace.
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, posted or a comment you made in a forum the action that we have taken, our evaluation of the allegation, and what steps (if any) we require you to take.

5. Participation in eSpace

By being a member of eSpace we encourage you to actively participate in discussions, post new content and share information that you believe will be of benefit to other eSpace users. Only NHS personnel or those sponsored by the NHS can set up a community or act as a community coordinator.
eSpace is designed to promote and encourage discussion and debate on important topics.
eSpace members are expected to-

• Be supportive of other users
• Act in an appropriate and professional manner
• Take a mature approach to differences of opinion.
• Point out less serious issues or concerns with an item of content (i.e. those that do not immediately breach these Terms of Use) with the author of the item in question. Should this not resolve the issue, then raise it with the Coordinator of the relevant eSpace Community and/or the site administrator (via the contact link on the site).
• Notify the site administrator immediately of any items that do appear to breach these Terms of Use, via the Report this Item and/or Contact links on the site.

We encourage eSpace users to log on at least once a month to ensure that they are kept up to date with all the latest news and discussions that are being held. We also encourage you to promote eSpace to your colleagues informing them of the benefits of using eSpace.

6. Availability of eSpace

We shall use reasonable endeavours to ensure that eSpace is available between the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. While eSpace may be available outside of those times, we make no representation or guarantees as to such availability.
We reserve the right to withdraw access to all or any part of eSpace for periods of time in order to modify Content, scheduled or emergency maintenance and other purposes without notice to you.
Since you will receive eSpace via third party telecommunications networks, you acknowledge that we cannot guarantee that the availability of eSpace 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 eSpace at all times.

7. Registration of your details

In order to register as a member of eSpace you must have a valid email address.
When registering, you agree to provide accurate, up-to-date and complete information about yourself, as prompted by eSpace and to promptly update your data as and when any changes to your data occur.
In return we agree to use your data only in accordance with the eSpace fair processing Policy and in conjunction with NHS's Privacy Policy. Where there is any doubt or conflict the NHS's Privacy Policy will take precedence.
When you successfully register you will create a User name and 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.
You are responsible for ensuring the safety of all other personal information. We recommend that you do not include your home address, home telephone number or other more sensitive personal information; unless you are entirely satisfied that such information should be made public.
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 eSpace account.

8. Ownership and Licence

Please refer to the eSpace Copyright policy

9. Links

eSpace 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 other websites, or for any products or services available from 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 of Use 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.
eSpace does not accept any responsibility for content held on linked websites.

10. Modifications to this Term of Use

This Term of Use statement (including the eSpace Privacy Policy) may be amended from time to time, and we therefore suggest that you review it periodically.

11. Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your registration as a Registered User and/or your access to all or any parts of eSpace;

• Where you have materially or persistently breached this Term of Use or eSpace Fair Processing Policy
• Where you have changed jobs/ roles and no longer work for the NHS or your role is no longer clearly related to health or social care.
12. General

Please note the following:

• Any failure or delay by us to bring legal proceedings in relation to eSpace, its Content or this Term of Use shall not be regarded as a waiver of any rights. Indeed 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 Term of Use 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 Term of Use and the remaining provisions of this Term of Use shall continue in full force and effect;
• The Terms of Use statement 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 within these Terms of Use 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 Term of Use 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 Term of Use, without their consent;
• You may serve any formal notice on us by using the contact us link, 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 weekend or a public holiday;
• These Terms of Use represent all the Terms of Use of your agreement with us that arises automatically when you use eSpace, and supersedes any previous agreements between us relating to your use of eSpace. If there are any inconsistencies between any other legal notices or instructions from Department of Health Informatics Directorate, and the Terms of Use set out on this website, then the latter shall prevail;
• You acknowledge that (in relation to your use of eSpace) 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 Term of Use;
• These Terms of Use shall be interpreted in accordance with English Law and you and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.
13. Monitoring

In order to provide eSpace 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 other interactive functions of the site, including any content posted on them; and
• Take whatever other steps we consider are necessary to protect our users, including editing or removing any Content or suspending or discontinuing any Discussion Forums or other services.

 

We do not undertake to monitor all content or to monitor the conduct of every user. eSpace Group Administrators will access the Discussion Forums from time to time in order to help ensure that other users are adhering to this Policy.

14. Contacting us

You can contact us by using the contact form on this site, or by sending an email message to: nhscfh.espace@nhs.net.

This Website is operated by the Department of Health Informatics Directorate whose address is:

DH Informatics Directorate - Policy and Planning Directorate,
First Floor,
Quarry House,
Quarry Hill,
Leeds,
LS2 7UE