Privacy Policy

We collect personal data in three ways: data you provide directly to us, data generated automatically through your use of the Platform, and data processed on our behalf by third-party service providers. We do not collect data from any other external sources.

Data you provide to us

When you register for an account, you provide us with your full name, email address, job title, medical specialty, and the name of your hospital or NHS trust. You also create a password, which is stored in hashed form and is never accessible to us in plain text.

If you subscribe to a paid plan, your payment is processed by Stripe. In connection with that transaction, we receive limited billing information including your billing name, card type, the last four digits of your payment card, and billing postcode. MediGuide does not store or have access to your full card details at any point - these are handled exclusively and securely by Stripe.

Where you use the Hospital Insights feature, we collect and store the content of reviews and ratings that you submit. The manner in which this content is associated with your identity depends on whether you choose to post anonymously or not, as described in Section 6.

We also retain any correspondence you send to us directly, including emails and support requests.

Data collected automatically

When you access the Platform, certain technical and usage data is collected automatically. This includes your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, and device type. It also includes usage data such as the pages you visit, the features you use, the time you spend on the Platform, and any search queries you conduct within it. Session data - including login timestamps, session duration, and authentication tokens - is managed by Supabase as part of our authentication infrastructure.

Data we do not collect

We do not collect GMC registration numbers, NHS numbers, or patient data of any kind. We do not process special category data as defined under the UK GDPR, including data concerning health conditions, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. We do not collect data from users under the age of 18.

We use personal data only for the purposes described below. We will not use your data for any purpose incompatible with those described here without first notifying you and, where required, obtaining your consent.

We use your identity, contact, and professional data to create and manage your account and to provide you with access to the Platform and its features. We use your payment data to process your subscription and manage billing. We use your user-generated content to display Hospital Insights reviews on the Platform in accordance with your posting preferences. We use your contact data to communicate with you about your account, to respond to enquiries, and to send you service-related notifications that are necessary for the administration of your account.

Where you have consented, we may use your contact data to send you marketing and promotional communications. You may withdraw this consent at any time as described in Section 3.

We use technical and usage data to maintain the security of the Platform, prevent fraud and unauthorised access, monitor platform performance, and improve the user experience. We may also use this data to comply with applicable legal and regulatory obligations.

Under the UK GDPR, we are required to identify a lawful basis for each purpose for which we process your personal data. We rely on the following legal bases.

Contract. The majority of our processing is necessary to perform our contract with you - that is, to provide the Platform and the services you have registered to use. This includes account creation, subscription management, payment processing, and delivery of platform features.

Legitimate interests. We process certain data on the basis of our legitimate business interests, where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This includes improving the Platform, maintaining security, preventing fraud, and sending you service-related communications. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have assessed that our interests are proportionate and do not unduly prejudice your privacy.

Consent. Where we rely on your consent - for example, in relation to marketing communications - you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. You may do so by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us at hello@medi-guide.co.uk. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before withdrawal.

Legal obligation. We may process your data where necessary to comply with a legal obligation, including financial record-keeping requirements under HMRC regulations and obligations to cooperate with law enforcement or regulatory authorities.

We share your personal data with the following third-party service providers, who act as data processors on our behalf. We have data processing agreements in place with each provider and require them to process your data only in accordance with our instructions and in compliance with applicable data protection law.

Supabase

Supabase provides our database hosting, user authentication, and session management infrastructure. All account data, session data, and user-generated content is stored within Supabase's infrastructure. Their privacy policy is available at supabase.com/privacy.

Stripe

Stripe processes all subscription payments and manages billing on our behalf. When you subscribe to a paid plan, you will interact directly with Stripe's secure payment infrastructure. Stripe processes your payment card details, billing name, and email address for the purposes of completing and managing your subscription. MediGuide does not have access to your full card details at any point. Stripe's privacy policy is available at stripe.com/gb/privacy.

Business transfers

In the event that MediGuide is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of business assets, your personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will provide you with notice before your data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

Legal disclosures

We may disclose your personal data to law enforcement agencies, regulatory authorities, or other third parties where we are required to do so by law, court order, or where disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of MediGuide, our users, or others. We do not sell your personal data to any third party.

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve the Platform. Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit the Platform.

Essential cookies are required for the Platform to function and cannot be disabled. They are used to manage authentication sessions, maintain security tokens, and store basic user preferences. Without these cookies, the Platform cannot operate correctly.

Functional cookies allow the Platform to remember your settings and preferences across sessions. These can be disabled via your browser settings, though doing so may affect certain aspects of your experience.

Analytics cookies are not currently in use on the Platform. We intend to introduce analytics functionality - such as Google Analytics - at a future stage. Before any analytics cookies are set, this policy will be updated and you will be notified. Analytics cookies will be subject to your prior consent.

You can manage or delete cookies at any time through your browser settings. Disabling non-essential cookies will not prevent you from using the core features of the Platform. For further guidance on managing cookies, visit www.aboutcookies.org.

Do Not Track

Some browsers transmit a Do Not Track (“DNT”) signal to websites. There is currently no agreed technical standard for responding to DNT signals, and we do not currently alter our data practices in response to such settings. If a binding industry standard is adopted in the future, we will update this policy accordingly.

The Hospital Insights feature enables users to submit reviews and ratings of hospital rotations and clinical training environments. The following provisions apply to personal data associated with reviews submitted through this feature.

Anonymous posting

You may elect to post a review anonymously. Where you exercise this option, your name and account details will not be displayed publicly alongside your review, and other users of the Platform will not be able to identify you as the author. However, your review will remain linked to your account within our internal database for the purposes of moderation, fraud prevention, and legal compliance. Anonymous status therefore refers to public-facing anonymity only.

Non-anonymous posting

Where you choose not to post anonymously, your review will be publicly displayed on the Platform and attributed to your account name and professional profile as configured by you. Other users of the Platform may see your name alongside your review content.

Moderation and legal compliance

All reviews - whether posted anonymously or otherwise - are retained within our database and may be reviewed by MediGuide for moderation purposes in accordance with our Terms of Service. Where a review is the subject of a formal legal complaint, regulatory enquiry, or court order, we reserve the right to disclose the identity of the submitting user to the extent required or permitted by law, notwithstanding any anonymity election made at the time of posting.

Your obligations as a healthcare professional

You must not include patient-identifiable data, colleague-identifiable personal data beyond general professional context, or any special category data within your reviews. The inclusion of such data may constitute a breach of your own obligations as a registered healthcare professional under applicable data protection legislation and your professional regulatory duties.

We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes described in this policy, or as required or permitted by law. The following retention periods apply.

Account data - including your name, email address, and professional profile - is retained for the duration of your account and for a period of two years following account closure, in order to address any disputes or legal claims that may arise.

Payment and billing records are retained for seven years from the date of each transaction, in accordance with HMRC financial record-keeping requirements.

Hospital Insights reviews posted under your account name are retained for the duration of your account. Following account closure, we may retain an anonymised version of your review where doing so serves the legitimate interest of maintaining the integrity and usefulness of the Platform. Reviews posted anonymously are retained unless removed through moderation or upon a valid erasure request.

Technical and usage data is retained for a period of up to twelve months and is used for security monitoring and platform improvement purposes only.

Correspondence sent to us is retained for three years from the date of receipt.

Upon expiry of the applicable retention period, data will be securely deleted or irreversibly anonymised. Where immediate deletion is not technically possible - for example, in respect of data held within backup archives - such data will be isolated from further processing until deletion can be carried out.

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, destruction, or alteration. Our security measures include encrypted data storage and transmission via TLS/SSL protocols, password hashing through Supabase Auth, and role-based access controls that limit internal access to personal data to those who require it for legitimate operational purposes.

Payment card details are handled exclusively by Stripe and are never stored by or transmitted to MediGuide's systems. Stripe maintains its own industry-standard security certifications, including PCI DSS compliance.

Notwithstanding the above, no method of electronic transmission or storage is entirely secure. Transmission of data to and from the Platform is carried out at your own risk. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for ensuring that you access the Platform only from a secure environment. If you suspect that your account has been subject to unauthorised access, you should notify us immediately at hello@medi-guide.co.uk.

Your personal data is primarily hosted and processed within the United Kingdom. MediGuide's principal infrastructure is UK-based.

Our third-party processors, Supabase and Stripe, may process data in data centres located outside the United Kingdom, including within the European Economic Area and the United States. Where such international transfers occur, they are subject to appropriate safeguards in accordance with UK GDPR requirements. Transfers to the EEA are covered by the UK's adequacy regulations. Transfers to other countries, including the United States, are protected by Standard Contractual Clauses or equivalent approved mechanisms.

For further information on the safeguards applicable to transfers made by our processors, please refer to the privacy policies of Supabase and Stripe as linked in Section 4.

The Platform is intended solely for use by healthcare professionals and trainees aged 18 years and over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from any person under the age of 18. In the event that we become aware that personal data has been collected from a person under the age of 18, we will deactivate the relevant account and take reasonable steps to delete the associated data promptly. If you have reason to believe that we hold data relating to a person under 18, please contact us at hello@medi-guide.co.uk.

Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are not absolute and may be subject to limitations under applicable law.

Right of access. You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with information about how and why we process it. This is commonly referred to as a Subject Access Request.

Right to rectification. You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure. You have the right to request that we delete your personal data where there is no longer a lawful basis for us to retain it. This right is subject to our legal obligations, including our obligation to retain financial records under HMRC regulations.

Right to restriction. You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where you contest the accuracy of the data or where you have objected to processing pending verification of our legitimate grounds.

Right to data portability. Where we process your data on the basis of your consent or in performance of a contract, you have the right to receive a copy of your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.

Right to object. You have the right to object to processing of your personal data that is based on our legitimate interests. You also have an absolute right to object to your data being used for direct marketing purposes, including profiling related to direct marketing.

Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent as the legal basis for processing, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time without detriment, subject to the conditions described in Section 3.

To exercise any of the above rights, please submit a written request to hello@medi-guide.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month of receiving your verified request, in accordance with UK GDPR requirements. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our data processing activities, the features of the Platform, or applicable law. Where changes are material - for example, where we introduce new processing activities such as the addition of Google Analytics - we will notify you by email to the address associated with your account before those changes take effect.

The date displayed at the top of this page reflects the version currently in force. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to remain informed of how we protect your data.

MediGuide is the data controller responsible for the personal data processed through this Platform. If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the manner in which we handle your personal data, please contact us using the details below.

We aim to acknowledge all data-related requests within five working days and to respond in full within one calendar month. For Subject Access Requests and other rights requests under UK GDPR, the statutory response deadline is one calendar month from receipt of your verified request, extendable by a further two months in cases of complexity or volume, with notice provided to you of any such extension.