Cookies policy

Cookies policy

NHS Choices uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on the website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will accept your consent to receive these cookies from NHS Choices. However, if you wish to, you may change your browser settings at any time. Go to aboutcookies.org for information on how to do this.

Cookies information

Cookies - small information files placed on your device - are used to improve services for you by, for example:

enabling the service to recognise your device so you do not need to give the same information repeatedly
recognising when you have already given a username and password so that you do not need to do so for every subsequent web page you visit
measuring how many people are using the services we provide, so we can make them easier and faster to use
analysing data, anonymously, to help us understand how people interact with government services

When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful and reliable. Where services are delivered on the internet, this sometimes involves placing small amounts of information on your computer, mobile phone or whatever device you are using to access the internet. This information is held in cookies. You can learn more about cookies from the article 'Internet Browser cookies - what they are and how to manage them'.

Cookies cannot be used to identify you personally.

For more information about how to remove cookies from your device, or how to block individual cookies from being received, please see the instructions and guidance at www.aboutcookies.org.

See below for further details about cookies you may encounter while visiting the NHS Choices website. These details include what information is being held, how long you can expect it to be stored, and how your experience of our website will change if you block individual cookies from being sent to your device.

Main cookies in detail

The following are cookies you may come across on the NHS Choices website and associated services:

NHS

Names: _utma, _utmb, _utam, _utmc, _utmz

Domains: nhs.uk, google.com

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: NHS Choices uses Google Analytics cookies to record information about which pages you have landed on and how you have navigated through the site. This data enables us to understand:

which pages people visit on the service
which internet browsers are being used
what pages or features are popular
which interactive tools are used

The information gathered is not shared with any other third party.
Additionally, we use a Google Translate API cookie to store your translation preferences for a specific page should you choose to use the translation service on NHS Choices.
For more information read Google’s privacy policy.

Names: cookie, ASP.NET_SessionID

Domain: nhs.uk

Lifespan: session

Purpose: This cookie is set to ensure the user does not have any disruption to their user experience while accessing NHS Choices. This cookie holds no personal information, it helps us provide our users with an uninterrupted journey through the website.

Name: WT_FPC

Domain: nhs.uk

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: A cookie is required for NHS Choices to provide persistent personalised content to its users. To enable this, a user can create an account where data is captured. A preference centre is provided where users can select the topics of interest to them. Personalisation accounts are used to provide the registration ability in a number of campaigns.

Name: FeedbackLine (1)

Domain: nhs.uk

Lifespan: Up to one month

Purpose: A cookie is required for NHS Choices to ensure that a pop-up for any current campaign relating to the NHS Choices website is suppressed for a user who has previously seen it.

Change4Life Fun Generator

Name: __utma

Domain: fungenerator.change4life.co.uk

Lifespan: session

Purpose: used to detemine if cookies can be used. The cookie does not gather any personal information about you.

Smokefree

Name: __utma

Domain: smokefree.nhs.uk

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: Smokefree captures analytics information about your visit to enhance the design of the site, for example how you entered the site, how you navigated through the site and what information you looked at. The cookie does not gather any personal information about you.

Details of third-party cookies

The following are third-party cookies you may come across on the NHS Choices website and associated services:

Crazy Egg

Name: __utmx

Domain: crazyegg.com

Lifespan: Indefinite

Purpose: NHS Choices uses analytics code from Crazy Egg to generate visual 'heatmaps' showing how visitors navigate around particular pages and which links are most commonly clicked. This enables us to improve the design of pages and positioning of key links. Crazy Egg uses a cookie that does not collect any personal information. For more details see the Crazy Egg privacy policy.

DoubleClick (Google)

Name: id

Domain: *.doubleclick.net

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: adserver tags from DoubleClick are used to understand how people engage with government digital media campaigns. This functionality allows NHS Choices to track clicks on adverts, such as the ‘sponsored links’ found when you search for a subject on Google. These cookies are in use only on smokefree.nhs.uk

Facebook

Name: datr

Domain: facebook.com

Lifespan: indefinite

Purpose: used for Facebook integration within the Change4Life Fun Generator. For more details see the Facebook privacy policy.

GroupM

Name: NSC_fo1efm_qppm_iuuq

Domain: uk.gmads.net

Lifespan: session

Purpose: the Change4Life campaign uses a GroupM analytics cookie to record information about which pages you have landed on and how you have navigated through the site. This data enables us to understand:

which pages people visit on the site
which internet browsers are being used
what is popular
which interactive tools are used

Map of Medicine

Name: __utma

Domain: healthguides.mapofmedicine.com

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: A cookie is used to record whether or not the terms of use have been accepted for the Map of Medicine. By disabling this cookie you may not be able to use some or all of the functionality of this part of NHS Choices.

MIG

Name: id, mdata, OAX, NSC_fo1efm_qppm_iuuq

Domain: *.mookie1.com

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: the Smokefree and Change4Life campaigns use MIG analytics cookies to record information about which pages you have landed on and how you have navigated through the site. This data enables us to understand:

which pages people visit on the site
which internet browsers are being used
what is popular
which interactive tools are used

Quantcast

Name: d, qoo

Domain: quantserve.com

Lifespan: permanent (1 year)

Purpose: The Change4Life campaign uses these cookies to record information about which pages you have landed on and how you have navigated through the site. This data enables the Department of Health to improve future campaigns by understanding:

which pages people visit on the site
which internet browsers are being used
what is popular
which interactive tools are used

Please see the Quantcast privacy policy for more information, and to learn how to opt out of this tracking.

Moxie Software

Name: __utma

Domain: moxiesoft.com

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: This cookie is on the Carers Direct webchat. It is used to help recognise returning visitors to webchat. This remains on your computer and stores the date and time you last used the service. It does not gather any personal information about you.

TubeMogul, Brightcove

Name: _tmid

Domain: tubemogul.com; brightcove.com; llnwd.net

Lifespan: session

Purpose: Videos viewed on NHS Choices are hosted and supplied (streamed) to users by a third party company named Brightcove. A product called TubeMogul is used by Brightcove to record how much of a video is watched. It uses an anonymous tracking cookie and stores no personal data. For more information, see the Brightcove privacy policy, the TubeMogul privacy policy.

Webtrends

Name: ACOOKIE

Domain: *.webtrendslive.com

Lifespan: Up to six months

Purpose: NHS Choices uses a variety of providers for analytics, including Webtrends, to record information about which pages you have landed on and how you have navigated. This data enables us to understand: