Privacy Policy
TheCareIndex's privacy policy covers the collection and use of personal information that may be collected any time you interact with us. Please take a moment to read the following to learn more about our information practices, including what type of information is gathered, how the information is used and for what purposes, to whom we disclose the information, and how we safeguard your personal information.
Your privacy is a priority at TheCareIndex, and we go to great lengths to protect it. We are committed to protecting your privacy online and will treat any identifying data obtained from you in accordance with the provisions of The Data Protection Act 1998 and any subsequent amendments to it.
What information we collect
There are a number of situations in which your personal information may help us give you better service. Detailed information from you helps us to provide a better match with someone looking to use your services, or offer services to you. We collect information for market research purposes — such as your occupation and where you use your computer and we will collect information regarding customer activities on our website and on related websites. This helps us to determine how best to provide useful information to customers and to understand which parts of our websites and Internet services are of most interest to them.
TheCareIndex website allows you to create an ‘ID’ based on your personal information. This convenient service saves you time and allows for easier use of our web services. Here’s how it works: You create a personal profile, and choose a username and password (together with a password hint ) for security. The system saves your information and assigns you a username. The next time log in, all you need to do is enter your username and password; and the system looks up the information it needs to assist you.
There is no bulletin board or chat room on TheCareIndex site at present but it may be introduced in the future. If you use such a bulletin board or chat room you should be aware that any information you share is visible to other users. Personally identifiable information you submit to one of these forums can be read, collected, or used by other individuals to send you unsolicited messages. TheCareIndex is not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these forums.
When we disclose your information
TheCareIndex does not sell or rent your contact information to other marketers but there may be times when it may be advantageous for TheCareIndex to make certain personal information about you available to companies with whom we have a strategic relationship or that perform work for TheCareIndex to provide products and services to you on our behalf. These companies may help us process information, extend credit, fulfill customer orders, deliver products to you, manage and enhance customer data, provide customer service, assess your interest in our products and services, or conduct customer research or satisfaction surveys. These companies are also obligated to protect your personal information in accordance with TheCareIndex’s policies. Without such information being made available, it would be difficult for you to receive customer service, provide us feedback to improve our products and services, or access certain services, offers, and content on TheCareIndex website.
At times we may be required by law or litigation to disclose your personal information. We may also disclose information about you if we determine that for national security, law enforcement, or other issues of public importance, disclosure is necessary.
How we protect your personal information
TheCareIndex takes precautions — including administrative, technical, and physical measures — to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft, and misuse, as well as unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.
The whole of TheCareIndex site is protected by Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption. To use TheCareIndex site you must use an SSL-enabled browser such as Internet Explorer, Safari or Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later. Doing so protects the confidentiality of your personal and credit card information while it’s transmitted over the Internet.
You can help us by also taking precautions to protect your personal data when you are on the Internet. Change your passwords often using a combination of letters and numbers. You must take precautions against the theft or misuse of your user ID and password, which you should not give to any other person or allow any other person to use.
Integrity of your personal information
TheCareIndex has safeguards in place to keep your personal information accurate, complete, and up to date for the purposes for which it is used. Naturally, you always have the right to access and correct the personal information you have provided. You can help us ensure that your contact information and preferences are accurate, complete, and up to date by logging into your account and updating your personal information.
Cookies and other technologies
TheCareIndex website uses ‘cookies’ and other technologies to help us understand which parts of our websites are the most popular, where our visitors are going, and how much time they spend there. We also use cookies and other technologies to make sure that our online advertising is effective and to study traffic patterns on our website. We also use cookies to customize your experience and provide greater convenience each time you interact with us.
If you prefer not to enable cookies, please go to www.thecareindex.co.uk/cookies.aspx which explains step by step how you can disable cookies. Please note that certain features of TheCareIndex website will not be available once cookies are disabled.
We also gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and clickstream data.
We use this information, which does not identify individual users, to analyse trends, to administer the site, to track users’ movements around the site and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. We will not use the information collected to market directly to that person.
In some of our email messages we use a ‘click-through URL’ linked to content on TheCareIndex website. When a customer clicks one of these URLs, they pass through our web server before arriving at the destination web page. We track this click-through data to help us determine interest in particular topics and measure the effectiveness of our customer communications. If you prefer not to be tracked simply avoid clicking text or graphic links in the email.
In addition we use pixel tags - tiny graphic images - to tell us what parts of our website customers have visited or to measure the effectiveness of searches customers perform on our site. Pixel tags also enable us to send email messages in a format customers can read. And they tell us whether emails have been opened to assure that we’re only sending messages that are of interest to our customers. We store all of this information in a secure database located London docklands.
Our companywide commitment to your privacy
TheCareIndex takes protecting your privacy very seriously. To make sure your personal information is secure, we communicate these guidelines to our employees and strictly enforce privacy safeguards within the company.
TheCareIndex website has links to the sites of other companies. We are not responsible for their privacy practices but we do encourage you to learn about the privacy policies of those companies.
TheCareIndex will from time to time contact you to notify you of any upgrades or revisions to the website or database, to offer additional products or services, changes to our Terms and Conditions or for reasons connected with the administration of your account. If you do not want TheCareIndex to keep you up to date with news and the latest information on services login to your account and update your personal contact information and preferences. Naturally, if you notify us that you do not want us to use your information for a particular purpose, we will not do so.
TheCareIndex may update its privacy policy from time to time. When we change the policy in a material way a notice will be posted on our website along with the updated privacy policy. To remove personal information from our database or to raise any other question regarding our data protection policy, please contact us at admin@thecareindex.co.uk.
TheCareIndex is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner no Z9429710 and is committed to adopting the British standard on information security management BS7799