NIHR ARC West reserves the right to move or change its website URLs at any time in order to meet changing business needs and to continually improve its online service. External websites link to the NIHR ARC West website at their own risk. We do not encourage deep linking but recommend linking to section homepages, which are less likely to move or change.
Intellectual property
The names, images and logos identifying NIHR ARC West are proprietary marks of the NIHR and the Department of Health and Social Care.
Disclaimer
The ARC West website and material relating to ARC West information, products and services (or to third party information, products and services), is provided ‘as is’, without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.
We do not warrant that the functions contained in the material contained in this site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy, reliability of the materials.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damages whatsoever arising from use or loss of use of, data or profits arising out of or in connection with the use of this website.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under these terms and conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Links to external websites
Links contained in the ARC West website will lead to other websites which are not under our control. We are not responsible for the content of any linked site. Listing and linking should not be taken as an endorsement of any kind and we accept no liability in respect of the content. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and have no control over the availability of the linked pages.
Virus protection
We make every effort to check and test material at all stages of production. It is always wise for you to run an anti-virus program on all material downloaded from the Internet.
We cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer system which may occur whilst using material derived from this website.
Privacy notice: Health care data from NHS Digital
NIHR ARC West and the University of Bristol are committed to using health care data in a safe and responsible manner. We use this information to study the NHS, how it functions and how it might be improved. This information is about the public and how they use NHS services, you therefore have a right to know what information we have and how we intend to use it. Below you will find information to help you understand the data we hold.
The data
We hold data from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).
HES is a record of all people who attend hospital, obtained from NHS hospitals. We know the age and gender of these patients, what hospital they went to and what they went to hospital for. We do not know who the patient is, their name or address, or any other information which could be used to accurately identify them.
These data are not categorised as personal data as individuals cannot be identified. The data will not be used for automated decision-making or profiling of patients.
The purpose
The data held by the University of Bristol will be used for a programme of work based around optimising the use of limited NHS resources for hospital care. This will involve identifying the magnitude and causes of variations in admitted patient and outpatient care, unplanned admission rates and procedure use. The work is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West; see: https://arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/).
ARC West brings together a collaboration of the local providers of NHS services and NHS commissioners, universities, patients and members of the public. It conducts applied health research and implements research evidence, to improve health and healthcare across the West of England.
Legal basis for processing and dissemination
- General Data Protection Regulation Article 6 (1) (e)
- General Data Protection Regulation Article 9 (2) (j)
- HES data: Health and Social Care Act 2012 – s261 – ‘Other dissemination of information’
Sharing
These data will be stored in a safe and secure way and only accessed by members of the research team. The data will only be used to study the NHS and not used commercially. The data are not shared with any third parties or other countries.
Retention
At the completion of the research the data will be archived and retained in line with the funding body policies. The retention period is until: 06/08/2026
Your rights and ability to opt out
You have various rights with regards to your data under the General Data Protection Regulations:
- Right to be informed about use of your data
- Right of access to your data
- Right to rectification of your data
- Right to erasure/to be forgotten
- Right to restrict processing of your data
- Right to data portability
- Right to object
- Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
These rights are explained fully on the Information Commissioner’s Office website: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/
As we only store and process anonymised NHS Digital data, we cannot identify any individual person’s data. However, you have further rights with regards to the identifiable source Hospital Episode Statistics held by NHS Digital as described here: https://digital.nhs.uk/about-nhs-digital/our-work/keeping-patient-data-safe/gdpr/gdpr-register
If you would like to opt-out and not have your data used for this type of research please contact NHS Digital at any time: enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk
More information on opting-out can be found on the NHS Digital website: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out-programme
Contacts
- The data controller is the University of Bristol. For more information please contact Gareth Myring (gareth.myring@bristol.ac.uk) who is the researcher responsible for this dataset: Gareth Myring, NIHR ARC West, 9th Floor Whitefriars, Lewin’s Mead, Bristol, BS1 2NT.
- The University’s Data Protection Officer can be contacted at: data-protection@bristol.ac.uk
- If you have any concerns about our use of NHS Digital data, you can raise these with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at any time via the following link: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/, or by calling 0303 123 1113.
We may at any time revise these terms and conditions without notice. Please check regularly. Continued use of the NIHR ARC West website after a change has been made is your acceptance of the change.