Sharing your experience of pharmacist prescribing

Your privacy - what you need to know (1-minute read)

Who is in charge of your data: The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) decides how your information is used. In legal terms, they are the data controller. Thiscovery collects and looks after your data on their behalf. In legal terms, we are the data processor.

Who else sees your data: The NPA receives our analysis report and a copy of your survey responses with your name removed and replaced with a code number. Q Community receives a copy of the analysis report only. They never see your individual answers.

What information we collect: Your survey answers about pharmacy experiences and views on independent prescribing, plus some optional basic details about you (like age group and region).

Your rights: You can see, correct or delete your information at any time (before we transfer it to the NPA).

How long we keep it: We keep identifiable details for up to 6 months after the project ends, then remove names and keep anonymous answers for up to 2 years. The NPA will keep data in line with their retention policy (up to 24 months).

Questions or concerns: Email help@thiscovery.org

Want full details? Keep reading below.

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Your data journey - what happens to your information

While you're taking part

• Giving your name and email at the end is optional
• Only our research team can see your survey answers while the project runs
• Your name won't appear in any reports or analysis
• All information is encrypted and stored safely

In our report and data transfer

• Thiscovery analyses all responses and creates a comprehensive report
• The NPA receives two things:  
  
  1. Our analysis report with anonymous summaries
  2. A copy of your individual survey responses, with your name removed and replaced with a code number, so you cannot be identified
• The NPA may carry out additional analysis with this data
• The NPA must follow UK law to keep your information safe
• Q Community receives a copy of the analysis report only. They do not receive any of your individual survey answers.

What this means for you

• You won't be contacted for sales or marketing because of this research
• Your answers cannot be traced back to you after we remove identifying details
• We follow strict rules to keep your information safe

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What information we collect

Your answers about:

• Your recent experiences using pharmacies and pharmacy services
• How comfortable you would feel getting a prescription from a pharmacist in different real-life situations
• What would help you feel safe and confident using a prescribing service at your pharmacy
• Any concerns, suggestions or priorities you have

Optional background information about you:

• Your age group and gender
• The region of the UK you live in
• Whether you have caring responsibilities
• How often you use pharmacy services

Your contact details (only if you choose):

• Your name and email address
• Only if you want to hear about results, get participation confirmation, or learn about other research opportunities

For the prize draw (if you enter):

• Your name and email address
• Held by Thiscovery to run the draw and contact winners
• Not shared with the NPA
• Deleted 8 weeks after all prizes are delivered

Important: If you enter the prize draw AND tick other consent boxes (like receiving results or hearing about future opportunities), your email will be kept for those other purposes as described below, even after the 8-week prize draw period ends.

Important: We don't ask for your name during the survey. But if someone looked at all your answers together, they might be able to guess who you are. This is unlikely but we want you to know it's possible.

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Making your answers anonymous

How we protect your identity:

• We remove your name and anything that could directly identify you before creating our report or transferring data
• We check all open-text comments to remove identifying details
• The NPA receives your responses linked to a code number, not to your name or contact details
• This means the NPA cannot link the data back to you

Quality checks: We review answers to make sure our research is high quality. We look at when answers arrive and whether they come from the same internet connection. This helps us identify if the same person answers twice or if automated responses are submitted. We never use this to identify you personally.

Why we can use your information

This is research: We're doing this to understand patient and public perspectives on NHS pharmacy services. The findings are for research and policy purposes, not for sales, marketing or targeting you.

We're allowed to use your information because:

Our legitimate interest: We believe this research benefits society by helping improve NHS services that people rely on. The research cannot work without collecting and analysing survey responses.

Minimal privacy impact: We protect your privacy by:

• Removing your name before sharing any data
• Replacing your name with a code number before any data transfer to the NPA
• Using secure systems and trained staff only
• Never using your information for marketing or sales
• Giving you full control to withdraw

We've carefully balanced the research benefits against privacy risks and believe the benefits justify the minimal impact on your privacy.

Your contact details: Only collected if you choose. You can change your mind at any time.

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Who sees your information

The NPA is in charge of this research. In legal terms, this makes them the data controller. They are responsible for how your information is used and for protecting your rights. Thiscovery collects and looks after your data on behalf of the NPA. In legal terms, this makes us the data processor. We follow the NPA's instructions and keep your data safe.

We will share information with:

• The National Pharmacy Association - they receive both our analysis report and a copy of your individual survey responses with your name removed and replaced with a code number ‍
• Q Community - they receive a copy of our analysis report only. They do not receive any of your individual survey answers.

We will NOT share information with:

• Marketing companies
• Individual pharmacy businesses or chains
• Other NHS organisations without separate agreement
• Any other third parties

What the NPA receives:

• Our analysis report with anonymous summaries and quotes with any identifying information removed
• A copy of your individual survey responses with your name removed and replaced with a code number
• Open-text comments with identifying details removed

What Q Community receives:

• Our analysis report only, the same summary document shared with the NPA
• No individual survey responses, no contact details, no code numbers linked to you

How survey data and contact details are handled

• Survey data: The NPA receives your responses (with your name replaced by a code number) for their own research and analysis. ‍
• Contact details: Only collected if you choose at the end. You decide who can contact you.

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How long we keep your information

Your survey answers: We keep identifiable details for up to 6 months after the project ends, then remove names and keep anonymous answers for up to 2 years

Summary reports (with no names): We may keep these longer to inform future research

Your contact details:

For the prize draw only:

• Deleted 8 weeks after all prizes are delivered

For this project (results):

• Held in our survey system for up to 6 months after the project ends

If you've chosen to hear about future Thiscovery opportunities:

• Transferred to our participant database
• Kept until you unsubscribe (you can do this at any time using the link in any email)

If you provide your email for multiple purposes, we'll keep it until the longest period ends. For example, if you enter the prize draw and also ask for results, we'll keep your email until we send you the results.

Want us to delete your information? Email us and we'll do it quickly.

The NPA will keep your survey responses (with your name replaced by a code number) for up to 24 months for ongoing research and analysis.

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Your choices

You can:

• Stop taking part at any time
• Skip questions you don't want to answer
• Ask to see what information we hold about you
• Ask us to fix wrong information
• Ask us to delete your contact details
• Complain if you're not happy

To do any of these: Email us at help@thiscovery.org

Important things to know

• Providing your name and email at the end of the survey is optional. You choose whether to give us your contact details.
• If you don't give us your contact details, we may not be able to remove your survey answers later (because we won't know which answers are yours)
• Once we create summaries for the NPA, we can't remove your contribution from those reports ‍
• Once we transfer your survey data to the NPA, we can't get it back or delete it from their systems. The NPA will have their own procedures for handling deletion requests

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How we keep your information safe

We keep things secure:

• All information is encrypted and stored safely
• Only the research team can access your information during the project
• Your name is removed before creating reports
• Your name is replaced with a code number before any data transfer
• We use certified deletion procedures when we remove data ‍
• Transfer security: Data is encrypted during transfer to the NPA. The NPA follows their own data security procedures.

Important: Sending information over the internet is never 100% safe. We do our best to protect it, but we can't guarantee complete security.

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Research results

If you give us your contact details, we'll tell you:

• What the research found about patient and public views on pharmacy prescribing
• How the NPA is using findings to influence NHS policy and service design

Contact us

Questions about the survey: help@thiscovery.org

Questions about how the NPA uses your information: [NPA Data Protection Officer email]

Complaints: research.governance@thiscovery.org

Data protection problems: Information Commissioner's Office - ico.org.uk

Your agreement

By taking part in this survey, you agree that:

• Thiscovery and the NPA can work together to collect and use your survey answers for research about pharmacy prescribing services
• The NPA can receive both our shared report and a copy of your individual answers (with your name replaced by a code number) for their own research
• Both organisations have to follow UK data protection law to keep your information safe

You can stop taking part at any time.

Thank you for helping us understand what matters to patients and the public about pharmacy prescribing.