NHS 24 Online: Cookies policy

All information we get through cookies will be treated in confidence. NHS 24 will never sell, trade or give your details to third parties, unless required to by law.

This policy sets out how we use cookies and similar technologies on the NHS 24 Online app. Cookies fall into one of the following categories:

category 1 – strictly necessary (essential)
category 2 – performance
category 3 – functionality

Currently the app uses cookies that fall into category 3 only.

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small data (text) files that are stored in your browser when you visit the app.

What cookies do and why they’re used

They allow us to understand things like your visit to the app and how you use and interact with us, together with which parts of the app are of most interest to you. This in turn helps us to understand what is actually working for you, the ‘user’ and what is not. This enables us to be proactive in enhancing the areas that are not working as effectively as you would like and to improve, where possible, your experience moving forward.

Are the cookies able to identify individuals (‘users’)?

No, any information on app usage is received in a way that we can’t identify individuals, additionally, the information received is encrypted. We do not make any attempts to find out the identities of our users who visit the app.

No device information or IP addresses will be stored on your device using cookies.

Category 1: strictly necessary (essential)

There are no essential cookies.

Category 2: performance

There are no cookies relating to performance.

Category 3: functionality

These cookies allow the app to remember choices users have made in the past.

We use these cookies to:

identify which notifications the user has deleted from the app so they are not shown them again when they reopen the app
identify which notifications have been read by the user so the notification alert counter can be updated (for example, after reading a notification the alert counter will move from 3 down to 2)