Privacy Policy

This Privacy Statement provides information about the ways in which iHealthFacts process the personal information provided to us.

iHealthFacts respects your privacy. Any personal information that you volunteer will be treated in confidence applying reasonable standards of security, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1988-2018 and with effect from 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulations (“GDPR”). Any information that you provide will not be made available to third parties except in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. The National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway) has overall responsibility for ensuring compliance with Data Protection legislation as the Data Controller of personal data collected during the conduct of the study. All data is subject to NUI Galway Data Protection Policies and Procedures.

Who we are?

iHealthFacts is a Health Research Board (HRB, Ireland) funded project based within the HRB Trials Methodology Research Network (HRB-TMRN) and is based in NUI Galway, Ireland.  The Principal Investigator of the project is Prof Declan Devane and the project is supported by a core team.

What is the purpose of the website?

iHealthFacts is an online resource where the public can quickly and easily check the reliability of a health claim.  iHealthFacts seeks to help the public think critically about health claims and make well-informed choices.

Voluntary participation

Participation is entirely voluntary. If you do decide to submit an enquiry or query to iHealthFacts, you will not be identified in any report or publication. This does not affect your data protection rights.

Confidentiality

What information will you collect about me?

If you choose to contact iHealthFacts via email, we will need to collect information that could identify you, called “personal identifiable information”. Specifically, we will need to collect your email address.

If you choose to contact iHealthFacts via email, your details will be used only for the purposes for which you intended i.e. to receive a reply to your email request / communication. When your email has been actioned, the original message will be retained by iHealthFacts for a reasonable period of time. In line with GDPR requirements, your details will not be added to any of our mailing lists and all members on our mailing list have expressed explicit active consent to join this list.

If you choose to submit a question through the ‘Ask iHealthFacts’ function, this information is anonymised at source. We may use this anonymised data in the future, aggregated for use for statistical purposes or to support academic research in this area.

Use of cookies

A cookie is a small text file that may be stored on your computer or mobile device that contains data related to a website you visit. It may allow a website “remember” your actions or preferences over a period of time, or it may contain data related to the function or delivery of the site. Cookies can be set by the owner of the website or in some cases by third party services the website owner allows to present other information, run content or provide other functionality such as analytics.

Further information on cookies can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/basics/legal/cookies/index_en.htm

Purpose for which data is processed

If you choose to contact iHealthFacts via email, your details will be used only for the purposes for which you intended i.e. to receive a reply to your email request / communication. Your enquiry or query may also be anonymised (removing personally identifiable information) and aggregated for use for statistical purposes or to support future research in this area. If you choose to submit a question through the ‘Ask iHealthFacts’ function, this information is anonymised at source. We may use this anonymised data in the future, aggregated for use for statistical purposes or to support academic research in this area.

Under what legal basis are we collecting this information?

We are collecting and storing this personal identifiable information in accordance with data protection law, which protect your rights.  These state that we must have a legal basis (specific reason) for collecting your data. For this study, the specific reasons are “consent” which is “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous” and “a public interest task”. We will collect the minimum amount of personal data required to carry out the research.

 What are my rights in relation to the information you will collect about me?

You have a number of rights under data protection law regarding your personal information. For example, you can request a copy of the information we hold about you.

If you would like to know more about your different rights or the way we use your personal information to ensure we follow the law, please consult the NUI Galway Data Protection Website  https://www.nuigalway.ie/data-protection/

Will my participation be confidential and my personal identifiable information be protected?

In accordance with data protection law, NUI Galway is the Data Controller for this project. This means that we are responsible for making sure your personal information is kept secure, confidential and used only in the way you have been told it will be used. All researchers are trained with this in mind, and your data will be looked after in the following way:

Only the Principle Investigator and co- investigators at NUI Galway will have access to your personal information. Your details will be used only for the purposes for which you intended i.e. to receive a reply to your email request / communication. When your email has been actioned, the original message will be retained by iHealthFacts for a reasonable period of time. In line with GDPR requirements, your details will not be added to any of our mailing lists and all members on our mailing list have expressed explicit active consent to join this list. If you do decide to submit an enquiry or query to iHealthFacts, this data will be anonymised and you will not be identified in any report or publication.

All data collected during the study will be securely stored in NUI Galway under the stewardship of the Lead Investigator and destroyed after a period of 7 years.

Please also note that individuals from NUI Galway or regulatory authorities may need to look at the data collected for this study to make sure the project is being carried out as planned. This may involve looking at identifiable data.  All individuals involved in auditing and monitoring the study will have a strict duty of confidentiality to you as a research participant.

Compensation

No payments are available for participating in iHealthFacts.ie. Nothing in this document restricts or curtails your rights. 

Who is funding the project?

iHealthFacts is a Health Research Board (HRB, Ireland) funded project based within the HRB Trials Methodology Research Network (HRB-TMRN)

What if there is a problem?

If you have a complaint that you wish to direct to members of the research team, please contact:

 iHealthFacts research team, School of Nursing & Midwifery, Room 235, Aras Moyola, NUI Galway, Galway H91 E3YV, Ireland info@iHealthFacts.ie

If you wish to make a formal complaint to someone independent of the research team or if you are not satisfied with the response you have gained from the researchers in the first instance then please contact:

Vice-President for Research, School of Natural Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway. Tel: +353 91 495768 or by emailing:  vpresearch@nuigalway.ie

If you wish to contact us about your data protection rights, please email:

dataprotection@nuigalway.ie  or write to The Data Protection Officer, NUI Galway, Room A129, The Quadrangle, NUI Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland and we will guide you through the process of exercising your rights.

You also have a right to complain to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner at https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/contact/how-contact-us.