Welcome to this National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) Website
This website and the information, materials and documentation contained in it are provided to you subject to the following terms and conditions.
This website is owned and operated by NPSA a Special Health Authority established by order of the Secretary of State for Health and based at 4-8 Maple Street, London W1T 5HD.
Please read the terms and conditions below carefully as if you visit this website, register with us or provide comments you are deemed to have accepted them. If you do not accept them, please leave the site now.
This website is an Internet system that provides resources, at low or no cost, to people all over the world to help them take effective action to improve patient safety in health care. It will be helpful to people in many different roles in the health care system — including (but not limited to) doctors, nurses, other clinicians, managers, executives, policy-makers, educators, and interested members of the lay public.
When we refer to ourselves as "we," "us," "our," and similar terms we mean the National Patient Safety Agency, including any subsidiary we control. We may change these terms from time to time. You will always be able to view the most current version by clicking on a link at the bottom of any page on our site.
Scope of These Terms
These Terms of Use apply to your use of this website. We may have other websites that may be covered by different terms of use. The terms of use for each of our websites are available on those sites. When you leave one of our websites and go to another website (whether controlled by us or by a third party), different terms may apply.
Information on this site
The content on this site is provided for general information only and should not be relied upon. This site is a resource presented for the sole purpose of helping healthcare professionals improve the safety of the patients that they serve. We include a lot of information on this site, including articles, references, tools, and databases. While we hope you find the information helpful, if you are a healthcare professional you should remember that the content on this site is not to substitute for your own clinical judgment.
If you are an individual who chooses to assess the information on this site, you should not rely on that information as professional medical advice or use it to replace any relationship with your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional.
For medical concerns, including decisions about medications and other treatments, individuals should always consult their doctor or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel. Individuals with any type of medical condition are specifically cautioned to seek professional medical advice before beginning any sort of health treatment. INDIVIDUALS WHO RELY ON INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE DO SO AT THEIR OWN RISK. We accept no responsibility and exclude all liability for any damage and/or loss suffered or incurred in connection with interacting with or browsing this website.
Whilst we believe the contents of this Website to be true and accurate as at the date of writing we give no assurances regarding currency, accuracy and applicability of any of the content in relation to specific or particular circumstances. We follow a standard set of editorial procedures for information that we put on this site. However, we do not offer you any warranty or guarantee related to this site. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES; EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. WE DO NOT WARRANT OR GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, CORRECTNESS, TIMELINESS OR USEFULNESS OF ANY INFORMATION, PRODUCTS, SERVICES, MERCHANDISE OR OTHER MATERIAL PROVIDED THROUGH this website OR IN THE INTERNET GENERALLY. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE OR ERROR FREE. IN NO EVENT WILL WE BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DECISION MADE OR ACTION TAKEN BY YOU OR ANYONE ELSE IN RELIANCE UPON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN OR PROVIDED THIS WEB SITE.
It is your responsibility to evaluate the information and results from tools we provide. If you are a healthcare professional, you should exercise your professional judgment in evaluating any information, and we encourage you to confirm the information contained on our website with other sources before undertaking any treatment or action based on it. If you are a consumer, you should evaluate the information together with your physician or another qualified health care professional.
We are not responsible for information on this website which has been provided by third parties. Whether the information comes from us, a third party, or from you, WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEB SITE. IN NO EVENT SHALL OUR LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THIS WEB SITE, HOWEVER ARISING, EXCEED ONE THOUSAND GBP (£1,000), REGARDLESS OF WHETHER WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE AND NOTWITHSTANDING THE FAILURE OF THE ESSENTIAL PURPOSE OF ANY REMEDY YOU OR ANYONE MAY HAVE.
You understand and agree that we cannot and do not operate, control, supply, endorse, warrant or guarantee any information, products, services or merchandise available on this website or through the Internet, in general, in any way. You also understand and agree that we cannot and do not warrant or guarantee that files available for downloading through the website will be free of infections or viruses, worms, Trojan horses or other code that contains contaminating or destructive properties.
You understand and agree that you are solely responsible for implementing sufficient precautions, procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your own requirements for the accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to this website for the reconstruction of any lost data. We do not assume the responsibility for the loss of any information, data, or other materials resulting from your use of this website.
Although we are selective about the organisations we link to, WE DO NOT ASSUME ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY WEBSITES THAT ARE LINKED TO OUR SITE OR THAT YOU BROWSE TO AFTER FOLLOWING A LINK FROM THIS WEB SITE.
While we welcome your feedback on this website, we must make the final decisions about the content that is posted on the site to make sure it meets the needs of all our users. You can use the feedback link on our site to send us comments and criticisms, but IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH OUR RESPONSE OR WITH THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE, YOU SHOULD STOP USING THE WEBSITE.
Notwithstanding anything stated above, nothing herein shall exclude any liability for negligence causing personal injury or death.
Copyright
National Patient Safety Agency owns the intellectual property in relation to any material on this website, except where this information has been sourced from, or is explicitly accredited to, third parties. The entire contents and design of this website and its underlying technology are protected under UK and US copyright laws.
You may look at this website online, download individual articles, print or email pages of content and download tools to your personal or handheld computer for later reading or use, and even print a reasonable number of copies of pages for yourself or your colleagues provided this is for your personal study or personal education purposes and is non-commercial.
You must not, however, as part of those processes, remove any copyright notices from our materials, nor adapt, modify or edit any such materials. We reserve all our other rights. Among other things, this means you must not sell our information, rewrite or modify it, redistribute it, put it on your own website (or anyone else’s), or use it for any commercial purpose without our prior written permission.
Trademarks
We or our partners also own or are entitled to use the names we use for our products and services on this website, and these names are protected by trademark laws in the U.K. and internationally. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners as shown on this Website.
If your activities are non-commercial, you may make restricted use of our trademarks by linking to us or discussing us with others, as long as you make it clear that we are the owner of the trademark. Any other uses of our trademarks require our prior written approval.
You may not use our trademarks in any of the following ways:
- in a non-National Patient Safety Agency product name or publication title;
- within or as part of your own trademarks;
- to identify non-National Patient Safety Agency products or services;
- in a manner which may cause confusion;
- in a manner that implies that the National Patient Safety Agency partners, endorses or is otherwise connected with your activities, products, or services; or
- in a manner that disparages the National Patient Safety Agency.
Linking to Us
We do not object if you have a simple link from your website to this website. However, you must not frame our site or incorporate pieces of it into a different site or product. You are not allowed to link to this website if you create or post illegal, obscene, or offensive content, or if the link in any way has a negative impact on our reputation or the content on your site is likely to cause anxiety, loss or harm or personal injury to your readers. We reserve the right to terminate any links to this website at any time in our sole discretion.
Links are provided for convenience only. When you access a non-NPSA website you acknowledge that it is independent from us and that we have no control over the content of that site. Dealings on other sites are solely between you and the third party operator of that site. We do not endorse or accept responsibility for the content or use of such sites. Links are made to or from this website at your own risk.
Information that You Put on this Website
Unless we tell you that something will be treated confidentially, when you place materials or information on this Website, you are giving us an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, sub-licensable right and licence to use, reproduce, communicate to the public, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play and to exercise all copyright and publicity rights over that information worldwide. We will consider requests to remove information that you make publicly available on this Website on an individual basis.
For information and materials you place on this Website that is not publicly available and controls regarding identification of you, please see our Privacy Policy for an explanation of how we use that information and your rights to change or delete it.
You may not post any messages, links or code that would be misleading, false, vulgar, illegal, libellous, pornographic inappropriate, or harmful, or which might damage our reputation. We reserve the right to remove any such content at any time without your consent and without any prior notice.
Advertising and Sponsorship Policy
The National Patient Safety Agency accepts promotion on and sponsorship of this Website where this is relevant to our mission as an organisation. However we do not endorse any company, product or service. In addition, advertisers and sponsors may not suggest that either the National Patient Safety Agency or this Website endorses a product, service or company.
Rights
The National Patient Safety Agency respects the rights of all copyright holders and has adopted and implemented a policy that provides for the termination in appropriate circumstances of users who post materials on this Website that infringe the rights of copyright holders. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please contact us.
To contact us for notice of claims of copyright infringement on or regarding this website contact enquiries@npsa.nhs.uk or Communications Department, National Patient Safety Agency, 4-8 Maple Street, London W1T 5HD.
Laws that Govern This Agreement
National Patient Safety Agency controls this website from its offices within England. This Website can be accessed from any part of the UK and from other countries worldwide. Since the laws of each state or country differ, you agree that by accessing this website the laws of England will apply to this agreement and all matters relating to use of this Website. You further agree that any cause of action arising under these Terms of Use shall be brought exclusively in any court in England.
National Patient Safety Agency makes no representation that materials on this Website are appropriate or available for use in other locations, and accessing them from territories where their contents are illegal is prohibited. Those who choose to access this website from other locations do so on their own initiative and at their own risk and are responsible for compliance with local laws.
Acceptance Procedure
By accessing information on or registering with the website, you agree with all the terms and conditions of this agreement
We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change the terms and conditions of this agreement from time to time, and your continuing use of this website constitutes your acceptance of and agreement to any changed terms and conditions. We will post any such changes in a timely manner, and, if you are registered with us, we will draw your attention to any major changes.
Consequences
If you do not comply with these terms, we have the right to block your access, suspend or eliminate any registrations you have made and/or remove any information you have placed on our site. We may also take any legal action if, in our sole discretion, we think it is appropriate. If your violation of these Terms of Use causes harm to others, you agree to hold the National Patient Safety Agency harmless against any liability for that harm.
Use of discussion fora and email lists
In order to use this service, users may be required to provide a username, password and e-mail address through registration for some parts of this site, and may be able to participate in online discussions and/or join email lists.
The administrators are not responsible for the privacy practices of any user. Remember that all information that is disclosed in these areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to share any of your personal information.
Any user who finds material posted by another user to be offensive is encouraged to contact us via e-mail. We are authorised by you to remove or modify any data or content submitted by you to these forums that we feel constitutes a violation of any of our policies or good practice, whether stated, implied or not.
The discussion areas of this site may contain links to other web sites and files. We have no control over the content of third party web sites and cannot ensure it will not be offensive or objectionable. We will, however, remove links to material that we feel is inappropriate as we become aware of them.
By using this service, you agree that you are fully responsible for any information or file supplied from your subscriber email address. You also agree that you will not post any copyright material that is not owned by yourself or the owners of these forums. In your use of these forums, you agree that you will not post any information which is vulgar, harassing, hateful, threatening, invading of others privacy, sexually oriented, or violates any laws. The NPSA reserves the right to remove any material that is considered inappropriate, unprofessional or defamatory; NHS organisations will be informed of such postings.
For mailing list and discussion-thread management purposes, individual postings to each list can be identified.
The NPSA recognises that on occasions NHS employees may wish to share knowledge of commercial products or services which have been developed for use primarily within the NHS. Anyone requesting such information via this email or discussion service should be emailed directly but unsolicited email, advertising or mail shots are not permitted.
General
If any provision of these Terms of Use is held to be invalid or unenforceable, such provision shall be struck out and the remaining provisions shall be enforced. Headings are for reference purposes only and in no way define, limit, construe or describe the scope or extent of such section. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our right to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches. These Terms of Use set forth the entire understanding and agreement between you and the National Patient Safety Agency with respect to your use of this website and your relationship, from that use, with NPSA.
Questions or Concerns about Our Terms of Use
For questions or concerns about these Terms of Use, please send an email to enquiries@npsa.nhs.uk
Version: 05 May 2005
