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Public contributor privacy statement

Becoming a public contributor

 

What is a public contributor?

Public contributors are people who actively participate in shaping, supporting, and improving various activities in research and healthcare. Public contributors take part in research through Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) activities. These connect the public with research projects and research organisations, enabling PCs to share their insights and expertise.

 

How do I become a public contributor?

Public contributors for PPIE activities for research at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) and partnered organisations are asked to fill in and submit an ‘Expression of Interest (EoI) for UHS Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement activity form’.

This could be in paper format or online. Online forms are hosted by Cognito Forms.

Cognito Forms is an online survey and data management software that complies with UK and international regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). Their data protection & privacy and data security notices can be accessed by visiting Data Protection & Privacy - Cognito Forms and Data security - Cognito Forms.

You can access the EoI form when responding to opportunities advertised in the UHS Public Involvement newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter by completing this sign-up form.

 

What personal information do we collect?

All public contributors are asked to fill an Expression of Interest form where we request the following personal information:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Telephone number (optional)
  • Postcode (optional)

 

We also ask for the following nine protected characteristics as defined by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Equality Act 2010, for monitoring purposes but there is no obligation to provide information:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment
  • Marriage or civil partnership
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Race
  • Religion or belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual orientation

 

How will the information be used and what is the lawful basis?

We use the information on the Expression of Interest form to administer interest for a PPIE activity for a research project and include details on the Cognito Forms database. Contact information is used to communicate with public contributors to proceed with the PPIE activity once they are successful.

We use information on the nine protected characteristics to check our public contributors against the generalpopulation. We can then ensure that contributions to the research are diverse and serve a widest possible group that is representative of our region’s communities. We can then provide the best for all our service users. When this information is provided, we rely on your explicit consent (UK GDPR Art 9(2)(a)) to process it.

Under the UK GDPR, our legal basis for continuing to process your data is Article 6(1)(e), ‘Processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller (University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust)’. This forms the legal basis for:

  • Engaging with the widest range of our local community to join PPIE activities of research at UHS and our partner organisations.
  • Communicating with public contributors to keep them informed and engaged in a PPIE activity, and future opportunities.

 

Profiling and targeted communication

We use profiling techniques to demonstrate the diversity of our public contributors and ensure communications to members are relevant and timely. For example, we may send you specific information based on your age group.

Profiling also enables us to allocate resources more efficiently and improve our service delivery.

 

Will my information be shared with anyone else?

Statistics on our public contributors’ demographic information may be shared as aggregated data (e.g. statistics) with our partner organisations, such as the University of Southampton, and published on our website to showcase the diversity of the community we are reaching. However, information will not be shared in an individual or identifiable format.

We use Cognito Forms to securely collect and manage your personal information in compliance with GDPR. You can learn more about how Cognito Forms protects your personal information in the Cognito Forms Privacy Policy.

The Trust will not sell your information.