1. Introduction

The Learning Healthcare Project supports communication, collaboration and the free-flowing exchange of ideas on The Learning Healthcare Systems with the aim of informing each other and our report on Learning Healthcare Systems.
The Learning Healthcare Project reserves the right to remove any message or user that, in our opinion, violates any section of this policy.

Subject to compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 we may also disclose information necessary to operate our systems, run the service, comply with the law, or protect the service and its users.

We routinely review this policy to ensure it reflects our services, funding and the needs of the wider educational community, and changes to it will be communicated on our website.
By using The Learning Healthcare Project you accept these conditions so please read them carefully.

2. Using The Learning Healthcare Project

  • To use certain features of The Learning Healthcare Project you have to provide your name and a valid email address.
  • All contact information you submit must be true, complete and kept up to date.
  • You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account, passwords and files.
  • You accept that another person may be able to see your identity based on your preference settings.
  • If you leave The Learning Healthcare Project any message(s) you posted to a list, along with your details, will remain in the archives.

3. Ethics

We endeavour to operate The Learning Healthcare Project to the highest standards and our relationship with you is based on trust. We expect your conduct when using The Learning Healthcare Project to be legal and honest and we will take action against anyone whose activities are found to violate this request.
When using The Learning Healthcare Project you are not permitted to:

  • Collect information about others (such as email addresses) without their consent.
  • Use the service for commercial exchange.
  • Deliberately cause The Learning Healthcare Project systems, services or subscriber accounts to be interrupted.
  • Create liability for us.

The Learning Healthcare Project does not control or bear any liability for the content of messages you or others post to lists, it acts as a conduit for messages and we are not liable for the conduct of any other The Learning Healthcare Project user. The Learning Healthcare Project neither moderates nor edits messages before they are posted to the list.

4. Content of Messages

Posting messages to The Learning Healthcare Project is a matter of common sense, use your own sense of what is appropriate to guide your conduct without engaging in unreasonable behaviour or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list (see Section 3: Ethics).

You are responsible for the content of the message(s) you post to The Learning Healthcare Project, they should be courteous and relevant to the list topic. The Learning Healthcare Project cannot assume any responsibility for the content of any messages sent to lists other than those from The Learning Healthcare Project themselves and we do not review, screen or edit the content.

Security

The security of messages sent to The Learning Healthcare Project cannot be guaranteed due to the nature of the internet; you should bear this in mind when posting confidential information.

Anti-Spam Measures

Promotional messages should not be posted to The Learning Healthcare Project, unless directly relevant to the conversation.

The Learning Healthcare Project does not allow subscribers to post spam, junk mail, chain letters or other unsolicited messages.

Avoid posting the same message to several conversations at the same time as this can be misinterpreted as spam, which will result in your messages being rejected and your account being blocked for 48 hours. We cannot guarantee to block all spam.

Copyright

  • Posting messages to The Learning Healthcare Project does not affect copyright. The author (or their employer) will usually be the copyright owner, except for third-party material included in the post.
  • You retain your moral right to be identified as the author of the work, and your moral right against derogatory treatment.
  • When you post to a list you do not lose copyright, but you agree that your message may be archived, forwarded to other lists, and quoted by others, used in our project report and associated publications. This may be attributed to you or taken in aggregate with other contributions.
  • Copyright law provides control over what other people can do with your original work – this includes messages.
  • Messages sent to a conversation must not be quoted out of context or mis-attributed.

Further information on copyright is available from The UK Copyright Licensing Agency

5. Mailing List Etiquette

Our simple guidelines for getting started with The Learning Healthcare Project:

  • Check your privacy settings.
  • Ensure messages are on-topic and appropriate for the conversation.
  • Be nice (See Section 3: Ethics).
  • Keep messages short and to the point.
  • When forwarding messages be respectful, comply with copyright and data protection (if in doubt check with the author).
  • Think before cross-posting to multiple conversations.

Further information on etiquette is available from the BBC.

6. Limitations

Service Limitations

We will use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that our service provides its services at or above industry standards. We do not guarantee that The Learning Healthcare Project will be uninterrupted, error, bug or virus free or that the delivery of emails will be without delay. It may be necessary to temporarily suspend The Learning Healthcare Project services to carry out maintenance; such suspensions will be limited and will take place as much as possible outside core working hours. We may also be suspended (in whole or part) where we are obliged to comply with an order, instruction or request of government, a court or other competent administrative authority or an emergency service organisation.

7. Data Protection

  • When you subscribe to The Learning Healthcare Project your name and email address will be used for the purpose of sending and receiving email messages from The Learning Healthcare Project. You have control over your privacy settings and any messages you post to The Learning Healthcare Project may be found in the public domain.
  • If you leave The Learning Healthcare Project you should understand that your details and any message(s) you have previously posted to The Learning Healthcare Project will remain in the archives.
  • The Learning Healthcare Project will never sell email addresses or any other personal information to another organisation.
  • The Learning Healthcare Project may disclose information if we believe it necessary to operate our systems, to run the service, to comply with the law, or to protect the service or others.

8. Violating this policy

If you suspect that a The Learning Healthcare Project user has violated this policy – contact the The Learning Healthcare Project helpline as soon as possible.

The decision on what action to take will be made by The Learning Healthcare Project on a case by case basis and will often depend on whether the infringement was innocent, inadvertent or intentional. The decision whether to take action, and if so, which action, is at The Learning Healthcare Project discretion.

Abusive or threatening messages sent to The Learning Healthcare Project or its staff will be treated as a violation of this policy.

We may take any of the following actions as deemed appropriate:

  • Contact the person responsible to discuss the problem.
  • Contact the list owner.
  • Remove inappropriate messages from The Learning Healthcare Project.
  • Restrict email from certain sites or addresses.
  • Remove the subscriber from the service, contact their hosting site, institution, or service provider.
  • Make a public announcement to those affected.

9. Amendments

The Learning Healthcare Project reserves the right to amend these Service Policies at any time without notice. If the policy is amended then all list owners will be informed and they may distribute the information to list members.

This policy was last updated on 23th February 2015, to incorporate guidelines generously shared by JiscMail.