1. Introduction

 Welcome to the website of Oxford Neurospine, consultant Mr Murtuza Sikander. We are committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to our website. This policy explains how we collect, use, and look after your personal data when you browse our site, as well as your privacy rights under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. 

2. The Data We Collect When You Visit

 When you browse or interact with our website, we may collect two types of information: 

• Voluntary Data: Information you type into contact forms, feedback tools, or general enquiry fields (such as your name, email address, or phone number).
• Automated Technical Data: Information automatically collected via cookies, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, pages viewed, and the duration of your visit. 

Important Note on Clinical Information: Please do not submit detailed medical history or highly sensitive health information through our general website “Contact Us” forms. For securing clinical appointments, please use our dedicated, encrypted Patient Booking Form. 

3. How We Use Your Website Data

We use the data we collect via the website to: 

Respond to general questions or administrative enquiries submitted through our contact forms. 

Monitor website performance, improve user experience, and ensure the site remains technically secure.  

Our Legal Basis for Processing: 

For answering inquiries: Our legitimate interests in handling standard public or patient communication.  

For website tracking/analytics: Your explicit consent (provided via our cookie banner). 

4. Cookies and Analytical Tracking

Our website uses “cookies”—small text files placed on your device—to help our site run efficiently and to analyze web traffic. 

Essential Cookies: Necessary for the website to function correctly (e.g., maintaining page security). These cannot be switched off. 

 Analytical/Performance Cookies: (e.g., Google Analytics). These help us understand how visitors move around the site so we can improve layout and content. This data is aggregated and completely anonymized. 

 When you first visit our site, a pop-up banner will ask for your preference. You can change your cookie preferences or opt-out of tracking at any time through your browser settings. 

5. Third-Party Links

Our website may occasionally contain links to external medical journals, hospital networks, or professional societies (like the Society of British Neurological Surgeons). Clicking those links may allow third parties to collect data about you. We do not control these external websites and recommend reading their individual privacy policies. 

6. Data Retention and Security

We employ industry-standard web encryption (HTTPS/SSL) to protect data sent via our website forms. We only keep general website inquiry data for as long as necessary to resolve your request, typically deleting uncompleted general enquiries after [e.g., 6 months]. 

7. Your Rights and Contact Information

Under UK data protection laws, you have the right to request access to the data we hold about you, request corrections, or object to analytical tracking. 

For any website-related privacy questions, please contact us at: info@oxfordneurospine.com