Terms and conditions for patient consultation room

Sciensus Pharma Services Limited (“Sciensus”)

Core Terms of Use (“Terms”) of our Patient Consultation Room (“PCR”)

You (‘you’) should read these Terms carefully before using the Patient Consultation Room, (‘PCR’) Service as they set out the basis on which we provide services to you. If you are unhappy with or do not agree with these Terms, then you should exit the PCR and contact Sciensus to reschedule your appointment,

 Our website terms of use at https://www.sciensus.com/terms-and-conditions/ apply to these Terms as if they were set out here. We encourage you to please read them. In the event of any inconsistency, these Terms shall take priority. In addition, these Terms apply to all the users (including you) of our platform (‘Platform‘). These Terms apply to you whether you are an NHS or private (self-funded) patient and should be read in conjunction with the additional terms listed above and below.

By using the Platform, you are agreeing to these Terms, along with the following additional terms, which also apply and shall be incorporated into our Contract with you:

Any reference to ‘these Terms‘ shall include all these terms (as applicable). Words are defined where they first appear in these Terms and in the Definitions section (please see Section 20).

1.    EMERGENCIES

 Please note that the PCR Platform must NOT be used in an EMERGENCY situation

 IF YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU OR THE PERSON YOU ARE ASSISTING IS IN AN URGENT OR EMERGENCY SITUATION YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY DIAL 999.

YOU SHOULD CALL 999 IMMEDIATELY in a critical or life-threatening situation, such as if someone has:

  • difficulty breathing;
  • severe bleeding and it can’t be stopped;
  • severe chest pain;
  • a severe allergic reaction;
  • severe burns or scalds;
  • loss of consciousness;
  • major trauma such as the result of a serious road traffic accident, a stabbing, a shooting, a fall from height or a serious head injury; or
  • acute confused states and fits which aren’t stopping, or if you believe someone is having a heart attack or

2.    WHO WE ARE AND HOW TO CONTACT US

Who we are? The PCR Platform is operated by Sciensus Pharma Services Limited (‘Sciensus‘, ‘our‘, ‘us‘ or ‘we‘), a company registered in England (company number 02759609).

Sciensus is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (‘CQC‘) (registration number 1-101675619). The CQC is the independent regulator of all health and social care in England. The CQC monitors, inspects and regulates all hospitals, care homes, home-care agencies, GP practices and dental practices.

How to contact us. To contact us, please email generalenquiries@sciensus.com or telephone our customer service team on 0333 103 9499. For other options, please visit Contact Us.

We may contact you by email to the email address provided in your Account, by written communication to the postal address provided in your Account or by telephone.

3.    OUR SERVICES

What Services do we offer? Sciensus offers a PCR Platform which enables you to connect online, in real time, to Clinicians.

Each of our Clinicians are registered with The NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council).

Our PCR Platform is available to you if you are in the United Kingdom (i.e. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).

You can use the PCR Platform to:

  • attend an appointment for an online consultation with a Clinician via the PCR Platform (‘Appointment‘);
  • (each a ‘Service‘ or together the ‘Services‘).

Appointments are subject to availability. Appointment times are subject to change and are only made available to you at our sole discretion.

In the event that:

  • you require information and support and you are unable to access the PCR Platform for whatever reason;
  • there are no Appointments available to suit your requirements;
  • you miss an Appointment for whatever reason;
  • you lose connection to the PCR Platform during an Appointment; or
  • your Appointment is cancelled, including as a result of a Clinician being unavailable,

and if we cancel the Appointment, we shall book an alternative, however if you either do not attend the Appointment and/or wish to reschedule it is your sole responsibility to contact Sciensus to arrange a new Appointment.

Sessions. A ‘Session’ is a block of time, during which you can have a consultation with a Clinician via the Platform.

Booking an Appointment in advance. This could mean Sciensus books an Appointment and sends you an invitation and/or it could mean you contact Sciensus advising you are in isolation due to COVID-19 and want to arrange a PCR Appointment.

Confirmation of Appointments. You will be sent written confirmation of the Appointment in the form of an email.

Your right to make a change to an Appointment once booked. Due to COVID-19 BCP Our Clinician will contact you prior to the consultation to confirm your wellbeing and at that time if you wish to reschedule your appointment, this will be arranged and you will receive a new email inviting you to your new appointment. In addition to this, if at that time or any time, you no longer wish to continue with the PCR service, Sciensus will discuss with you what alternative arrangements can or cannot be made.

Our duty if we make changes to an Appointment once booked. We will advise you as soon as possible if we have to amend, change or cancel any scheduled Appointments.

Prescription services. The PCR Platform does not offer a prescription provision or fulfilment service.

Clinicians and choice. We do not make any guarantee whatsoever as to the availability of any single Clinician at any time.

In line with applicable law and regulations all of our Clinicians’ training, qualifications, skills etc., are vetted, to ensure that each Clinician has a current and valid registration to practice in the UK.

 

4.    SAFE USE OF THE SERVICES

To ensure you can use the PCR Platform and Services safely and in accordance with these Terms, you must:

  • provide full and accurate information about your medical history and current symptoms (to the Clinician during an Appointment). Failure to provide full information may impact on our ability to provide the Services and the ability of the Clinician to make a full assessment of your health and care needs;
  • comply with our Fair Usage Policy (see Schedule 1, below) at all times;
  • not use the Services for any inappropriate purposes;
  • follow instructions given to you on the PCR Platform and/or by a Clinician;
  • follow instructions on any medicine or healthcare product recommended to you by a Clinician;
  • seek further medical advice if you have any concerns about the information given to you on the PCR Platform and/or by a Clinician or if your condition changes; and
  • seek immediate medical assistance if you suffer adverse or unexpected effects of any treatment, medicine or healthcare product recommended to you  on  the  PCR  Platform  and/or  by  a    Please see Emergencies (see Section 1).

5. CONNECTIVITY

This secure service is very easy to use and works on most desktop personal computers, (P.C.s), laptops, tablets and smart phones. There is no need to download or install any software or app onto these devices.

All you will require is access to the internet and a supported web browser, which includes any of the following:

  • Google Chrome; or
  • Microsoft Edge; or
  • Apple

6.    USING THE PCR

Use requirements. In order to use the PCR and the Services you represent and warrant that you:

  • are at least seventeen (17) years of age; and
  • have capacity to accept and agree to these

If you are younger than seventeen (17) years of age you may use the PCR and the Services if you have a responsible person present with you during all consultations in the PCR until you are seventeen (17) years of age.

Identification Checks / fraudulent Information. We may contact you to verify identity and may request further information from you. We reserve the right to

not to allow you to enter the PCR appointment if we believe the information you have supplied is not accurate and/or we believe someone is presenting as you and they are not. We may suspend, discontinue or deny you access to and use of the PCR service until we are satisfied it is you.

Third party information that you provide. We will only require the patient information, if we have a third party acting on behalf of the patient, we will verify their information when the PCR appointment starts. A responsible person can be a parent, guardian, appointed next of kin, carer and/or someone with a power of attorney which has been verified and held on the patient account prior to the PCR appointment. As a patient you are responsible to ensure these people understand we will collect and process their information and make them aware of our privacy policy.

We may monitor use. We reserve the right to monitor your use of the PCR Platform and/or Services and to disable any user access at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms or if we suspect any unauthorised use or misuse of the PCR Platform and/or Services.

 

8.    HOW WE MAY USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

For further information about how we use your personal information please see our privacy policy.

Electronic Medical Records. Sciensus will update your electronic medical patient care record every time you use the PCR service. The record is created by us to document, record and store personal health information and you can access your information, including:

  • medical history;
  • current health conditions;
  • symptoms;
  • complaints;
  • allergies;
  • copies of all information we hold on you; and
  • medications,

and for your Clinician to record the results of his or her consultations with you in accordance with his or her obligations under applicable law. Your Clinician will attach to your patient care record any information provided or collected as part of an Appointment which we may supplement with documents to be reviewed in the consultation though the Clinician will not be able to directly save or add images/documents as part of the PCR appointment. If you would like a copy of your personal information you can contact our Data Protection Officer, at DPO@sciensus.com If you want to know more about your rights please review our Privacy Notice.

Information Resources (Opt-in). By accepting your PCR appointment and suppling you joining details you have confirmed consent to receive the PCR Services.

Recording Appointments.

 You are not permitted to make any form of recording of any PCR appointment yourself or allow others to do so. Sciensus will also not record the PCR appointment. But Sciensus will update the outcome of the PCR appointment as part of your patient care record.

 

9.    WE MAY MAKE CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

We may amend these Terms from time to time. Every time you wish to use our Platform, please check these Terms to ensure you understand the Terms that apply at that time. These Terms were most recently updated in November 2023.

 

10.    WE MAY MAKE CHANGES TO THE PCR PLATFORM AND/OR THE SERVICES

We may update and/or make changes to the Platform and/or the Services from time to time, for example, to reflect changes in your needs and/or our business priorities, security updates or any legal or regulatory changes.

 

11.    WE MAY SUSPEND OR WITHDRAW THE PLATFORM

We do not guarantee that the PCR Platform, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of the PCR Platform for business and operational reasons, including (without limitation) for technical or security reasons. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any suspension or withdrawal.

If we need to suspend access to the PCR Platform at any time prior to any Appointment that you have already booked, we will notify you in advance (unless the suspension is due to unforeseen circumstances such as emergency maintenance) and arrange a new Appointment for you as soon as possible.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your access to the PCR Platform at any time, without notice and without us bearing any liability to you, if we reasonably believe you have breached any of these Terms. In such circumstances, any Appointments that you have already booked will be cancelled.

 

12.    TEMPORARY USE LICENCE GRANTED

While you are logged into to the PCR service, you are not able to use the PCR Platform and the Services for your own personal, non-commercial use.

This is a limited licence and you may not sell, assign, sublicense, grant a security interest in or otherwise attempt to transfer any right in the Platform, create any works based on the PCR Platform or commercially exploit the PCR

Platform or the Services in any way. This includes (but is not limited to) selling, reselling, reproducing, duplicating or copying the PCR Platform and/or the Services and the use of any data mining, gathering or extraction tool. Any of these uses will result in your licence being terminated and you will no longer be authorised to use the PCR Platform or the Services.

14.    DISCLAIMERS

Medical Disclaimers: You should always seek the advice of a doctor or other qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical concerns (and before starting, stopping or modifying any treatment or medication) even if you have already obtained medical advice via or read relevant material about the PCR Platform.

Sciensus does not guarantee that a video consultation is the best course of accessing advice or indeed the appropriate course of treatment for your particular healthcare concern or medical issue. You agree to contact your GP / Consultant immediately should your condition change or your symptoms worsen (if you are not registered with a UK doctor you agree to contact your local walk-in centre or hospital for advice). In an emergency, you should contact your nearest emergency services centre immediately.

Content Disclaimers: Any information on our PCR Platform or in any communications from us (other than advice provided by a Clinician during an Appointment) is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. Such information should not be relied upon as a substitute for seeking appropriate individual medical advice or services.

Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on the Platform, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on the PCR Platform is accurate, complete or up to date. We accept no responsibility for any consequences relating directly or indirectly to any action or inaction you take based upon such information.

General Disclaimers: We make no warranty that the PCR Platform or the Services will meet your requirements or that the Services will be uninterrupted, 100% secure or error-free, or that defects, if any, will be corrected. We are not responsible for transmission errors or any corruption or compromise of data carried over local or interchange telecommunication carriers.

We will take all reasonable precautions to protect against failure of our equipment and software and will perform regular back-ups of all data stored. You acknowledge and accept that in the event restoration of data from backup is necessary, it may take several days to complete such restoration of data and resume operation of the PCR Platform and/or the Services, in which circumstances any booked Appointments shall be deemed a Disrupted Appointment.

We do not guarantee that the PCR Platform will be secure or free from bugs or viruses. You are responsible for configuring your Devices in order to access the Platform. You should use your own virus protection software.

 

WE MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT: THE SATISFACTION OF GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS REQUIRING DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION ON PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRODUCTS; OR ANY TREATMENT, ACTION OR APPLICATION OR PREPARATION OF MEDICATION BASED ON INFORMATION OFFERED OR PROVIDED VIA THE PCR PLATFORM OR SERVICES.

 We do not endorse the promotions, products or services of any third parties, nor do we warrant or validate the accuracy of any third-party advertisements, promotions, communications or other materials. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of information contained on any third- party web sites.

15.    OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE SUFFERED BY YOU

We are responsible to you for foreseeable loss and damage caused by us. If we fail to comply with these Terms, we are responsible for loss or damage

you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen.

We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability to compensate you for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors; or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

Liability for damage to your Device or digital content. If defective digital content which we have supplied damages your Device or digital content belonging to you and this is caused by our failure to use reasonable care and skill we will either repair the damage or pay you compensation. However, we will not be liable for damage which you could have avoided by following our advice to apply an update offered to you free of charge or for damage which was caused by you failing to correctly follow installation instructions or to have in place the minimum system requirements advised by us.

No liability for inability to use the PCR Platform / reliance on any content. Subject to ‘We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so’ we will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising in connection with:

  • inability to use the Platform; or
  • use of or reliance on any content displayed on the PCR

We are not liable for business losses. We only supply the Services for domestic and private use. If you use the Services for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

 

16.    CIRCUMSTANCES OUTSIDE OUR CONTROL

We shall not be responsible if the supply of the Services is delayed or prevented by circumstances outside our reasonable control. If this happens, we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and we will take steps to minimise the effect of the delay or failure. Where the delay means that we cannot supply the Services in respect of an Appointment that you have already booked, we will try to offer you an alternative Appointment. If there is a risk of substantial delay, you may Contact us (see Section 2) to cancel any Appointments.

 

17.    TERMINATION OF OUR PCR PLATFORM AGREEMENT WITH YOU AND CONSEQUENCES

Our right to terminate. By using the PCR Platform and engaging with the service we have entered an Agreement, terminating your right to use the PCR Platform or the Services is possible if:

  • you do not, within a reasonable time of us asking for it, provide us with information that is necessary for us to provide the PCR Services, for example valid contact details;
  • you seriously (as determined by us) or repeatedly breach any of these Terms or our Fair Usage Policy (see Schedule 1, below).

We may withdraw from the PCR Services. We may write to you to let you know that we are going to stop providing the PCR Services. We will try to let you know in advance of our stopping the supply of the Services.

We will advise you of any termination or suspension via the contact email.

Your right to terminate. You may cease using the PCR Platform at any time.

How to amend a PCR appointment / terminate Services. If you wish to amend your PCR appointment or no longer receive this method of visit then please contact us at 0333 103 9499 or via email  generalenquiries@sciensus.com.

 

18.    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in the PCR Platform, and in the material published on it. These works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

 

19.    OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS

Nobody else has any rights under these Terms. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of these Terms apart from Sciensus.

If a court finds part of these Terms illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these Terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

Even if we delay in enforcing these Terms, we can still enforce them later. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these Terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaching these Terms, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date.

Which laws apply to these Terms and where you may bring legal proceedings. These Terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the PCR Platform and/or the Services in the English courts. If you live in Scotland you may alternatively bring legal proceedings in Scotland. If you live in Northern Ireland you may alternatively bring legal proceedings in Northern Ireland.

 

20.    DEFINITIONS

The following defined terms apply to these Terms.

Clinicians means: (1) the participating nurses who give medical advice and provide you with related administrative services including referrals and sick notes; and (2) 3rd party clinicians including, (but not limited to) consultants that we may engage to provide the Services from time to time.

Patient Consultation Room, (PCR) Clinician use the PCR to carry out a patient consultation.

Appointment means an appointment for a consultation with a Clinician via the Platform, subject to any further extensions in accordance with the relevant terms.

Device means the computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet computer that you use to connect to the Platform.

Patient Medical Record means your Electronic Medical Records as more particularly described above (see Section 8).

NHS Patient means a patient who uses the PCR Platform to access NHS Funded primary care services.

Private Patient means a self-funded patient who accesses the Services.

Services has the meaning set out in clause 3 and as further described the Platform.

Session means a consultation with a Clinician via the Platform.

You means the individual using the PCR Platform to access the Services

Working Day means a day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, when the banks in London are open for business.

 

SCHEDULE 1

Fair Usage Policy

 Our Fair Usage Policy is designed to prevent fraud, abuse of Memberships and to ensure that everyone who wishes to use our Services is able to access a Clinician as fast and safely as possible.

Unlawful, prohibited or unusual activities (non-exhaustive list)

 You are not permitted to (or permit anyone else to):

  1. use the PCR Platform or Services in any unlawful or fraudulent way and/or for any unlawful, fraudulent or inappropriate purpose;
  2. use the PCR Platform or the Services for the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way;
  3. post or transmit a message (written, verbal or via video) under a false name or use our network resources to impersonate another person or misrepresent authorisation to act on behalf of others (including but not limited to Clinicians) or Sciensus. All messages transmitted via the PCR Platform should correctly identify the sender and you may not attempt to alter the origin of email messages or postings;
  4. allow another person or entity to use your Appointment, your personal sign on information (unless a permitted minor);
  5. attempt to undermine the security or integrity of computing systems or networks of Sciensus, the PCR Platform or any sites or platforms accessed through or via the Platform, and you must not attempt to gain unauthorised access;
  6. harvest or collect data about any other individual who uses the Platform;
  7. post or transmit any data, materials, content or information which is threatening, false, misleading, abusive, defamatory, derogatory, pornographic or profane, or that contains or promotes any virus, worm, Trojan horse, time bomb or other computer programming or code that is designed or intended to damage, destroy, intercept, download, interfere, manipulate or otherwise interrupt or expropriate the PCR Platform and/or the Services;
  1. tamper, hack, spoof, copy, modify or otherwise corrupt or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the administration, security or proper function of the PCR Platform and/or the Services, or the server on which the PCR Platform or related materials are stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Platform. You will not use robots or scripts with the Platform;
  2. attempt to reverse engineer, reverse assemble, reverse compile, decompile, disassemble, translate or otherwise alter, defraud or create false results from any executable code or information on or received by this Platform. You agree to have anti-virus and/or anti-spyware software running that is set to override the Internet browser’s cookie setting;
  3. upload or provide any information to the PCR Platform or any Clinician in breach of any third party’s intellectual property rights and/or any obligation of confidentiality or contractual duty owed to any third party; or
  4. reproduce, duplicate, copy or sell any part of the PCR Platform in contravention of the provisions of our Terms.

Breach of this Fair Usage Policy

 When we consider that a breach of this Fair Usage Policy has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate.

Failure to comply with this Fair Usage Policy constitutes a material breach of our Terms upon which you are permitted to use our Platform, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions (at our sole discretion):

  • Deletion of any information provided by you that we deem in our sole discretion to be fraudulent, abusive, defamatory, obscene or in violation of any third-party intellectual property right.
  • Suspension or termination of your contract for the Services. Where we consider it reasonable and at our complete discretion, we may provide you with a notice of improper behaviour before suspending, terminating or offering alternative Services, as we deem appropriate.
  • Issue of a warning to you;
  • Legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach.
  • Further legal action against
  • Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary or as required by law.

We exclude our liability for all action we may take in response to breaches of this Fair Usage Policy. The actions we may take are not limited to those described above, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.