Acceptable Use - Terms and Conditions

Internet Access

INTRODUCTION

These are the standard terms and conditions of use of the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Employee Self Service ("ESS") provided by the Department of Health. Please read these Terms carefully, they set out the basis on which you are allowed to use this Site and the information contained within it. They protect you as a user of ESS and prevent the Site from being used for any illegal or offensive purposes. These terms do not affect your terms and conditions of employment nor the terms applying to the use of the ESR itself (including the Data Privacy Policy), all of which may be relevant to your use of the ESS.

If you are using ESS you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms, you must not use ESS and should exit immediately. Your continued use of the site will constitute acceptance of these Terms. Please note that the ESS service is only available to NHS employees and other permitted individuals who have registered and received a login ID and password.

We may amend these Terms at any time. If we change these Terms, we will notify you of this fact on the home page of the Site and will post the new version on the Site. You will be bound by such amended Terms thirty days after the date of posting or earlier if you use the Site any time after the date of posting. You should check the Terms periodically to ensure that you are aware of and complying with the current version.

GENERAL USE OF EMPLOYEE SELF SERVICE

Your use of the Site

You can use ESS by logging on, using your user ID and password. We may notify you from time to time of changes in the security information we may require for accessing ESR You must use ESS in a positive and responsible way and respecting the rights and position of others and in particular you must not use ESS in any way that is or may be considered to be:

• capable of infringing any other person or other entity's intellectual property rights (including but not limited to copyright, trade marks, design rights or database rights);
• otherwise inappropriate, illegal, unlawful or in breach of any regulations, guidelines or codes of practice.

You are solely responsible for ensuring that all information submitted by you to ESS is true, accurate and up-to-date. If your personal security details have been used to access ESS and we have not received any notification from you that your security details have been lost or compromised, we will act on any changes we receive via specific functionality on ESS, but we may make further checks into a change and may refuse to act on a change:

• if we are not reasonably satisfied the change is lawful;
• if we consider ESS has been or is likely to be misused; or
• for fraud prevention purposes.

If we refuse to act on a change, we will make reasonable efforts to tell you, or make this information available to you, with the reasons for the refusal (if possible) and any factual errors that led to the refusal. We will not do this where it would be unlawful to do so

Security

You must not under any circumstances seek to undermine the security of the Site or any information submitted to or available through it. In particular, but without limitation, you must not seek to access, alter or delete any information to which you do not have authorised access, seek to overload the system via spamming or flooding, take any action or use any device, routine or software to crash, delay, damage or otherwise interfere with the operation of this Site or attempt to decipher, disassemble or modify any of the software, coding or information comprised in the Site.

You must take all reasonable precautions to keep safe and prevent fraudulent use of your ESR security details (this will include your user ID, passwords and any PINs or other security nformation we may supply to you in the future). These precautions include, but are not limited to all of the following:

• never writing down or otherwise recording your security details in a way that can be understood by someone else;
• not choosing security details that may be easy to guess;
• taking care to ensure that no one hears or sees your security details when you use them;
• keeping your security details unique to your use of ESS;
• not allowing anyone else to have or use your security details and not disclosing them to anyone, including the police and us, except when registering for or resetting your security details (but even then do not disclose in full);
• keep your personal details (such as printed payslips or other statements) safe and dispose of them safely. People who commit fraud use many methods such as searching in dustbins to obtain this type of information. You should take simple precautions such as shredding paper containing such information;
• changing your security details immediately and telling us as soon as possible if you know, or even suspect, that someone else knows any of those details, or if we ask you to;
• keeping your security details safe;
• keep your personal computer secure by using anti-virus and anti-spyware software and a personal firewall;
• keep your passwords other security details secret ¿ we will never ask you for your ESS or ESR security information in full;
• never go to ESS from a link in an email from an unknown or untrusted sender and then enter personal details, always access ESS by typing in the ESS address to your web browser;
• never access ESS from any computer connected to a local area network (LAN) (this is usually the case for computers you use at work) or any public internet access device or access point (for example, at an internet cafe) without first making sure that no one else will be able to observe or copy your access or get access to ESS by pretending to be you;
• never record any password or other security details on any software which retains it automatically (for example, any computer screen prompts or `save password¿ feature or the line on your internet browser);
• once you have logged on to ESS, do not leave the device from which you have accessed it or let anyone else use that device until you have logged off; and
• follow all security measures recommended by the manufacturer of the device you use to access ESS, for example, the use of personal identification numbers for mobile telephones with internet access.

If any of your security details are lost or stolen, or you suspect that someone has used or tried to use them, you must tell us your local system administrator without delay.

Our Rights

We will be entitled at any time, without notice to you and without incurring any liability, to:

• alter the design or presentation of the Site or the Services;
• delete, remove or suspend the whole or any part of the Site;
• suspend your use of ESS if we have reasonable grounds which relate to the security of or the suspected unauthorised fraudulent use of ESS;
• suspend or terminate any or all of the Services under these Terms for any reason and on no notice and we shall not incur any liability to you in respect of such termination.

We will normally give you advance notice if we are going to suspend your use of ESS. We will tell you why we are taking this action but we will not give you notice or details of the reason for the suspension if this would compromise our reasonable security measures or if it is unlawful to do so. We may occasionally suspend your use of ESS without notifying you where we have been unable to contact you in advance. We may also suspend your use of ESS due to national or European legal obligations that apply to us.

Intellectual Property

All intellectual property rights and goodwill in or relating to ESR (including ESS) and its content, including the name, logo and any associated rights, belong to the UK Department of Health, the Crown or a third party licensor. Except as clearly stated on the Site, nothing in these Terms are to be construed as granting any licence or right to use any intellectual property of the UK Department of Health, our partners or licensors without our express written permission.

Unless otherwise indicated on the Site:

• you may download to a local hard disk and print extracts from the Site solely for personal non-commercial use and you may recopy downloaded extracts to others for their personal non-commercial use but you must not otherwise reproduce part or all of the Content in any form.
• you must not copy or otherwise incorporate into or store in any other web site, electronic retrieval system, publication or other work any of the Content in any form (whether hard copy, electronic or other format).

You may not frame or link to the Site or any part of it without our express permission.

Limitation of liability and disclaimers

Nothing in these Terms operates so as to exclude, limit or restrict our liability for death or personal injury or our liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation or any other liability which it is not possible to exclude by law. Any link on the Site is provided solely for your information and convenience. A link does not represent any endorsement or recommendation by us and does not mean that we have any association with the linked web site. We are not responsible for the content of any linked web site.

We will not be liable to you or any third party for any claim to the extent that the same is characterised as a claim for, or arising from loss of profits or anticipated savings; loss of goodwill or injury to reputation; loss of business opportunity; loss of data; loss of earnings; loss as suffered by third parties or any indirect, consequential or special loss or damage regardless of the form of action, whether in contract, strict liability or tort (including negligence) and regardless of whether we knew or had reason to know of the possibility of the loss, injury or damage in question and in any event you shall seek to mitigate your losses at all times.

We are not liable for any loss, damage, expenses, costs, delays or any other liability whatsoever caused by matters beyond our reasonable control (including without limitation any failure of transmission, inability to access the Site or any failure, error or delay in the sending or receiving of any communication). We are not liable for any loss, damage or other liability whatsoever arising from any Content, activity, Terms or policies on or in connection with the Site. We exclude all warranties, conditions and terms, whether express or implied to the fullest extent permitted by law in respect of the Site.

General

We reserve the right to change the terms and conditions under which the Site is offered at any time. Any such change in terms and conditions will be effective once published on this web site. If you do not wish to be bound by these terms you should not use the web site. Continued use of the Site will constitute acceptance of the new terms. If any term of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable the rest of the Terms shall remain valid and enforceable. These Terms and any documents referred to herein are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and you and we agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts for the determination of disputes.

These Terms constitute the entire agreement between us in respect of the subject matter contained in these Terms and supersede and replace all prior or contemporaneous understandings or agreements, written or oral, regarding such subject matter.

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