Privacy notice – home appointments
1. Background
Our Future Health is exploring ways to improve access to its research programme by offering participants the option to have their blood sample and physical measurements taken at home instead of attending a clinic appointment in their area. This service is called Home Appointments.
This privacy notice explains how we process and protect the personal data of Our Future Health participants who are invited to use the Home Appointments service. For more information about how Our Future Health processes participant data, please read our Participant Privacy Notice.
Our Future Health Limited is the Data Controller responsible for your personal data. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
2. Data Collection and Processing
2.1 What personal data we collect
In this section, we explain the types of personal data that we process and why, along with any data that third parties process on our behalf. We collect, use, store and transfer the following types of data:
- Identity Data including a participant’s full name, title, email address, location, address, date of birth, age, gender and participant ID.
- Contact Data includes a participant’s full postcode, region, and any records of communication we hold with a participant (including emails, phone calls, and voicemail recordings with Our Future Health’s Study Support team).
- Appointment Data includes information about appointment booking, rescheduling, cancellation and attendance.
- Profile data including the participant ID, consent record.
- Special Category Data including personal data which reveals a participant’s ethnicity or information about their health. This includes clinical data collected during the home appointment, such as blood sample, height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, heart rate and heart rhythm.
- Incident and Complaint Data includes information relating to any complaint or incident connected with the home appointment, where necessary.
This data is required to allow us and our service providers to manage and deliver your home appointment, and to understand how the service is used and how it can be improved.
2.2 How we collect personal data
We collect personal data in the following ways for the purposes of delivering Home Appointments:
- By securely using the information a participant has provided to Our Future Health as part of participation in the programme.
- By a participant booking, rescheduling or cancelling an appointment using the Heim Health booking system.
- By health practitioners collecting measurements and blood samples during your appointment.
- By recording appointment outcomes and performance information for monitoring and reporting purposes.
- By processing withdrawals and redactions where you choose to withdraw.
2.3 Our legal basis and purpose for processing personal data
All collection and processing of personal data must be legally justified under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. When processing the personal data of participants for Home Appointments, the legal bases are:
| Purpose/Activity | Type of data | Lawful basis for processing |
|---|---|---|
| Participant selection and invitation to Home Appointments | Name, email address, postcode sector, age, withdrawal status, deceased status, sex, consent status, location, responses to health & lifestyle questionnaire | Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests Article 9.2.j – processing is necessary for scientific research purposes or statistical purposes |
| Booking, rescheduling and cancelling appointments | Name, address, postcode, email, telephone number, date of birth | Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests |
| Collection of health data during appointments | Height, weight, waist, blood pressure, heart rate, blood sample and sample IDs | Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests Article 9.2.j – processing is necessary for scientific research purposes or statistical purposes |
| Participant Support | Name, email address, phone number | Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests |
| Performance/uptake monitoring (overall and by demographic subgroup) and service analysis | Appointment status, attendance, cancellation, sample success rates, participant experience measures, sex, age, ethnicity, location, web analytics | Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests Article 9(2)(g) – Substantial public interest (research into equality of opportunity or treatment). |
2.4 How we share personal data
We share personal data with trusted suppliers who help us deliver Home Appointments:
- Heim Health – manages booking, scheduling and appointment records and their sub-processors, including Thornbury Nursing who provides health practitioners who carry out appointments
- Life Couriers – manages sharps disposal and supplies
- TopSpeed – transports samples to the laboratory
Personal data is shared securely and only for the purpose of delivering the Home Appointments service. Where we are required to share personal data with third parties, we conduct robust due diligence assessments to ensure that they have appropriate security standards in place that protect your personal data, and we enter into a written contract imposing adequate security and usage standards on them.
Appointment and measurement data is transferred back to Our Future Health so it can be added to your participant record. Data transfers use encrypted systems.
Minimal participant data may be included in incident or breach reports where required.
2.5 How we keep data secure
We use technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including:
- Encrypted data transfers
- Role-based access controls
- Phones which health practitioners only use for the home appointment services
- Multi-factor authentication
- Removal of participant data from practitioner devices once appointments are completed
You can find information about how we keep your data securely in the Our Future Health Participant Privacy notice.
2.6 How long we keep a participant’s data
In Heim Health systems:
- Measurement data is deleted after 60 days
In Our Future Health systems:
Data is retained in line with Our Future Health retention policies. You can find information about how long we keep your data in the Our Future Health Participant Privacy notice.
2.7 International transfers
No new international transfers are introduced for Home Appointments. Data is stored in UK-based cloud systems.
Please see the Our Future Health Participant Privacy notice for details.
2.8 Participant data subject rights
For more details on your rights and how to exercise them please see the Our Future Health Participant Privacy notice.
2.9 Contact details
Our Future Health’s Data Protection Officer is available to answer any questions and address any concerns about Our Future Health’s use of your personal data.
You can email: dpo@ourfuturehealth.org.uk
This privacy notice applies to the Home Appointments service and was published in February 2026. If changes are made, the most up-to-date version will be published on our website.