Find Care Compare

    Privacy Policy

    Effective Date: 2nd August 2025 • Last Updated: 19th October 2026

    1. Introduction

    Find Care Compare ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect personal data when you use our website and services, including where we integrate with services provided by NHS England, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and other applicable data protection laws.

    2. Who We Are

    Find Care Compare is a UK-based organisation helping people understand and navigate healthcare options. It is operated by Find Care Compare Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 15783684). For personal data collected directly through our website and services, Find Care Compare acts as the Data Controller. Where NHS England services are used as part of our service, NHS England may act as an independent Data Controller for specific processing activities.

    3. Personal Data We Collect

    We collect the following, depending on how you use the website:

    • Contact details such as your name, email address and phone number when you contact us, ask us to refer you to a provider, create an account or subscribe to updates.
    • Referral and enquiry details: the details you give us when you ask us to refer you to, or contact, a healthcare provider, including the type of service you are looking for, your age or date of birth and, where you give them, your gender, NHS number, home address and GP practice; and, where you are arranging care for someone else, their name, their date of birth or age, their gender, NHS number, home address and GP practice where you give them, and your relationship to them. Section 7a explains how we handle these, because the service you are looking for can itself reveal information about your health.
    • Account details: your name, email address, a password (stored only as a one-way hash) and, if you choose to give it, your postcode area, together with the providers you save, the bookings you make and the messages you exchange with providers through your account (section 7c).
    • Care navigator requests: when you ask our team to help you find care, your name, email address and phone number, who the care is for, what you need help with, how soon you need it and when you are available.
    • Newsletter and checker sign-ups: your email address, which page or checker you signed up from (for example the ADHD, autism or weight-loss checker, which can reveal an interest in that condition), and optional demographic information (age bracket and gender) only where you choose to share it.
    • Usage data, only with your consent (section 4): the pages you visit, the searches you make and the buttons you click on our website, approximate location derived from your IP address, and browser and device type.
    • Cookie data, as described in our Cookie Policy.

    4. Cookies and Analytics

    We ask for your consent in our cookie banner before any analytics runs. Until you accept, no analytics code is loaded and nothing about your visit is sent to Google or recorded in our own usage record. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time via "Cookie Settings" in the footer.

    Google Analytics. If you accept analytics, we use Google Analytics 4 (provided by Google LLC) to understand how visitors use our website so we can improve it. We send Google the pages you visit, approximate location, and device and browser type. We never send Google the search terms, conditions or postcodes that appear in a page address. Google keeps the event data it collects for two months. We do not use Google Analytics advertising features: Google Signals is not enabled, no advertising or personalisation cookies are set, and your data is not shared with Google for advertising or ads personalisation purposes. Google processes this data on our behalf and may store it on servers outside the UK; transfers are protected by the safeguards described in section 8.

    Our own usage record. If you accept analytics, we also keep our own record of how the website is used, on our own servers: the searches made, the provider pages viewed and the contact buttons used, linked to a random identifier that your browser keeps for the length of your visit. That identifier is only created once you accept, and is removed if you later reject. We use the record to improve the website and to understand how patients reach providers. It is deleted after 12 months.

    Counting enquiries without consent. Providers pay us for the enquiries and referrals we send them. Whether or not you accept analytics, we count the moment you reveal a provider's phone number or send a provider an enquiry, so that we can invoice that provider. Without your consent that count carries no visit identifier and cannot be linked to anything else you did on the website.

    For full details of the cookies and similar technologies we use, see our Cookie Policy.

    5. How We Use Your Data

    We use personal data to respond to enquiries, put you in touch with the providers and pharmacies you choose, run your account, check our invoices with those providers, provide and improve our services, maintain security, and meet legal obligations. Optional demographic information is used in aggregate to plan content and improve our services. We also produce anonymous statistics about referrals to help plan services (see section 7a). Lawful bases include consent, performance of a contract or a request you have made, legitimate interests, and legal obligations.

    Advertising. We never use referral, enquiry, callback, care navigator or account details for advertising, audience matching or profiling, and we never share them with advertising platforms. The only exception is the separate, optional box on some of our newsletter sign-up forms: where you have ticked it, we may use the email address you gave on that form to reach people with similar interests through advertising platforms, and you can withdraw that at any time by contacting us.

    6. Use of NHS England Services (Where Applicable)

    Some features of our service may rely on digital services provided by NHS England. Where this is the case, NHS England acts as the Data Controller and Find Care Compare acts as a Data Processor for that processing.

    7. Sharing Your Data

    We do not sell or rent personal data. We share your details with the individual healthcare provider or pharmacy you asked us to contact or refer you to, who then acts as its own data controller (sections 7a and 7b). We also share data with the service providers that run our platform, who process it securely and lawfully on our behalf:

    • Google: analytics, only after you accept it (section 4), and Google Maps, which loads only when you choose to show a map on a results page;
    • Superchat, the service we use to run our WhatsApp channel, where you message us on WhatsApp (WhatsApp itself is provided by Meta);
    • our email delivery provider (Resend) and our business email provider (Microsoft 365);
    • our hosting provider (Hostinger, UK and EU data centres) and, for the pharmacy comparison service, our database provider (Supabase);
    • a provider's own booking system, where you choose to continue to it to book an appointment; from that point the booking system's own privacy notice applies.

    7a. Referrals and Enquiries to Healthcare Providers

    When you ask us to put you in touch with a healthcare provider - by sending an enquiry from a provider's page, by asking to see a provider's phone number, or by asking our team over WhatsApp, email or in reply to our newsletter to refer you - we collect your name, the email address and phone number you give us, your age or date of birth, the provider you have chosen, the service you are looking for and whether the referral is through NHS Right to Choose or private. Where you give them to us, we also collect your gender, NHS number, home address and GP practice. Your date of birth and NHS number go to the provider with your referral; your gender, home address and GP practice stay with us and are never sent to the provider. If you are arranging care for someone else, such as your child, a child you foster, or an adult whose care you help manage, we also collect their name (if you give it to us), their date of birth or age, their gender, NHS number, home address and GP practice (if you give them to us), and your relationship to them, and we may ask which NHS area (Integrated Care Board) they live in. Their date of birth and NHS number go to the provider with the referral; their gender, home address and GP practice stay with us. The service you are looking for can reveal information about health, so we treat all of these details as special category data and protect them accordingly.

    Passing your details to the provider. We send these details, and any message you write, to the provider you chose so they can respond to you and arrange the care you asked for. We do this with your explicit consent, which you give by ticking the box on the enquiry or phone number form, or by confirming to our team in writing that you are happy for us to share your details. From the moment the provider receives your details, the provider is responsible for them as its own data controller under its own privacy notice, and our terms with each provider require it to use them only to respond to your enquiry or referral, provide the care you asked for, check our invoices, and meet its legal and professional duties - never for marketing. If you are signed in to a Find Care Compare account, the message you write is also kept in your messages with that provider so you can continue the conversation there.

    Children. We only collect a child's details from the parent, guardian or carer who is arranging their care, and we only send them to the provider that parent, guardian or carer has chosen. A child can exercise the rights in section 10 themselves once they are old enough to understand them, and a parent's choices about the record (including the planning question below) can be withdrawn by the child at any time by contacting us.

    Our record of the referral. We keep one record of each referral or enquiry. It holds the name of the person the referral is for; where that is someone other than the person who contacted us, the name and contact details of the person who did and their relationship; the provider; the date; the type of service and route; and the details we need to deliver and follow up the referral. Providers pay us for the referrals and enquiries we send them, and a provider can dispute an invoice or bring a claim about a referral for up to six years. We keep the record so that we can establish, exercise or defend such a claim, and for no longer: it is deleted automatically six years after the end of the month in which the referral was made. We rely on our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR) and, because the record reveals information about health, on it being necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims (Article 9(2)(f)). The record is encrypted, only named members of our team can view it, and every view or export is logged. This record covers website enquiries and phone number requests from 20 September 2026 and referrals made by our team from 1 October 2026; we hold no contact details for earlier referrals.

    What the provider can see. The provider you were referred to can see the referrals we have invoiced it for, from 1 October 2026 onwards, on its own dashboard, with the same details it was sent, so it can check its invoice against its own records. Each provider sees only its own referrals, and every view and download there is logged against the person at the practice who made it.

    Helping plan services (optional). When we refer you, or when you send an enquiry, we may also ask whether we can keep your record to help plan services. This is a separate question and saying no changes nothing about your referral or enquiry. If you say yes, then after six years we remove your name, contact details, date of birth, gender, NHS number, home address and GP practice from the record and keep the rest - the type of service, route, broad age group, NHS region, the month of the referral and what happened to it - for up to ten years from the referral. The difference from the anonymous statistics below is that this is a record of one referral rather than a count, which lets us follow how demand and outcomes change over time; it is held with no identifier that could be matched back to you, and is only ever reported in aggregate. You can withdraw this at any time by emailing us, and we will stop keeping your record for this purpose.

    Anonymous statistics. We produce anonymous statistics from referrals, such as how many referrals there were for each type of service, route, broad age group and NHS region in each three-month period. Figures for fewer than ten people are never shown and all figures are rounded, so the statistics cannot identify anyone. We use them to help plan services and in our work with the NHS, and because they are not personal data we may keep them indefinitely.

    Phone number requests. When you ask to see a provider's phone number, we also send the provider your name and phone number straight away so they can call you back if they miss your call. That copy is deleted from our systems 30 days after your request; our record of the request, described above, is kept for six years like any other. If you would rather leave no details, you can choose to see the number without them.

    Care navigator requests. When you ask our team to help you find care, we keep your request as part of the same referral record, for the same six years and on the same basis, whether or not it leads to a referral.

    Your choices. You can withdraw your consent to us sharing your details at any time by emailing hello@findcarecompare.com; we will stop any further sharing, and you can ask the provider directly about the details it already holds. You can also ask us to remove your name and contact details, and those of the person the referral was for, from our referral record. We will do so unless the record is needed for a legal claim or invoice dispute that has been made or is reasonably expected, in which case we will tell you and explain why. Once identifying details are removed we keep only an anonymous count of the referral. If you would prefer us to hold none of your details, you can contact any provider directly using the contact details on its own website.

    7b. Pharmacies: Weight-Loss and Hair-Loss Treatment

    Our weight-loss and hair-loss pages compare the prices of treatments from registered online pharmacies. When you choose a pharmacy that works with us and continue to its website to start a consultation, we ask you to create a free Find Care Compare account first, and we pass your name and email address to that pharmacy so it can handle your consultation and recognise that you came from us. Choosing a weight-loss or hair-loss treatment can reveal information about your health, so we treat this as special category data: we pass your details on with your explicit consent, given when you create your account, and you always have the alternative of visiting the pharmacy's own website directly without leaving any details with us. From the moment the pharmacy receives your details it is responsible for them as its own data controller under its own privacy notice, and our terms with each pharmacy require it to use them only to provide the consultation and treatment you asked for, check our invoices and meet its legal and professional duties - never for marketing.

    Our record. Pharmacies pay us for each consultation we send them. We keep a record of each one - the pharmacy, the treatment, the date, and the name and email address we passed on - so that we can invoice the pharmacy and establish, exercise or defend any dispute or claim about it, on the same basis and for the same six years as section 7a. The pharmacy can see the consultations we have invoiced it for, with the details it was sent, on its own dashboard; each pharmacy sees only its own, and every view is logged.

    We never store the answers you give in our eligibility checkers; they stay in your browser and are not sent to us or to any pharmacy.

    7c. Your Find Care Compare Account

    You can create a free account to save providers, make bookings and message providers. We use your account details to run the account and to carry out the bookings and enquiries you make through it, on the basis that it is necessary to provide the service you have asked for. Messages you exchange with a provider are visible to you and to that provider. We keep your account while you use it, and delete it, together with its saved providers and messages, six years after you last signed in, after emailing you first. You can delete your account at any time by emailing us. Bookings and enquiries made through your account are also part of the referral record described in section 7a and are kept for the period set out there.

    8. International Transfers

    Where data is transferred outside the UK, appropriate safeguards such as IDTAs, SCCs, or adequacy decisions are used.

    9. Data Retention

    Personal data is retained only for as long as necessary to fulfil its intended purpose. Where we have set a specific period:

    • our record of a referral, enquiry, care navigator request or pharmacy consultation (sections 7a and 7b) is deleted six years after the end of the month in which it was made;
    • if you agreed to us keeping your record to help plan services, the version with your name and contact details removed is deleted ten years after the end of the month of the referral, or sooner if you withdraw;
    • the name and phone number we pass to a provider so they can return your call are deleted from our systems 30 days after your request;
    • your account, with its saved providers and messages, is deleted six years after you last signed in, or when you ask us to;
    • newsletter and checker sign-ups are kept while you are subscribed, and for six years after you unsubscribe or we last emailed you, so that we can show the consent we relied on; your email address then stays on our do-not-email list so that we never email you again;
    • our own record of how the website is used (section 4) is deleted after 12 months;
    • Google Analytics keeps its event data for two months;
    • anonymous statistics, which cannot identify anyone, may be kept indefinitely.

    Deleted records may persist in our encrypted backups for a short period afterwards before those backups are overwritten in turn.

    10. Your Rights

    You have rights under UK GDPR including access, correction, deletion, restriction, objection, and complaint to the ICO. To exercise any of these rights, or to withdraw a consent you have given us, email hello@findcarecompare.com and we will respond within one month. We do not make any decision about you by automated means.

    11. Security

    We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data. Referral records are encrypted when stored; only named members of our team, each signing in with their own account and password, can view them; and every view and export, by our team or by a provider or pharmacy checking its own referrals, is logged against the person who made it.

    12. Third-Party Links

    We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third-party websites linked from our site.

    13. Updates to This Policy

    This Privacy Policy may be updated to reflect changes to services or regulatory requirements. We show the date of the latest version at the top of this page.

    14. Contact Us

    Find Care Compare
    Email: hello@findcarecompare.com
    Website: https://findcarecompare.com