Health Data Research Gateway Terms and Conditions

Who we are and how to contact us

This Gateway Portal, including all functionality on the Gateway Portal such as Cohort Discovery (the “site“) is operated by Health Data Research UK (“HDR UK”). HDR UK is a limited company registered in England and Wales under company number 10887014 and a charity registered with the Charity Commission under charity number 1194431 with its registered office is at 215 Euston Road, London, England, NW1 2BE.

To contact us, please use our support page: https://healthdatagateway.org/en/support

Acceptance of Terms and Conditions

Access to and use of this site or any of our APIs is provided by HDR UK subject to the following:

By using this site, you confirm that you accept these terms and conditions (including any Additional Terms that may apply as below) (together, the “Terms and Conditions“) and that you agree to comply with them. The Terms and Conditions take effect on the date of your first use of the site.
If you do not agree to the Terms and Conditions, you must not use our site.

Other Terms and Conditions that apply to you

Additional terms and conditions may apply when you use certain functions made available on the site, including the terms of use for Cohort Discovery (the “Additional Terms” see below).

The following additional documents also apply to your use of our site as an individual user:

Privacy Policy, which sets out how we will use your personal data.
Cookie Policy, which sets out information about the cookies on our site.

Changes to Terms and Conditions

HDR UK reserves the right to amend the Terms and Conditions from time to time. When you use this site, please check the Terms and Conditions. These terms were most recently updated in July 2024.
By continuing to use the site after amendments are made you confirm that you accept the amendments and that you agree to comply with them.

Your account and password

You will need to register an account with us on the site in order to access certain functionality available on the site, including but not limited to the ability to enquire about datasets, submit Data Access Requests, onboard metadata, access Cohort Discovery, or create an API key (“Account“). In order to register for an Account, you must be aged 18 or over. If you register an Account, you will be asked to select a sign in provider from a list of approved single sign on providers. Once you’ve selected a sign in provider, you will be redirected to your sign in provider’s authentication system. Upon successful authentication, HDR UK will be provided with a secure token and your email address which is used to create your Account.
We have the right to disable any Accounts, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of the Terms and Conditions, including any Additional Terms.
If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your Account login details, you must immediately notify us at dataprotection@hdruk.ac.uk and gateway@hdruk.ac.uk.
You are responsible for any unauthorised use of your Account login details.

Disclaimer

Views and opinions of non-HDR UK groups or individuals that appear on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of HDR UK.
HDR UK does not endorse or recommend any datasets, commercial products, processes or services linked from, referred to, or provided on this site.
This site and the information, names, images, pictures, logos and icons contained therein are provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE” basis without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind (including any implied warranties), and HDR UK may update and change the site from time to time. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of the site without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason the site or any part of it is unavailable at any time or for any period.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, HDR UK (including any of its member/partner organisations) shall 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 under or in connection with use of, or inability to use our site or use of or reliance on any content displayed on our site; and
- any indirect or consequential loss or damage, loss of profits, sales, business or revenue, loss of anticipated savings, loss or business opportunity, goodwill or reputation or business interruption.
HDR UK does not guarantee that access to this site will be uninterrupted or error-free, nor does HDR UK guarantee that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses, bugs or defects.

Requesting data sets via the site

If you request access to or enquire about a dataset referenced on our site, your request will be automatically forwarded to the relevant data custodian that maintains the dataset (“data custodian”). HDR UK will not be party to any contract for the subsequent sharing of the dataset, which in each case is a contract solely between you and the applicable data custodian (a “data sharing agreement”). HDR UK does not have any rights or obligations under any data sharing agreement.
HDR UK and its members/partners do not make any recommendations or endorsements regarding the datasets referred to on the site and are not responsible for their availability, reliability or accuracy.
You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on the site. This shall include conducting your own due diligence on any dataset that you may request to use via the site.
To the maximum extent permitted by law, HDR UK (including any of its member/partner organisations) shall 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 under or in connection with any use of any dataset referred to on our site, including, without limitation, any loss of profits, sales, business or revenue, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation or business interruption. You agree that you shall not pursue any claims for loss or damage arising from use of a dataset against HDR UK.

Depositing metadata onto the site

By depositing metadata or materials (including but not limited to tools, software, code, publications or data uses) onto the site, you warrant that you have any necessary consent, permission and/or authorisation necessary to do so and you warrant that you shall remove any such metadata and/or materials from the site and will comply with all applicable laws, regulations and policies in doing so. In the event that you no longer have the necessary consent, permission or authorisation, you will remove any relevant metadata and/or materials previously deposited onto the site. HDR UK shall not be liable in any circumstances for your failure to comply with these requirements.

You agree that it is your responsibility to ensure the accuracy and completeness of any such metadata and/or materials.

When depositing metadata and/or materials onto the site, your organisation will be provided with a user group structure (a “Team”) allowing the configuration of user permissions and access into roles (“Role(s)”). You are responsible for ensuring that users are assigned to the most appropriate Role in accordance with your organisation’s policies and procedures and for keeping all Roles up to date and accurate. You are responsible for all acts and omissions by your users on the Site. In no circumstance shall HDR UK be liable for any acts or omissions of any of your users.

You agree that you will remove users upon any of the following occurring: they are no longer employed by your organisation, they no longer require or have authorisation to access your organisation’s metadata on the site or are being investigated for misconduct.

APIs

HDR UK provides facilities for API key generation providing access to the Gateway secure APIs. You agree that by generating any API key, you will:

Keep your key(s) private and not share with any third party.
Use your key(s) in compliance with these Terms and Conditions and any Additional Terms.

External links

Links from this site may be provided to other external sites. HDR UK does not endorse the content or services delivered through these external sites and are not responsible for their availability, reliability or accuracy. HDR UK has no control over the content of these external sites. Permission to reproduce information from these external sites may be required from the external site provider.
The use of our APIs or the existence of a link from any organisation’s site to HDR UK’s site does not imply that HDR UK endorses the activities or views of that organisation.

Copyright (and other intellectual property rights) restrictions

HDR UK is the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in this site, and in the material published on it.
You may print off one copy and may download extracts of any page(s) of our site, search results and metadata hosted within the site for your use in accordance with these Terms and Conditions, including the Additional Terms and Conditions, and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on our site.
You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.
Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.
You must not use any part of the content on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.
If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of the Terms and Conditions, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

Acknowledgment

You agree to acknowledge HDR UK and the site in any publications, presentations or publicity related to your use of the site. You agree to follow HDR UK’s Attribution Policy for any such acknowledgements.

Restrictions on your use of the site

You agree to use this site only for lawful purposes, and in a manner which does not infringe the rights of, or restrict, or inhibit the use and enjoyment of this site by any third party. Such restriction includes, without limitation, conduct which is unlawful or which may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person and the transmission of offensive material or disruption of normal flow of dialogue within this site.
You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or other harmful programs or material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

Accuracy of information

Neither HDR UK nor its members will be liable for any losses or damage that may result from use of the site as a consequence of any inaccuracies in, or any omissions from, the information, which it may contain or which may be accessed through the site.
We have made reasonable efforts to ensure that the information on this site is accurate at the time of inclusion. However, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the information on this site is free from technical inaccuracies or typographical errors or that the content is accurate, complete or up to date. We are not liable for any error or omission in, or any failure to update, the information on this site and any decisions based on the information are your sole responsibility.

Suspension and termination

If you breach any of the Terms and Conditions, we may immediately do any or all of the following (without limitation): issue a warning to you, temporarily or permanently withdraw your right to use the site; suspend or terminate your Account, issue legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs resulting from the breach (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs), take further legal action against you, and/or disclose such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary to do so.

Other important terms

If any of the Terms and Conditions should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by reason of the laws of any state or country in which the Terms and Conditions are intended to be effective, then to the extent to which that Term and Condition is illegal, invalid and unenforceable within the jurisdiction, it shall be severed and deleted from the Terms and Conditions and the remaining Terms and Conditions shall survive, remain in full force and continue to be binding and enforceable.
The Terms and Conditions, their subject matter and their formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

Additional Terms (Cohort Discovery)

Please note that you will not be allowed access to Cohort Discovery unless you have agreed to our Terms and Conditions.

1. Application of these terms

These terms of use (the “Additional Terms”) set out the additional terms and conditions that apply when you log onto and use the Cohort Discovery functionality on the Gateway via the graphical user interface (“Cohort Discovery”).

Cohort Discovery forms part of the Gateway and is made available in accordance with the following terms:

the general Gateway Terms and Conditions which govern your general access to and use of the Gateway, including Cohort Discovery (“Gateway Terms and Conditions”); and

these Additional Terms which govern your access to and use of Cohort Discovery.

These Additional Terms form part of the Gateway Terms and Conditions when you use Cohort Discovery. Any terms used in these Additional Terms shall have the meaning as set out in the Gateway Terms and Conditions unless otherwise specified.

If you are using Cohort Discovery on behalf of an organisation (including any institution, company, partnership or similar), these Additional Terms and the Gateway Terms and Conditions shall be binding on you and such research institution, and references herein to “you” or “your” mean you as an individual using Cohort Discovery in relation to your trade, business, craft or profession (an “individual user”), and the organisation on whose behalf
you are acting. In using Cohort Discovery, you confirm that you have the authority to bind the organisation as set out herein

We provide Cohort Discovery in partnership with BC Platforms AG

Cohort Discovery makes use of the SNOMED CT Browser, use of which is governed by the terms as set out in section 8 below. In using Cohort Discovery, you confirm your use of the SNOMED CT Browser in accordance with such terms.

If you have any questions or if you wish to contact us about these Additional Terms, please use the contact details set out in the ‘Contact Us’ page on the Gateway.

2. Agreeing to the terms of use

BY CLICKING ON THE “ACCEPT” BUTTON BELOW, YOU CONFIRM THAT YOU HAVE READ AND AGREE TO THE GATEWAY TERMS AND CONDITIONS (INCLUDING THE ADDITIONAL TERMS) WHICH WILL BIND YOU.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE GATEWAY TERMS AND CONDITIONS (INCLUDING THE ADDITIONAL TERMS), YOU MUST NOT CLICK THE “ACCEPT” BUTTON AND YOU MUST NOT USE COHORT DISCOVERY.

3. Changes to these additional terms

We may make changes to these Additional Terms from time to time (if, for example, there is a change in the law that means we need to change these Additional Terms). Please check these Additional Terms regularly to ensure that you understand the Additional Terms that apply at the time that you access and use Cohort Discovery.

4. Scope of use

Cohort Discovery must be used in a professional capacity for your internal business purposes only.

You may only use Cohort Discovery to search anonymised data to assist you in finding a data custodian that may hold the data you need for your research. You are not allowed to use Cohort Discovery for any of the prohibited uses set out in the section below.

Cohort Discovery, the content on it and the output of any searches are provided for general information purposes only. They are not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely.

If you wish to obtain access to a dataset following use of Cohort Discovery, you will need to request access to the dataset from the relevant data custodian (see the relevant section in the Gateway Terms and Conditions). HDR UK gives no guarantee that the data custodian will agree to provide access to datasets to you for research purposes (which is at the sole discretion of the data custodian). It is your responsibility to ensure that you have obtained the appropriate permissions for such research (such as ethics and other consents).

Only you (as the registered user) may access Cohort Discovery through your Account. You must not allow any other individuals to access Cohort Discovery through your Account.

5. Prohibited uses

You may only use Cohort Discovery for permitted and lawful purposes. You may not use Cohort Discovery:

for research analysis and publication, unless you have prior written consent from the relevant data custodian allowing you to use their data for research purposes;

to attempt to re-identify or retrace an individual from the anonymous data;

to ask questions which may lead to loss of anonymisation of data;

in any unlawful or unethical manner, including, but not limited to, in a manner that would violate any persons right to privacy;

in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation; and

in breach of the Gateway Terms and Conditions (including these Additional Terms).

Without limiting the other restrictions set out in the Gateway Terms and Conditions, you agree that you will not:

copy, modify, create derivative works or improvements of Cohort Discovery;

sublicense, sell, rent, lease, lend, transfer, assign, distribute, publish or otherwise make available Cohort Discovery to any person;

attempt to decompile, disassemble, decode, reverse engineer, adapt or otherwise attempt to derive or gain access to the source code of Cohort Discovery (in whole or in part);

access or use without authority and valid access credentials, or bypass or breach any security protections, of Cohort Discovery;

input, upload, transmit or otherwise provide to / through Cohort Discovery, any information or materials that are unlawful or injurious, or contain, transmit or activate any harmful code;

damage, destroy, disrupt, disable, impair, interfere with or otherwise impede or harm in any manner the provision of Cohort Discovery by HDR UK;

remove, delete, alter or obscure any trademarks, warranties or disclaimers or any copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property or proprietary rights notices from Cohort Discovery;

access or use Cohort Discovery in any manner or for any purpose that infringes, misappropriates or otherwise violates any intellectual property right of any third party, or that violates any applicable law;

access or use Cohort Discovery for purposes of competitive analysis of Cohort Discovery, the development, provision or use of a competing service or product or in any manner that is detrimental to, or would bring a commercial disadvantage to, HDR UK and its licensors; or

otherwise access or use Cohort Discovery beyond the scope of the authorisation granted in the General Terms and Conditions (including these Additional Terms).

HDR UK may suspend or withdraw your use of Cohort Discovery if we consider that you have not complied with the Gateway Terms and Conditions (including these Additional Terms).

6. Other restrictions

You agree to keep confidential and not disclose to any third party any information relating to Cohort Discovery or the results of your searches. You acknowledge that your access to and use of and each search via Cohort Discovery will be logged and accessible to HDR UK and in future may be publicly visible in our usage register.

You will be required to go through an access request process before being allowed access to Cohort Discovery. This will involve assessing your Safe People and Safe Project status.

If access to Cohort Discovery is provided it will be a period of six months after which you will need to renew your access. Your access will be marked on your Gateway profile and in the Cohort Discovery collection.

You must keep your Account login details safe and in a manner that ensures that they are not exposed to third parties. If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your Account login details, you must immediately notify us using the details set out in the Gateway Terms and Conditions.

You shall (a) ensure that good data security practices are followed in your use of Cohort Discovery, and (b) use Cohort Discovery in compliance with all applicable laws (including those relevant to managing sensitive personal data).

7. Liability

The liability provisions in the Gateway Terms and Conditions apply to your use of Cohort Discovery– please refer to these for further details.

You shall indemnify and hold us harmless against any losses, costs, liabilities and expenses suffered or incurred by us and/or our affiliates as a result of any breach of the Gateway Terms and Conditions (including these Additional Terms).

8. SNOMED CT Browser

ATHENA/ATLAS SNOMED CT Browser includes SNOMED Clinical Terms® (SNOMED CT®) which is used by permission of the SNOMED International. All rights reserved. SNOMED CT® was originally created by the College of American Pathologists. “SNOMED”, “SNOMED CT” and “SNOMED Clinical Terms” are registered trademarks of the SNOMED International (www.snomed.org)

Use of SNOMED CT in ATHEN/ATLAS SNOMED CT Browser is governed by the conditions of the following SNOMED CT license issued by SNOMED International:

The meaning of the terms “Affiliate”, or “Data Analysis System”, “Data Creation System”, “Derivative”, “End User”, “Extension”, “Member”, “Non-Member Territory”, “SNOMED CT” and “SNOMED CT Content” are as defined in the SNOMED International Affiliate License Agreement (see on the SNOMED International web site).

Information about Affiliate Licensing is available at http://www.snomed.org/snomed-ct/get-snomed-ct. Individuals or organizations wishing to register as SNOMED International Affiliates can register at mlds.ihtsdotools.org, subject to acceptance of the Affiliate License
Agreement (see on the SNOMED International web site).

The current list of SNOMED International Member Territories can be viewed at www.snomed.org/members. Countries not included in that list are “Non-Member Territories”.

End Users, that do not hold an SNOMED International Affiliate License, may access SNOMED CT® using ATHENA/ATLAS SNOMED CT Browser subject to acceptance of and adherence to the following sub-license limitations:

The sub-licensee is only permitted to access SNOMED CT® using this software (or
service) for the purpose of exploring and evaluating the terminology.

The sub-licensee is not permitted the use of this software as part of a system that constitutes a SNOMED CT “Data Creation System” or “Data Analysis System”, as defined in the SNOMED International Affiliate License. This means that the sub-licensee must not use ATHENA/ATLAS SNOMED CT Browser to add or copy SNOMED CT identifiers into any type of record system, database or document.

The sub-licensee is not permitted to translate or modify SNOMED CT Content or Derivatives.

The sub-licensee is not permitted to distribute or share SNOMED CT Content or Derivatives.

SNOMED International Affiliates may use ATHENA/ATLAS SNOMED CT Browser as part of a “Data Creation System” or “Data Analysis System” subject to the following conditions:

The SNOMED International Affiliate, using ATHENA/ATLAS SNOMED CT
Browser must accept full responsibility for any reporting and fees due for use or deployment of such a system in a Non-Member Territory.

The SNOMED International Affiliate must not use ATHENA/ATLAS SNOMED CT Browser to access or interact with SNOMED CT in any way that is not permitted by the Affiliate License Agreement.

In the event of termination of the Affiliate License Agreement, the use of ATHENA/ATLAS SNOMED CT Browser will be subject to the End User limitations noted in section 8.4 above.