Website terms of use

Legal disclaimer

1 Website Terms of Use

1.1 The terms and conditions (the “Terms”) set out below will govern your use of this website which can be found at www.nmc-uk.org (the “Website”). The Website is owned and operated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, a body corporate established under the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001 (“NMC”, “us”, “we” or “our”). The Website and the Information (as described below) are designed to be compliant with applicable UK laws, rules and regulations. NMC specifically reserves all rights to limit provision of our products and services to select persons, countries or geographic regions.

1.2 Please read these Terms carefully. By continuing to access and use the Website you are deemed to have understood and agreed to them. If you do not agree to them you must refrain from using this Website and any services available through it.

1.3 NMC reserves the right, at its discretion, to make changes to any part of the Website, the Information or these Terms. Should these Terms be amended, we will publish details of the amendments on the Website. By continuing to use the Website after we have published the notification you agree to be bound by these Terms as amended.

1.4 The NMC provides certain services through the Website, including but not limited to allowing you to book tickets for events, check the register of nurses, midwives and specialist community public health nurses (the “Register”), register as an Authorised User (as defined below) and contribute material to forums, chat rooms or private message boards in our online community (“Online Community”)

2. Disclaimer

2.1 This Website contains information, text, data, graphics, applications, photographs, illustrations, artwork, names, logos, trade marks and information about NMC and on the products and services it provides (the “Information”).

2.2 The Website and Information is provided “as is” and on an “as available” basis only and NMC does not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness for a particular purpose of the Website or any of the Information. NMC has tried to ensure that all the Information provided on the Website is correct at the time of publication. However no responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of NMC for any errors, omissions, or inaccurate Information on the Website. Further, NMC does not warrant that the Website will be uninterrupted or error free or that any defects will be corrected.

2.3 Notwithstanding Condition 2.2 above, the NMC provides the Employers Confirmation Service on the basis of real time access to the Register and the NMC uses reasonable endeavours to ensure that the Register is accurate and up to date.

2.4 Although NMC attempts to ensure that the Information contained in this Website is accurate and up-to-date, we accept no liability for the results of any action taken on the basis of the Information it contains and all implied warranties, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy are excluded from these Terms to the extent that they may be excluded as a matter of law. We do not attempt to exclude any rights you may otherwise have as a consumer that we cannot exclude as a matter of law.

2.5 Save in respect of death or personal injury resulting from our negligence or fraud, neither NMC nor any of its directors, employees or other representatives will be liable for any loss you suffer including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss, or any damages arising from loss of use, data or profits, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, arising out of or in connection with the use of this Website.

3. Linking

3.1 Websites or web pages to which this Website is linked are for information purposes and have not been reviewed by NMC. To the extent that such websites or web pages do not contain information about NMC, our products and services, we accept no responsibility for the content of such websites or web pages, nor do we accept responsibility for any losses or penalties incurred as a result of your use of any links or reliance on the content of any website to which this Website is linked.

3.2 When you access a website, through a link from the Website, you accept that it is independent from the Website and that NMC has no control over the content of the linked third party website. Accordingly a link to a website does not mean that NMC endorses or accepts any duty or responsibility for the content, accuracy or the use of the contents of such website. Although NMC strives to link to third party websites which comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations, the content on these websites may change without notice to NMC. You should take precautions to ensure protection of your privacy as well as to guard against Destructive Features (as described below).

3.3 Notwithstanding the above, the Website may link to the websites of third party service providers which the NMC has engaged to provide specific services to the NMC. We shall make it clear where the third party website is acting on our behalf.

4. Computer Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses

4.1 Whilst we use reasonable endeavours to protect this Website from computer viruses, worms, Trojan Horses and other such destructive features (the “Destructive Features”), we do not warrant that the Website is free from such Destructive Features and accept no liability for any damage that may result from the transmission of any Destructive Feature via this Website or via any files which are available for you to download from the Website. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and virus checks (including anti-virus and other security checks) to satisfy your particular requirements for the accuracy of data input and output.

4.2 You are responsible for ensuring that your computer system meets all relevant technical specifications necessary to use the Website or any service made available through it and that it is compatible with the Website.

5. Intellectual Property Rights and Reproduction

5.1 Except as is otherwise indicated on the Website or in these Terms, NMC and/or its licensors own the copyright in all the Information featured on this Website and all related intellectual property rights, including but not limited to all database rights, design rights, patents, unregistered and registered trade marks and logos. You should not infer any affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement from the use of third party marks on the Website, as such marks are used solely to designate certain products or services as belonging to their owners. Nothing in this Website is intended to grant, by implication or otherwise, any licence or right under any patent, trademark or other intellectual property owned by NMC or any licensor or third party.

5.2 You are permitted to download, print, store temporarily, retrieve and display Information from the Website on a computer screen, print individual pages on paper (but not photocopy them) and store such pages in electronic form on disk (but not on any server or other storage device connected to the network) for your personal use or for internal use within your organisation.

5.3 Additionally you may reproduce the content of any of our rules, standards, guidance and advice in part or in full. If you do this, you must:

ensure that you are using the most up to date version of any source document;
not alter the text so as to change the meaning;
credit the NMC as author; and
provide a link to this Website wherever possible.

You do not need our permission to quote from our rules, standards, guidance or advice in academic essays or local policies.

5.4 You are not permitted (except where we have given you express permission to do so or you are otherwise permitted to do so by law) to adapt, modify, copy, reproduce, republish, disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer, create derivative works from, download, post, broadcast or transmit in any other way any of the Information on the Website.

5.5 You retain all of your ownership rights in your User Content (as defined below), but you are required to grant limited licence rights to the NMC and other Authorised Users. You confirm that you have (and will continue to have during your use of the Website) all necessary licences, rights, consents, and permissions which are required to enable: (a) the NMC to use your User Content for the purposes of the provision of the Website and, on an anonymous basis, to both use your User Content for qualitative analysis and for off-line advertising of the NMC and; (b) other Authorised Users to use your User Content as permitted under these Terms.

6. Your Further Use of this Website

6.1 You further agree not to use any Information on the Website except to the extent necessary to enable you to use the Website and the services provided through it.

6.2 You shall use the Website only for lawful purposes and in a way that does not infringe the rights of, restrict or inhibit anyone else’s use and enjoyment of the Website. Prohibited behaviour includes harassing or causing distress or inconvenience to any person, transmitting obscene or offensive content or disrupting the normal flow of dialogue on the Website.

6.3 You shall not use the Website for any immoral or illegal purpose. In particular you agree that you will not:

upload any files that contain any Destructive Features; or
in any way damage, disable or impair the operation of the Website, or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website or to network connected to it, by hacking, spoofing or other such similar means.

6.4 You acknowledge and agree that the NMC may preserve User Content and may also disclose User Content and your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (a) comply with legal process; (b) enforce these Terms; (c) respond to claims that any User Content violates the rights of third-parties; or (d) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of the NMC, its members and the public.

6.5 To the extent permitted by law, you indemnify and hold the NMC and any of Our officers, employees or agents harmless from and against all and any expenses, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses incurred or suffered and any claims or legal proceedings which are brought or threatened, in each case arising from your use of, or conduct on, the Website and/or any breach of these Terms.

7. Authorised Users

7.1 We provide certain services through this Website for individuals to open a registered account on this Website (“Authorised Users”).

7.2 If you wish to become an Authorised User, you must:

Be over 18 years of age;
Provide us with your contact details (name, address and email address); and
Where you are registered on the Register, provide us with your NMC Pin Number.

7.3 Once you have provided us with these details through the online registration webpage, we will consider your application for registration and confirm by email whether your application is approved.

7.4 Our confirmation by email of your status as an Authorised User will enable you to:

Create a profile;
Participate in the Online Community;
Contribute User Content;
Sign up for special events; and
Exchange private messages with other Authorised Users.

7.5 You may cancel your account at any time by sending an email to communications@nmc-uk.org.

8. Publications

8.1 You may request delivery of publications through the Website and we have engaged a service provider to deliver publication orders. We do not charge you for the delivery of our publications.

9. Events

9.1 On the Website we will let you know about the seminars and conferences we provide and the exhibitions we attend (“Events”). We offer tickets for you to attend Events both on a free and a paid basis. You may order tickets for Events through the Website. We have engaged a service provider to assist with the administration of tickets.

9.2 Your purchase of tickets to Events through the Website shall be subject to these Terms.

9.3 On receipt of your order, we shall send you an email confirming the purchase of your ticket(s).

9.4 You have seven (7) working days (i.e. not counting weekends and bank holidays) from the day after you receive our email confirmation within which to cancel your ticket(s) for an Event. In the event that you wish to cancel your ticket(s) to an Event within this cancellation period, please contact us at events@nmc-uk.org immediately. [Please note that if the Event occurs within the seven (7) working day period, you agree that the cancellation period ends on the day the Event occurs.]

9.5 If you decide to cancel your ticket(s) for an Event within the cancellation period, we shall provide you with a refund within thirty (30) days of receiving your cancellation request.

9.6 We may cancel an Event that we are hosting at any time in our sole discretion. We will notify you if you have purchased a ticket for the Event and we will provide you with a full refund.

9.7 Please contact us at events@nmc-uk.org or on 020 7462 8851 should you have any questions about our events.

10. User Content

10.1 Authorised Users are permitted to contribute content to the Website (“User Content”) through discussion groups, online forums and private message boards in the Online Community.

10.2 By becoming an Authorised User, you agree to act in accordance with the following community rules:-

User Content must be civil and tasteful;
When submitting User Content you must not engage in disruptive, offensive or abusive behaviour;
User Content must be constructive and polite, not mean-spirited nor contributed with the intention of causing trouble;
User Content must not be unlawful, illegal or objectionable. Unlawful, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually orientated, racially offensive or otherwise objectionable material is not acceptable;
User Content must not include spam or off-topic material. You must ensure that your User Content is relevant and you do not post the same comment multiple times;
User Content should not include advertising and promotional material;
User Content should always be made in English. Where contributions contain languages other than English, they will be removed;
You must not impersonate other people on the Website;
You may only post URLs (website addresses) if they are relevant to your User Content;
If you use multiple logins for the purpose of disrupting the Online Community or annoying other Authorised Users, We reserve the right to suspend or terminate all of your registered accounts;
All your accounts must be registered with a valid personal email address that you access regularly so that we can send moderation emails to you. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate an account that has been registered with someone else’s email address or with a temporary email address. Additionally we may require users to re-validate their account if we believe that they have been using an invalid email address;
Your User Content should as far as possible not disclose any personal information about yourself;
Your User Content should not disclose any personal information about another individual unless you have a formal licence or permission from that individual;
You should be aware of our advice on confidentiality and you should not disclose or share personal information about anyone who is or has been in your care; and
Contributing material to the Website with the intention of committing or promoting an illegal act is strictly prohibited. (together, the “Community Rules”)

10.3 By submitting User Content to the Website, you grant to the NMC a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable and perpetual licence to use, copy, modify, adapt, publish and distribute your User Content on and through the Website and to use User Content anonymously both for qualitative analysis and for NMC off-line advertising purposes. We shall not be required to pay you for the licence of the User Content which you are giving us. We shall be entitled to sub-license the User Content to subcontractors and partners.

10.4 By submitting User Content to the Website, you grant to each Authorised User of the Website, a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, licence to access your User Content through the Online Community, and to use, reproduce, distribute and display such User Content to the extent permitted by the functionality of the Website and under these Terms.

10.5 You shall be solely responsible for User Content that is provided by you or delivered through your account including content you store, communicate or exchange with other Authorised Users. In particular, you are responsible for ensuring that User Content sent by you or through your account does not cause interference to the network, infringe copyrights or other rights, violate good practice, legislative provisions or regulations issued by lawful authorities.

10.6 We are not responsible for any User Content posted on the Website and the views expressed in the Online Community are the responsibility of the relevant Authorised User and, unless specifically stated, are not those of the NMC.

11. Reporting Content

11.1 All users are responsible for ensuring that User Content is in accordance with the Community Rules. If you view User Content on the Website which you believe breaches the Community Rules, please report it immediately to the moderators through the ‘Report’ facility in the Online Community or by email at communications@nmc-uk.org setting out what the content is (please provide the weblink) and why you consider it breaches the Community Rules.

11.2 Trained moderators will review the content that is the subject of a breach allegation within 24 hours (although please note that when a report is sent over the weekend or a bank holiday, we will use our reasonable endeavours to review the content as soon as practicably possible but this may be outside the 24 hour period) and may remove or edit the content as the NMC considers in its sole discretion to be necessary.

12. Breaching the Community Rules

12.1 If you fail to comply with the Community Rules when using the Website, we will send you an email explaining why your User Content has been removed from the Website or edited. The email will also warn you that continuing to breach the Community Rules may result in action being taken against your account.

12.2 We reserve the right to temporarily or permanently suspend your ability to use your user account or participate in the Online Community.

12.3 If your User Content is offensive or inappropriate or you otherwise engage in disruptive behaviour on the Website and we consider such behaviour to be serious or repeated, we may use whatever information including User Content that is available to us to stop this behaviour. Additionally, we reserve the right to inform relevant third parties about your behaviour such as your employer or email provider.

12.4 We reserve the right to remove or delete your User Content or take action against your account at any time for any reason.

13. Data Protection and the NMC Privacy Policy

We may require basic information which identifies you as an individual, such as your name and email address, in order to enable you to take advantage of our services. We will only use such personal information for the purposes of providing information or services which you have requested, or for other related purposes as set out in our Privacy Policy www.nmc-uk.org/privacy.

14. Complaints or Queries

In the event that you have any complaints or queries concerning our services or products, or about this Website generally, please contact us by email at communications@nmc-uk.org or by post at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, 23 Portland Place, London, W1B 1PZ.

15. Severability

If these Terms or any part of them should be determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable under the laws of any state or country in which these Terms are intended to be effective, then to the extent that they are so illegal, invalid or unenforceable, they shall in that state or country be treated as severed and deleted from these Terms and the remaining Terms shall survive and remain in full force and effect and continue to be binding and enforceable in that state or country.

16. Events beyond our control

NMC will not be responsible for any breach of these Terms caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including without limitation acts of god, war, terrorism or technical difficulties.

17. File Download

Certain files of Information may be available for download from the Website. These files of Information are subject to these Terms.

18. Entire Agreement

Except for in the case of fraud, these Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and NMC in relation to the subject matter.

19. Governing law

These Terms are subject to English law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Last updated 1 April 2010

Created date :: 31/03/2010
Modified date :: 31/03/2010