Pathology Direct Service Terms and Conditions

Your completed online Request Form, these Pathology Direct Service terms and conditions and the Nuffield Health website terms and conditions comprise the agreement between you (‘you’ or ‘your’) and Nuffield Health (‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’), and apply to your purchase of pathology, blood and/or other tests via our Pathology Direct Service (PDS).

The Service

PDS is the provision of an easily accessible, high-quality testing service. The service includes arranging the collection of appropriate Samples for the Tests requested, at a location, date and time arranged by mutual agreement. The subsequent Tests of those Samples are carried out in our accredited Nuffield Health pathology laboratories or those of our accredited partners. The report of Results of Tests is sent to you and/or your referring clinician in accordance with the instructions we receive from you or your referring clinician, as applicable. Interpretation of the Results and any follow-up testing, investigation or analysis are outside the scope of the Service. It is your responsibility to arrange any further follow-up testing, investigation, analysis or treatment.

Definitions

In these terms and conditions, the following words and expressions have the following meanings:

  • Request Form: the online Pathology Direct Service request form (as amended from time to time) by which you purchase and request an appointment for the taking of a Sample or Samples for the performance of Test(s).


  • Results: The final report of the Tests carried out by us or any of our accredited partners.


  • Sample(s): Any sample or samples provided by you to us for Test(s).


  • Services: the performance of any Test(s) and reporting of Results with respect to your Samples following the completion of a Request Form and our acceptance of it.


  • Test(s): A laboratory test or tests and/or investigation and/or analysis carried out by us or our accredited partners on Sample(s) supplied by you, or agreed in discussion with our PDS team, or from clinician referral or selected from available options on-line.


  • We, Us or Our: Pathology Direct Service (PDS), a direct to consumer pathology testing service of Nuffield Health a Registered Charity Number: 205533 (England & Wales), a Charity Registered in Scotland Number: SC041793 and a Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England Number 576970 and whose registered office is at Nuffield Health, Epsom Gateway, Ashley Avenue, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5AL.


  • Working Hours: 09.00 a.m. to 17.00 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, excluding weekend and excluding English and Welsh bank and public holidays in England and Wales and Scottish bank and public holidays in Scotland.


  • You or Your: the person, company, or agent that purchases or orders Services from us.


  • PDS Service Access: Purchases of Test(s) can be made on-line or by telephone with a member of our PDS staff.

You may only make online purchases of Test(s) if you are a self-pay customer.

The purchase process includes:

  • Agreed selection by you of the Test(s) that you require from the available options (please note that you and we may agree to vary your selection at the time of you confirming your appointment details);
  • your choice of Nuffield Hospital to attend for your Sample(s) to be collected or taken; and
  • your preferred date and time of appointment for Sample(s) collection,

all subject to availability.

You will be contacted within 24 Working Hours of purchase to agree and confirm the details of your appointment. A member of our PDS team will then book your appointment with your chosen Nuffield Hospital.

A receipt of payment and confirmation notification of your provisional appointment booking will be sent to you. The PDS team will be notified of your chosen Nuffield Health Hospital and tests as confirmation of your booking. You agree that, if your booking relates to two or more named persons, then you and each such person(s) are jointly and severally liable to us.

Once the Sample(s) have been taken the Sample(s) automatically become our sole property and may be destroyed or disposed of by us unless otherwise agreed in advance and in writing by you and us.

You shall ensure that:

  • the Tests selected through the online service are suitable and appropriate;
  • you will co-operate with us in relation to the Service; and
  • you will provide us with the terms of the Test(s) that you require together with any information we reasonably require to enable us to provide you with the Services, and you will ensure that such information is complete and accurate in all material respects.

Payments and Fees

  • All payments must be made in full, either on-line or over the telephone to a PDS member of staff prior to any appointments being booked.
  • A receipt will be offered for any payment made for customers not using the on line booking option.
  • For phone bookings, any verbal or written quotation given by us shall not constitute an offer and is only valid for a period of 14 days from its date of issue.

Cancellation, Cancellation Charges and Refunds

  • Subject to the remaining provisions of this section, where you purchase Services online as a consumer, you have the right to cancel your contract for those Services. You must exercise that right within 14 days from the day after the date of your contract to purchase the Services following which your right to cancel will lapse.
  • You expressly request us to and agree that we may commence the provision of the Services within that cancellation period and that we may charge you for all Services so provided should you subsequently cancel your contract.
  • You acknowledge that you will lose your right to cancel your contract where we have, at your request, fully performed the Services under your contract within the cancellation period.
  • Where the Services have been started within the cancellation period at your express request but have not been completed, you can still cancel the contract but must pay us for the Services supplied during the time up to when you informed us of your decision to cancel.
  • You agree that we will charge you a £10 cancellation fee will after an appointment has been made for your Sample(s) to be taken.
  • Refunds of charges apply if:
    1. you change your mind prior to an appointment and you have given us not less than 1 (one) business day’s notice of cancellation of your appointment; or
    2. on further clinical consultation, the Test is no longer required. We may ask for you to provide satisfactory proof of this.
  • Refunds will be paid within a week of your request to the card that you used.
  • Once you have attended an appointment, you will no longer be entitled to a refund of any charges you have paid or owe us unless your Sample(s) is/are (i) lost or (ii) have been incorrectly processed resulting in an erroneous or invalid result. In that event, you have the choice of a refund of charges for the Test(s) involved or, alternatively, the opportunity to attend another appointment in order for your Sample(s) to be re-taken.

Turnaround Times

The turnaround times for Results for each Test are indicative and intended as a guide only. We do not commit to providing your Results on or by any given date or within a timeframe, and we cannot accept any liability or responsibility for any delays in the processing of your Sample(s) and/or the provision of your Results. The turnaround times refer to the number of working days (excluding weekends and bank holidays) that it takes between your Sample(s) being received by an accredited Nuffield Health pathology laboratory or that of one of our accredited partners, and the Results being made available. You acknowledge that we give no warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied, in respect of the Services. By way of example, and without limiting the generality of the preceding wording, although we make every effort to achieve the turnaround times quoted by us for the provision of Results, no warranty or guarantee is given that such turnaround times will be achieved. We accept no liability or responsibility for any loss you may suffer or incur as a consequence.

Results

Once the Results are available, they will be securely emailed to you and/or your referring clinician.

Except to the extent that we are negligent, we accept no liability for any inaccuracy or error in any Test or report of any Test carried out by us or our representative, nor are we liable or responsible for the loss or theft of any of your Sample(s).

Data Protection and Confidentiality

The confidentiality of your information is of paramount concern to Nuffield Health.

We fully comply with Data Protection legislation, including the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and our confidentiality obligations.

Information submitted to us over our website is normally unprotected until it reaches us.

You agree that your registration data, any personal data you provide and certain other information about you will be processed in accordance with and is subject to our Privacy Policy. For more information, please see our full privacy policy at www.nuffieldhealth.com/privacy.

Your calls to us may be recorded for training and quality purposes.

You agree that we may access, preserve and disclose details provided by you or your referring clinician for the purposes of providing the Services and administering your account in accordance with our standard operating procedures or those of our affiliated companies; and if required to do so by law or in the good-faith belief that any such access, preservation or disclosure is reasonably necessary to (i) comply with legal process; (ii) respond to claims that any Services violate the rights of third-parties; (iii) respond to your requests for customer service; or (iv) protect the rights, property or personal safety of us, our users and the public.

Except with your consent, we will not disclose any such details, data or information other than to our professional staff, independent consultants and/or persons to whom it has delegated the performance of the Tests and who require the same for such purpose.

Limitation of Liability

We exclude, to the fullest extent permitted by law, all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity, all liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by you in connection with the Services including, without limitation any liability for loss of income or revenue; loss of business; loss of profits or contracts; loss of anticipated savings; loss of data; loss of goodwill; wasted management or office time; and for any other loss or damage of any kind, however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

We do not exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or that of our personnel, or for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter, or for any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

Subject to the above, in no event shall our total liability to you for any event or series of related events exceed the sum of 150% of the total amount paid by you for the Services giving rise to the liability in the 12 months preceding the first incident out of which the liability arose.