This Cookie Policy explains how Merit Occupational Health uses cookies and similar technologies when you visit our website.
It explains what cookies are, why we may use them, how they affect your privacy and how you can manage your cookie preferences.
This Cookie Policy should be read alongside our Privacy Policy and GDPR Policy.
1. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your computer, smartphone, tablet or other device when you visit a website.
Cookies allow websites to recognise a device and store information about a visit. They can help websites function correctly, remember preferences, maintain security and provide information about how visitors use different pages.
Some cookies operate only while your browser remains open. Others remain on your device for a specified period or until you delete them.
2. How Merit Occupational Health Uses Cookies
Merit Occupational Health may use cookies and similar technologies to:
Keep our website functioning correctly
Maintain website and form security
Remember cookie preferences
Support website functionality
Understand how visitors use our website
Measure website traffic
Monitor website performance
Identify technical problems
Improve website content and usability
Understand how visitors find our services
Measure the effectiveness of marketing activity
Where UK law requires consent, we will only use non-essential cookies after you have provided the appropriate consent.
3. Types of Cookies We May Use
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly necessary cookies support essential website functions.
These cookies may be required for:
Website security
Network management
Cookie preference management
Online forms
Session management
Essential website functionality
Strictly necessary cookies may operate without consent where they are genuinely required to provide the website or a service requested by the visitor.
Blocking these cookies may prevent parts of our website from functioning correctly.
Analytics Cookies
Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website.
They may collect information about:
Pages visited
Time spent on pages
How visitors arrived at the website
Links or buttons used
Device type
Browser type
Approximate location
Website errors
Website performance
We may use this information to understand how our website performs and identify opportunities for improvement.
Where consent is required, analytics cookies will only be activated after you have provided consent.
Functionality Cookies
Functionality cookies allow our website to remember choices or preferences.
They may help us provide a more consistent experience when you return to the website.
Where consent is legally required, functionality cookies will only operate after you have provided the appropriate consent.
Advertising and Marketing Cookies
Advertising and marketing cookies may be used to measure marketing campaigns and understand whether advertising leads to website visits, enquiries or other actions.
These technologies may also help provide advertising that is more relevant to users.
Where UK law requires consent, advertising and marketing cookies will not be activated until you have provided consent.
4. First-Party Cookies
First-party cookies are placed directly by the Merit Occupational Health website.
They may be used to support essential website functionality, security, preferences, forms and other features.
5. Third-Party Cookies
Some cookies may be placed by third-party services used on our website.
These services may include:
Website analytics providers
Website hosting providers
Security providers
Appointment or booking systems
Embedded content providers
Advertising platforms
Marketing services
Conversion measurement services
Third-party providers may process information collected through their technologies in accordance with their own privacy and cookie policies.
6. Cookie Consent
When you visit our website, you may be presented with a cookie banner or preference tool.
Where consent is required, you should be able to accept or reject non-essential cookies.
Strictly necessary cookies may operate without consent because they are required to provide essential website functionality.
Rejecting non-essential cookies should not prevent you from accessing the main information and services available through our website.
7. Changing or Withdrawing Your Consent
Where cookie preference controls are available, you can change or withdraw your consent at any time.
Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that lawfully took place before your consent was withdrawn.
Changing your preferences may prevent certain cookies from being used during future visits.
8. Managing Cookies Through Your Browser
Most web browsers allow you to manage cookies through their settings.
Depending on your browser, you may be able to:
View stored cookies
Delete individual cookies
Delete all cookies
Block certain cookies
Block third-party cookies
Prevent websites from storing cookies
Control how long cookies remain on your device
Blocking all cookies may affect how our website and other websites function.
9. Website Analytics
We may use website analytics technologies to understand how visitors find and use our website.
Analytics information may help us understand:
Which pages receive the most visits
How visitors navigate through the website
How long visitors spend on particular pages
How visitors find our website
Which devices and browsers visitors use
Whether visitors experience technical problems
We use this information because understanding website usage helps us improve our content, performance and user experience.
Where analytics technologies require consent, they will only operate after consent has been obtained.
10. Online Forms
Our website may allow visitors to submit enquiries or information relating to occupational health services.
Cookies may support the security, functionality or performance of these forms.
Information that you deliberately enter into a form is treated as information provided directly to Merit Occupational Health rather than information collected solely through cookies.
Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and protect personal information submitted through our website.
11. Appointment and Booking Systems
Where our website provides access to an appointment or booking system, cookies may be required to maintain sessions, process selections or provide secure functionality.
Some booking services may be supplied by third-party providers.
Where a third-party service uses non-essential cookies, those cookies will be subject to applicable consent requirements.
12. Health Information and Cookies
Merit Occupational Health provides services that can involve sensitive health information.
We do not use health or occupational health information for unrelated advertising purposes.
Information deliberately provided through occupational health forms, assessments or clinical systems is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy, GDPR Policy and applicable confidentiality requirements.
Website cookies are not intended to create advertising profiles based on an individual's medical or occupational health information.
13. Advertising and Conversion Tracking
We may use advertising or conversion measurement technologies to understand the effectiveness of our marketing activities.
For example, these technologies may help us understand whether someone visits our website or makes an enquiry after interacting with an advertisement.
Where these technologies require consent, they will not be activated until the appropriate consent has been provided.
We do not use occupational health records or medical information to target individuals with advertising.
14. Similar Technologies
Our website may use technologies that perform functions similar to cookies.
These can include:
Tracking pixels
Tags
Scripts
Local storage
Browser storage
Conversion tracking technologies
References to cookies within this policy include similar technologies where appropriate.
15. Personal Data and Cookies
Some information collected through cookies and similar technologies may qualify as personal data under UK data protection law.
This can include IP addresses, device identifiers and other online identifiers where they can identify or relate to an individual.
Where cookies involve the processing of personal data, we handle that information in accordance with our Privacy Policy, GDPR Policy and applicable UK data protection legislation.
16. How Long Cookies Are Stored
The length of time a cookie remains on your device depends on its type and purpose.
Session cookies generally expire when you close your browser.
Persistent cookies remain on your device for a defined period or until you manually delete them.
Third-party providers may determine their own cookie retention periods.
We aim to ensure cookies are retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for their intended purpose.
17. External Websites
Our website may contain links to websites operated by other organisations.
Third-party websites may place their own cookies when you visit them.
Merit Occupational Health does not control cookies placed independently by external websites.
You should review the privacy and cookie information provided by the relevant third-party website to understand how it uses cookies and personal information.
18. Embedded Content
Our website may contain content or functionality supplied by third parties.
This could include videos, maps, booking tools or other embedded services.
Third-party embedded content may use cookies or similar technologies.
Where these technologies are non-essential and require consent, they should only be activated after the appropriate consent has been obtained.
19. Your Data Protection Rights
Where information collected through cookies constitutes personal data, you may have rights under UK data protection law.
Depending on the circumstances, these may include the right to:
Access your personal data
Correct inaccurate information
Request deletion of personal data
Request restriction of certain processing
Object to certain processing
Withdraw consent where processing relies on consent
Further information about your rights is available in our Privacy Policy and GDPR Policy.
20. Updates to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy when our website, technologies, services, marketing systems or legal obligations change.
The latest version will be published on our website.
The date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last updated.
21. Complaints
If you have concerns about how Merit Occupational Health uses cookies or processes personal information collected through them, please contact us so we can investigate your concerns.
You also have the right to raise data protection concerns with the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK's independent regulator for data protection and information rights.
22. Contact Merit Occupational Health
If you have questions about this Cookie Policy or how cookies are used on our website, please contact Merit Occupational Health using the contact details provided on our website.