1.1
Doctors.net.uk is operated by M3 (EU) Limited (referred to as “M3”, “we”, “us” or “our” in these Terms and Conditions), a company registered in England under number 3527430. Its registered office is at One Valentine Place, London, SE1 8QH, UK. M3 (EU) Limited is registered for VAT under number 685853774. When used in these Terms and Conditions, the term “Doctors.net.uk” refers to both the Doctors.net.uk website (“Site”) and M3 (EU) Limited.
1.2
If you become a member of Doctors.net.uk, a contract between you and M3, incorporating these Terms and Conditions, and the Doctors.net.uk Privacy policy will come into force. M3 may refuse to accept anyone as a member, without giving any reason.
1.3
M3 reserves the right at any time to add to, change or delete from the Doctors.net.uk services (“Services”) it provides and the facilities available via the Site.
1.4
In return for M3 providing access to this Site and to the Services, you agree to comply with these Terms and Conditions, the Doctors.net.uk Privacy policy, and all other documents referred to therein.
1.5
M3 may change these Terms and Conditions or its Privacy policy (or both) at any time without notice, either by publishing the change or the amended version on the Site or by sending it to you by email. The change will be effective as from the date of the posting or email.
2.1
M3 aims to make this Site and Services available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but reserves the right to suspend access to this Site and any or all of those Services at any time, without notice, for maintenance purposes, or if we suspect that there has been any breach of security, a breach of these Terms and Conditions, or any unlawful use of this Site or those Services. M3, at its discretion, may restrict the use of this Site and any or all the Services, or limit their availability.
2.2
M3 reserves the right to require you to change your password periodically in order to help maintain website security. If you fail to change your password within the notice period, then your password will expire, and you will need a password reset link in order to reset your password and access the website.
2.3
Access to and use of some Services will be conditional on you meeting certain criteria, such as your qualifications and length of qualification. M3 reserves the right, at its discretion, to introduce new criteria and to change any criteria from time to time. Doctors who have been removed from the GMC register may be denied access to this Site and any of the Services.
2.4
M3 may offer benefits for interaction with the website including but not limited to the ability to edit forum posts and create member polls, and the award of Reward Points in the event of members completing certain market research surveys. See details in Condition 3, Rewards Rules, below. We reserve the right to remove or change these and any other benefits.
2.5
M3 also reserves the right to introduce charges, terms and conditions relating to the payment of those charges, and to review and amend charges for access to this Site and the Services. You will be given at least 30 days’ notice of any new payment terms and conditions or any new or increased charges, and the opportunity to cancel your membership before those charges or terms come into effect.
2.6
M3 reserves the right to remove access to your Doctors.net.uk account and email service if you do not log in to the website or the My Doctors.net.uk App at least once every 90 days. We will make reasonable efforts to notify you in advance by sending a warning to both your Doctors.net.uk and the alternative email address registered on your account before your account is deactivated. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that your account remains active. Note: if you have set up your Doctors.net.uk email to be forwarded to another email account you will need to visit the website or My Doctors.net.uk App once every 90 days for your account to remain active. We would encourage you to archive any sent or received email that you wish to keep. Any email that you delete can only be restored up to 7 days after deletion. Email older than 7 days in the Trash folder and 21 days in the Spam folder are subject to automatic removal and deletion.
2.7
M3 reserves the right to edit or remove any material without notice from this Site and from any forum, or stored on our servers, or hosted or published on the Site. This includes the right to delete, archive, make unavailable, modify or comment on any forum posting or thread within a forum, and to close individual fora without notice. We do not undertake to keep or make available any material that you have posted or anyone else has posted to this Site or to any forum for any length of time, and you are advised to make a copy of any material that you wish to keep.
2.8
Notwithstanding our rights under these Terms and Conditions in relation to user content (as defined in paragraph 9.2 below), we do not undertake to monitor the submission of such content to, or the publication of such content on the Site.
2.9
M3 may introduce the ability to post anonymously in certain forums at the discretion of M3 staff and Doctors.net.uk moderators. This functionality may be removed at any time and without notice if it is deemed by M3 to be abused. M3 would only take action to identify an anonymous poster where we need to contact the member, or if legally required to do so.
2.10
M3 may introduce the ability for members to ‘hide’ (i.e. block) or ‘follow’ (i.e. make more visible) posts by other forum members. This functionality is introduced at a member request and it will always be possible for a member to block another member from following.
2.11
Here are the browsers we've tested to work with Doctors.net.uk:
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Safari (Latest Version)
3.1.
M3 will record Reward Points earned and redeemed by each member. The award and use by the member of Reward Points is subject to the conditions set out in this paragraph 3 (“Rules”).
3.2
Reward Points are awarded when a particular action on Doctors.net.uk is undertaken, for example by completing eligible market research surveys or questionnaires. Reward Points will be earned for eligible activities as are promoted on Doctors.net.uk from time to time.
3.3
Reward Points have no redeemable cash value.
3.4
M3 suppliers are companies with whom members can redeem Reward Points to obtain rewards such as goods, services, discounts and vouchers (“Rewards”). These suppliers may change. An up-to- date list of suppliers is available from Doctors.net.uk at any time.
3.5
Reward Points cannot be redeemed until credited to the member’s Rewards account.
3.6
There are a set number of Reward Points needed to obtain each Reward. Each of these can change but, in most cases, there will be a minimum offer with specified increments thereafter. All Rewards are subject to availability.
3.7
When Reward Points are redeemed, M3 acts as an intermediary between the relevant member and the supplier, and we will assist members to ensure Rewards are received.
3.8
Once Reward Points are redeemed and converted into Rewards, further transactions are made directly with the relevant supplier and M3 has no responsibility for the delivery, standard, quality or otherwise of any goods and services received or supplied. All Rewards are subject to all applicable legal rules, and the terms and conditions (including booking requirements, cancellation restrictions, return conditions, warranties and limitations of liability) of the supplier.
3.9
M3 will only authorise third-party suppliers to distribute Rewards to UK postal addresses or Doctors.net.uk email accounts. Any requests to send such items overseas or to an alternative email address will be declined.
3.10
Redeemed Reward Points cannot be used again. Once Reward Points are redeemed, the transaction cannot be cancelled or reversed. If M3 suspects fraud or misconduct, or if insufficient Reward Points are available, Reward Point collection or conversion to Rewards may be refused or cancelled.
3.11
A member will have access to the Reward Points status of his/ her Rewards account including the Reward Points collected and redeemed. M3 will correct a Rewards account if it is shown to our reasonable satisfaction to be wrong but, unless there are clear records showing this, our decision is final.
3.12
Reward Points are personal to the member and cannot be transferred.
3.13
As a result of collecting Reward Points, the member is responsible for the assessment of any tax implications and payment of these taxes.
3.14
Reward Points can be redeemed at any time, but points will be expired if the member does not access the Site at least once in 12 consecutive months, if the member closes his or her membership account with Doctors.net.uk, or the Rewards scheme is otherwise brought to an end.
3.15
M3 cannot be held responsible for any unauthorised use of Reward Points or any lost or stolen Rewards.
3.16
M3 may make changes to these Rules and will give the member reasonable notice. Earning or redeeming Reward Points on a Rewards account will constitute acceptance of the revised Rules.
3.17
M3 may suspend or terminate Rewards but will give the member reasonable notice. If this happens all Rewards accounts will be suspended or terminated.
3.18
All responses given by members in eligible market search surveys must be true and accurate. M3 reserves the right to withdraw an offer of Reward Points, to deduct Reward Points from a member’s account and/or to prevent the allocation of a Reward to a member if we suspect or have evidence that data provided by the member is inaccurate, falsified or derived from another source or provided without due care or proper authority. M3 may also, at its discretion, prohibit any member from participation in future research.
You will, when accessing or using this Site or any Service (and regardless of whether posting as yourself or anonymously where permitted) adhere to the obligations as set out in these Terms and Conditions. Failure to comply with your obligations may, at the discretion of M3, result in your account being terminated. When accessing or using this Site or any Service, you will:
4.1
Act in a professional and ethical manner at all times;
4.2
Ensure that your user content (as defined in paragraph 9.2 below) is appropriate, civil, tasteful and in accordance with generally accepted standards of etiquette and behaviour on the internet;
4.3
Not obtain email addresses or any other information from the Site or Services for marketing or commercial purposes or post information or material for the benefit of any commercial venture; this includes advertising or attempting to sell items for personal gain or using your Doctors.net.uk email address for commercial purposes unless approval has been expressly granted by M3;
4.4
When participating in market research, provide accurate information to the best of your knowledge;
4.5
Not to post the same or similar messages multiple times in the same forum or in multiple forums; or use the Site or Services in any way that constitutes negligent advice or contains any false or inaccurate statements, or constituting spam;
4.6
Not post chain letters of any type, or post files to newsgroups not specifically named for that purpose;
4.7
Not harass any person. Harassment in this instance includes you being intimidating, threatening, abusive, hostile or otherwise offensive towards another person;
4.8
Not cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any person. (Any comments posted that imply that another member is suffering from mental illness are considered to contravene these Terms and Conditions.);
4.9
Not cancel or supersede any message or posting other than your own (unless expressly authorised by M3 to do so);
4.10
Not post or send any libellous, defamatory, obscene, derogatory, blasphemous, menacing, offensive, pornographic, or indecent material to this Site or via any Service;
4.11
Not discuss religious topics in open forums. Religious discussion may be discussed in specific closed, moderated forums of a religious nature such as ‘Christian Medical Fellowship’ or ‘Muslim Doctors’. Religious discussion outside of these closed forums may be removed without notice and may result in a formal warning;
4.12
Not to be in breach of racial or religious hatred or discrimination legislation;
4.13
Not use the Site or Services to post or upload any message or material that consist of or contains any instructions, advice or other information which may be acted upon and could cause illness, injury or death, or any other loss or damage;
4.14
Not flame, hack or obtain unauthorised access to any data or system;
4.15
Not introduce into this Site or any Service, any virus, logic bomb, harmful code, Trojan horse or anything else that might corrupt, damage or render inaccessible any software, data or system;
4.16
Not attempt to interfere with this Site or any Service. (This includes, but is not limited to, “denial of service” attacks, “flooding” sites, phishing attacks or malware, deliberate attempts to overload any site and attempts to “crash” any website host);
4.17
Not use any program, script or command which interferes with any person’s use of any Site or Service, or which results in any unfair advantage or disadvantage for anyone in relation to their receipt of Rewards or competition prizes;
4.18
Not be involved in any criminal or unlawful activity or post any confidential patient information or information or material which might be legally actionable or disclose annoymised information from which a patient could still be identified. GMC regulations on patient confidentiality and consent must be adhered to;
4.19
Not seek redress from M3 if you suffer loss or damage, or if you are harmed, defamed or offended by material, information, products or services which you accessed or obtained through or which were posted on this Site or any Service;
4.20
Not use the Site or Services in any way that constitutes an incitement to commit a crime; be in contempt of any court, or in breach of any court order; be in breach of official secrets legislation;
4.21
Comply with all applicable laws, regulations and conventions, including those related to privacy, personal data, international communications, or the export of technical data;
4.22
Not use the Site to link to any website or webpage consisting of or containing material that would, were it posted on the Site, breach provisions of these Terms and Conditions;
4.23
Not submit any user content to the Site that is or has ever been the subject of any threatened or actual legal proceedings or other similar complaint; and
4.24
Not use the Site or Services in any way that would infringe any copyright, moral, trademark, design right, or any intellectual property rights of any person and all necessary permissions must be obtained before use of any such rights.
5.1
M3 will use your personal data only in accordance with its Privacy policy.
5.2
M3 may (but is not obliged to) monitor and record your use of this Site and the Services.
5.3
No information which is posted to this Site or sent via any Service will be treated as confidential. For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include emails, which are treated as confidential.
5.4
M3 may block, delete or remove from this Site and from any Service information or other material that you have posted, sent or received at any time and without giving notice.
5.5
M3 has no obligation to monitor or moderate any forum, newsgroup, email or message, and usually does not do so. If you have any complaint about any posting or email or message made or sent by a third party, you should email help@doctors.org.uk immediately.
6.1
If you purchase or acquire goods or services from any third party, even if you have been directed from this Site or by any Service to them, any contract entered into with that third party and any use made of its site is a matter between you and that third party. M3 has no liability for the quality or type of services or goods provided by any third party it may mention on this Site or to whom this Site may be linked. It is for you to make your own judgement about them.
6.2
Any opinion, advice, statement, service, offer, or information or content provided or made by any third party on this Site or via any Service, or on any site to which this Site is linked, is that of the author or provider, and not of M3. We do not endorse, and we are not responsible for, the accuracy or reliability of, any such opinion, advice, statement, service, offer, information or content.
6.3
Where content or information on or services available via this Site or any Service have been supplied by a third party, Doctors.net.uk does not control or endorse them in any way. All information, content and services supplied by third parties are made available in good faith but M3 does not (to the extent allowed by the law) accept responsibility for their accuracy or use. Some non-personal data may contain public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
6.4
M3 does not make any representation or give any warranty about any other site or any services or goods provided by any third party, or any opinion, advice, statement, offer, information or content on any such site or made by any such party. M3 has no control over their quality, content or availability. M3 will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by or in connection with use of, or reliance on, any content, goods or services available on or through any other site.
6.5
Any concern about any other website should be directed to that site’s website administrator or webmaster.
7.1
M3 tries to ensure that any information and content on its Site or available through its services that has not been supplied by a third party is accurate, but it makes no representation and gives no warranty that any information or content is accurate, up to date or complete. M3 accepts no liability for any loss or damage caused by inaccurate information or content.
7.2
If you find any inaccurate, out of date or incomplete information or content on this Site or in any Service, or if you suspect that something is an infringement of any intellectual property right, you must let Doctors.net.uk know immediately by contacting help@doctors.org.uk.
7.3
You should independently verify any information and content on this Site or made available to you through any Service before relying on it. That information and content are not intended to address any particular requirements; they do not constitute any form of advice or recommendation by Doctors.net.uk and are not intended to be relied upon in making (or refraining from making) any decision. The information and content on and through this Site are not, and the Services are not, substitutes for the exercise of professional judgement. If you are not qualified nor experienced enough to make that judgement, you should take professional advice.
7.4
This Site, its content and all Services are provided “as is”. M3 gives no warranty that this Site, its content or any Service is free of error or will be available without interruption, or at all.
7.5
No warranty, representation, or undertaking in respect of the quality, or fitness for purpose of any content or any Service is given, and all implied terms, conditions and warranties relating to the same, whether implied by statute, common law, custom, trade usage, course of dealing or otherwise, are excluded to the extent allowed by the law.
7.6
You assume all risk for using, and for any results obtained, or liability incurred, by or as a result of accessing this Site or any Service.
7.7
M3 does not guarantee the prevention of the loss of, alteration of, or improper access to, any information or computer systems. M3 is not responsible for invalid destinations or transmission errors in, the corruption of, or the security of information or messages on this Site or transmitted using any Service or carried over any telecommunications or data communications facilities. Passwords and user IDs are personal to individual members. It is your responsibility to keep your password and ID secret and secure, and not to allow anyone else to use them. You are responsible for the use or misuse of this Site and any Service by any person accessing them through your password or ID (whether that use is authorised or unauthorised) and you agree to bear all losses, expenses, inconvenience and Site charges arising as a result of that use. You must not use or attempt to use anyone else’s password or ID; to do so may be an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
7.8
M3 is not liable for any claim that your access to or use of this Site, any content or any Services infringe any third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
7.9
In no event is M3 liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to perform your obligations or otherwise outside our reasonable control.
7.10
Despite any other provision in these Terms and Conditions, M3 does not exclude or limit its liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence, or for any fraudulent act or for any other liability that is not permitted to be limited or excluded by applicable law. Without prejudice to this, M3 is not liable for any of the following, whether arising because of its negligence, or in any other way:
Loss of profits, business, anticipated savings, goodwill or reputation, lost or wasted management time or the lost time of other employees;
Loss, destruction or corruption of data;
Any indirect, or consequential loss or damage; or
Any loss or damage arising as a result of any claim against you by any third party; even if M3 has been advised of the possibility of that loss or damage arising.
7.11
You will indemnify M3 and keep it indemnified against all and any losses, damages, liabilities, costs and expenses arising in connection with your breach of any of these Terms and Conditions or arising as a result of a third party accessing or using this Site, any content or any Service by means of your password or user ID.
7.12
The maximum liability of M3 to you in connection with this Site, any content and any services, or the failure to provide any of the same, is £1 or the aggregate of sums you have paid to M3 in the 12 months immediately before the cause of action to which your claim relates arose (whichever is the greater).
8.1
If you are dissatisfied with the services provided by M3, or any feature provided in or through this Site, please contact us on help@doctors.org.uk .
8.2
Your membership may be terminated by M3 at any time by giving you at least 7 days’ notice. In addition, we may terminate or suspend your membership and access to this Site and any Service at any time without notice if you breach or are suspected of having breached these Terms and Conditions, if you cease to meet the criteria from time to time for access to or use of this Site or any Service, or if your agreement with any internet service provider for access or connection to the internet is terminated for any reason.
8.3
Medical student accounts must be upgraded to a doctor account at the end of their final year. Accounts that are not upgraded will be terminated unless evidence of continued enrolment is provided via help@doctors.org.uk. You will receive a minimum of 7 days’ notice prior to account termination.
8.4
You may terminate your membership by giving us not less than 30 days’ notice to help@doctors.org.uk. Termination is your sole remedy if you are dissatisfied with this Site or any Service.
8.5
If you exercise your right to delete all your data under Data Protection legislation and as detailed in the Privacy policy, you will be unable to register for a new account within the Site for 90 days post making the deletion request.
8.6
Conditions 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 will survive termination and continue indefinitely.
9.1
This Site, its contents and information, and the Services and their content and information, are protected by copyright, database rights and other intellectual property rights.
9.2
In these Terms and Conditions, your “user content” means material (including without limitation text, images, audio material, video material and audio-visual material) that you submit to our website, for whatever purpose. You grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your user content in any existing or future media. You also grant to us the right to sub-license these rights, and the right to bring an action for infringement of these rights. You warrant and represent that your user content will comply with these Terms and Conditions. Your user content must not be illegal or unlawful, must not infringe any third party’s legal rights, and must not be capable of giving rise to legal action whether against you or us or a third party (in each case under any applicable law).
9.3
You assign to M3 copyright in all material and messages (including user-generated content) that you post to this Site, other than anything in your email accounts or any forum created that operates under the Creative Commons 3.0 Licence, including the Photography and Poetry forums, and any others where this is clearly indicated. You waive all moral rights in connection with that material and those messages. In respect of any material in which you do retain ownership (example: Photography), you authorise M3 to act on your behalf in any action we may decide to take if any intellectual property rights in any such information is infringed by any third party. However, we will be under no obligation to take any such action which will be in our absolute discretion.
9.4
Subject to any conditions specific to any Service, you may read, print and download parts of the material and information on this Site for your private, non-commercial use in the ordinary course of your profession, but you may not make any profit from the use of that material or information and may not republish, disseminate or transmit any of it, or exploit it for any commercial purpose, or make any derivative work, or copy it for any other purpose without first obtaining M3’s written permission, or that of the rights owner.
9.5
You must not post to this website, or send, using any Service, data, software, or other work or material that infringes the intellectual property rights of M3 or any third party.
10.1
Any terms purporting to vary these Terms and Conditions in any order, or other written or electronic communication from you, are ineffective unless specifically accepted by M3 in writing.
10.2
You may not assign or transfer your membership to or share or sublicense the advantages of membership of Doctors.net.uk with any other person.
10.3
M3 may assign or sub-contract its rights or obligations (or both) to any third party.
10.4
If any part of any of these Terms and Conditions is invalid or unenforceable, it will not affect any other provision and all other provisions will remain in full force and effect.
10.5
These Terms and Conditions, and the contract between you and M3, are governed by the laws of England and Wales and you agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
10.6
These Terms and Conditions, together with the Privacy policy, any conditions specific to any Service and any rules that Doctors.net.uk publishes from time to time governing the criteria for access to this Site or any Service, are the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between Doctors.net.uk and you in relation to the use of this Site, its contents and any Service. They supersede any proposal or prior agreement, oral or written, and any other communications between Doctors.net.uk and you relating to their subject matter.
10.7
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions confers or purports to confer on anyone except you any right under the Contracts Rights of Third Parties Act 1999 or in any other way to enforce any of these Terms and Conditions.
UPDATED: March 2025