Last updated: 10 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information Hospital Professional News (“HPN”, “we”, “us”) collects through hospitalprofessionalnews.ie, why, how long we keep it and the choices and rights you have. We have built the site to collect as little as possible: our website statistics use no cookies and store no IP addresses, and our share buttons and adverts don’t track you.
1. Who we are
Hospital Professional News is published by IPN Communications Ltd, which is the data controller for the personal information described here.
[To add before publishing: registered office address and company registration number.]
For anything about your personal data, use our contact form and choose “Privacy & my data”.
2. What we collect and why
Your HPN account (free membership)
Full articles and the digital magazine are for verified healthcare professionals. When you register we collect:
- your name, email address and a password (stored only in scrambled, hashed form — we can’t see it);
- the professional details on the registration form, such as your organisation, specialism or department, profession, professional registration number (for example IMC, NMBI, PSI or CORU) and, if you choose to give it, your phone number;
- a document proving your identity or professional registration, which you upload;
- your verification status, and when and by whom your registration was reviewed.
We use this to create and run your account and to check that you are a healthcare professional before giving access. Legal basis: to provide the membership you ask for (contract), and our legitimate interest in making sure professional content reaches its professional audience.
Uploaded documents are stored in a private area of our server that cannot be reached from the web. Only the HPN staff who review registrations can open them, through a password-protected page.
Newsletter
If you sign up we keep your email address, your first name if you give it, where you signed up and a record of your consent. We send a confirmation email first and only start sending newsletters once you click the link in it (“double opt-in”). Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link. Legal basis: your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
Printed magazine requests
If you ask to receive the printed magazine we collect your title, name, job title, organisation, postal address, email and (optionally) phone number, to post you the magazine and to contact you about your subscription. Legal basis: to provide the subscription you ask for, and our legitimate interest in sending our publication to hospital professionals.
Contact messages and advertising enquiries
When you contact us or ask for our advertising pack, we keep what you send (for example your name, organisation, email, phone and message) so we can reply. If you request the advertising pack we also note whether the download link we email you has been used. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in responding to your enquiry, or steps you ask us to take before a contract.
Digital magazine
When a member downloads a magazine PDF we record who downloaded which issue and when, so we can see how the magazine is used and show your download history in your account. Reading statistics for the online magazine (pages read, reading time) are anonymous: they use a scrambled identifier, not your name. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in understanding how our publication is read.
Comments
If you comment on an article we store your name, email address, website (if given), the comment, and the IP address and browser details WordPress records to help fight spam. Your name and comment are shown publicly; your email address is not.
Website statistics
We measure how the site is used with our own privacy-friendly analytics. It uses no cookies and does not store IP addresses. Visits are counted with an anonymous code that changes every day and cannot be linked back to you or followed from one day to the next. We record pages viewed, how long they are read, the referring website or campaign, the general device type, browser and operating system, and the country (worked out from your device’s time zone). If you are logged in we only note that a visit was by a member, not who. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in improving the site.
Adverts
Adverts on HPN are served by us, not by advertising networks. We count how many times each advert is shown and clicked, as totals — no personal information is kept. Some adverts for prescription medicines can only be shown to healthcare professionals; when you confirm you are one, a small cookie remembers that choice (see below).
Security and spam protection
To stop abuse of our forms we briefly keep a scrambled version of your IP address — for up to one hour — to limit how many times a form can be sent. Forms also include hidden spam traps.
3. Cookies
We only use cookies that are needed for the site to work or that remember a choice you made. We use no analytics, advertising or social media tracking cookies, so we don’t show a cookie banner.
| Cookie | What it does | How long |
|---|---|---|
| wordpress_logged_in_*, wordpress_sec_* | Keeps you logged in to your HPN account. | Until you close your browser, or 14 days if you tick “Keep me logged in” |
| wordpress_test_cookie | Checks that your browser accepts cookies when you log in. | Until you close your browser |
| hpn_hcp | Remembers that you confirmed you are a healthcare professional, so adverts meant for healthcare professionals can be shown. | 1 year |
| comment_author_* | Remembers your name and email for the next comment you write. | 1 year (only set if you comment) |
| wp-settings-* | Remembers editor screen settings. Only for HPN staff using the admin area. | 1 year |
Some articles include content from other websites (for example videos or documents). Those websites may set their own cookies when the content is shown or played.
4. Who we share it with
We do not sell your personal information or share it for others’ marketing. We use trusted service providers who process it only on our instructions:
- our website hosting provider, which stores the site and its data;
- our email delivery provider, which sends account, newsletter and confirmation emails;
- our printing and postal partners, who receive the names and addresses needed to post the printed magazine.
Our share buttons are plain links: nothing is sent to LinkedIn, X, Facebook or WhatsApp unless you click one. We may also disclose information where the law requires it.
5. Where your data is stored
We aim to keep your data within the European Economic Area. If a service provider processes it outside the EEA, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.
6. How long we keep it
| Information | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Your account and professional details | While your account is open. Deleted when you or we delete the account. |
| Uploaded proof-of-registration documents | While your account is open, then deleted with it. |
| Magazine download history | While your account is open. When the account is deleted, the records are kept only as anonymous totals. |
| Newsletter subscription | Until you unsubscribe. We then keep your email address and the date, only to make sure you are not emailed again. |
| Printed magazine requests | While you receive the magazine, and up to two years after it stops. |
| Contact messages and advertising enquiries | As long as needed to deal with them, and up to two years after our last contact. |
| Comments | Until the comment is removed. |
| Website statistics | 25 months, then deleted automatically. They contain no personal information. |
| Spam-protection data | Up to one hour. |
7. Your rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have the right to:
- access the personal information we hold about you and get a copy;
- correct it if it is wrong — you can update many details yourself in My account;
- delete it (“the right to be forgotten”);
- restrict or object to how we use it, including for our legitimate interests;
- receive it in a portable format;
- withdraw your consent at any time, for example by unsubscribing from the newsletter.
To use any of these rights, contact us and choose “Privacy & my data”. We will reply within one month. We may need to confirm your identity first.
If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission in Ireland at www.dataprotection.ie. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.
8. Keeping your data safe
The site is served over an encrypted connection (HTTPS), passwords are stored hashed, uploaded documents are kept out of public reach, and only HPN staff who need it can see members’ details. No system is completely secure, but we work to protect your information and will tell you and the Data Protection Commission about a serious breach as the law requires.
9. Children
HPN is a publication for healthcare professionals and is not aimed at children. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
10. Changes to this policy
We will update this policy when our website or the way we use information changes. The date at the top shows when it was last changed; if we make an important change we will let members know.