General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the Rapid Eczema Trials Keep Control Study

How will information about me be used?

We will need to use information from you for this research project.

This information will include:

Your name

Your contact details

Information about you and your eczema

Photos of your eczema (if you choose to upload them).

People will use this information to do the research or to check your records to make sure that the research is being done properly.

People who do not need to know who you are will not be able to see your name or contact details. Your data will have a code number instead.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Nottingham and Imperial College London are joint data controllers for this study and are responsible for looking after your information.

We will keep all information about you safe and secure by:

Following and adhering to the laws relating to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Storing your data and photos on a secure platform at Imperial College London, at the University of Nottingham and at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

Using a secure, encrypted transfer protocol when transferring your data

Having strict access controls on our electronic systems

Deleting your personal data (as outlined in this information sheet) when it is no longer required

Keeping the details we have to contact you separate from the trial data

If you choose to provide photos of your eczema, they might include features that may identify you. This could be scarring, birthmarks, body art, piercing etc.

If you choose to provide your phone number, we will share your name and telephone number with Esendex, our text messaging provider and their sub processors. They will use this information to send you text message reminders about the study questionnaires whilst you are taking part in the study. Esendex will keep the information shared with them for two years or until the end of the RAPID Eczema Trials Project (whichever occurs first) before it is destroyed. You can choose to share your phone number for study-related communication, but it’s okay if you don’t. You can still take part either way.

In accordance with Sponsor, Government and funder policies we may share data about you within and outside the UK for research related purposes to:

Enable researchers to re-use data for new questions.

Check our findings to ensure accuracy and reliability.

This means that they don’t waste time and resources repeating the same work. 

We will make sure your data is protected. Anyone who accesses your data outside the UK must do what we tell them so that your data has a similar level of protection as it does under UK law. We will make sure your data is safe outside the UK by doing the following:

Some of the countries your data will be shared with have an adequacy decision in place. This means that we know their laws offer a similar level of protection to data protection laws in the UK

We use specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same level of protection it has in the UK. For further details visit the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website

We do not allow those who access your data outside the UK to use it for anything other than what our written contract with them says

We need other organisations to have appropriate security measures to protect your data which are consistent with the data security and confidentiality obligations we have. This includes having appropriate measures to protect your data against accidental loss and unauthorised access, use, changes or sharing

We have procedures in place to deal with any suspected personal data breach. We will tell you and applicable regulators when there has been a breach of your personal data when we legally have to. For further details about UK breach reporting rules visit the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website

Once we have finished the study, we will keep some of the data so we can check the results. We will write our reports in a way that no-one can work out that you took part in the study.

We will keep your study data for a minimum of 5 years after the end of the study as per sponsor policy.

The study data will then be fully anonymized and securely archived or destroyed.

What are your choices about how your information is used?

You can stop being part of the study at any time, without giving a reason, but we will keep information about you that we already have.

You have the right to ask us to remove, change or delete data we hold about you for the purposes of the study. We might not always be able to do this if it means we cannot use your data to do the research. If so, we will tell you why we cannot do this.

Where can you find out more about how your information is used?

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Nottingham and Imperial College London are joint data controllers for this study. This means they are jointly responsible for how your data is being processed. You can find out more about how we use your information:

Version 1: updated 04/06/2025