Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or other devices when websites are loaded in a browser. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

Cookies on register.nhs.scot

In this particular web page and form, some of the cookies used are essential in that they help us to make the website work better. These cookies do not track you personally.

This website uses essential cookies, i.e., necessary cookies that enable core functionality such as security and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. This website does not use third-party cookies and does not collect any information that directly identifies you.

This website also uses non-essential, first-party performance cookies that measure the website's performance and improve your experience. In using performance cookies, we do not store any personal data, and only use the information collected through these cookies in aggregated and anonymised form. We do not place any non-essential cookies unless we have your explicit consent first. We use analytics software called Matomo, hosted on our own servers, to do this. We do not use this software to identify you personally as part of this service and Matomo does not identify anyone personally. This Analytics service does process the IP address used when your device connects to the website as part of normal security operations. However, the IP address is anonymised before it is stored in the Analytics system.

This table explains the cookies we use, their purpose and how long they remain on your device.

Cookie Type	Cookie Name	Description	Essential or Non-essential
Cookie choices	cookiePermissions cookie-notification-acknowledged	Decision cookies, remember your cookie preferences for blocking non-essential cookies for your current and next visit.	Essential
Matomo Analytics	pk_id _pk_sess mtm_cookie_consent	Count and tracks unique users and page views anonymously. Retained on your computer for 13 months from your last visit to the website. 30 minutes (short lived cookies used to temporarily store data for the visit) Records your permission to give consent to cookies on this site - retained for 30 years.	Non-essential
Azure	AspNetCore.Antiforgery ARRAffinitySameSite ARRAffinity	Microsoft Azure session cookies, used to enhance the security of your session. Retained on your computer until a session ends by you closing the browser or by not interacting with the site for a period.	Essential

How to change your cookie preferences

You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions. To find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:

Privacy and data protection enquiries relating to this website may be made in writing to:
NSS Data Protection Officer
NHS National Services Scotland
Gyle Square
1 South Gyle Crescent
Edinburgh
EH12 9EB
Email:NSS.dataprotection@nhs.scot

Cookies on vacs.nhs.scot

We use cookies to:

Identify a valid user’s session. These cookies are typically named glide_xxx_xxx or BIGipServerpool. These are authentication cookies and have no embedded user information.
Identify a user’s active session on a specific application node using JSessionid. Should this fail, the load-balancer will re-route traffic to an alternative node. This prevents the user from being disconnected and having to re-establish their session.

Any information on site usage is received in a way that we can't identify individuals. For example, we never receive your name or address. The data stored in cookies is encrypted and is only used to identify a valid active session. The cookies are not stored for longer than the user’s session.

We don't make any attempt to find out the identities of people visiting our website.

All information we get through cookies will be treated in confidence. We’ll never sell, trade or give your details to third parties, unless we're required to do it by law.