Invited reviews - privacy notice

Who we are

We are the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), 5-11 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8SH (telephone: +44 (0)20 7092 6000).

The contact details for the Data Protection Officer for privacy/data protection enquiries are as above or via email to: information.governance@rcpch.ac.uk.

General enquiries about the invited reviews service can be sent via our contact form or direct to invited.reviews@rcpch.ac.uk.

What information do we collect about you? 

Reviewers

Most of the personal data we process is provided to us directly by you. However, we will use your GMC (General Medical Council) number to confirm registration status and we may check any conflicts of interest provided. Someone with a connection to the College may also provide us with your name and contact email address to recommend you for a particular review. In this instance we will only use it to contact you about the review.

As you submit your details via a webform on this website, please also see our website privacy policy.

Healthcare Organisations (HCOs)

When an organisation submits a request for an invited review, we collect the name, email address and (sometimes) phone numbers for the Medical Director, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Executive Officer and a contact staff member for press and media enquiries.

When the review is confirmed, we collect the name, email address and phone number of the review coordinator at the HCO.

When completing contracts, we collect the name, title and signature of the Medical Director, and store this data in the College's contracts platform, Juro. 

The Trust may also provide the name and email addresses of the Trust staff who will be interviewed as part of the review. The RCPCH does not request this information and the Trust should obtain the consent of the individual before sharing their data with us.

Participants and interviewees

The ‘Information and guidance booklet for participants and interviewees involved in an invited review’ includes information on confidentiality, information handling and deletion. retention details. Your HCO should provide you with this booklet in advance of your participation in a RCPCH invited review, and you can request a copy by contacting invited.reviews@rcpch.ac.uk.

As part of our invited reviews, we may request information about clinical services and the workforce. Your healthcare organisation will provide us with your name and job title, and in some cases details of training undertaken in connection with your work and job plans. We will also make notes during interviews which may capture your opinions and comments. We do ask you to provide feedback in an anonymised format, however, occasionally comments may be identifiable. 

If you are submitting personal data about another individual, including staff name and position, you must ensure that they have been made aware of this privacy notice and that they are happy for the personal data to be included.

Why do we collect this information?

Reviewers

We collect and process your personal data through the application process and, where your application is successful, to manage and administer your role as an Invited Reviewer. The legal basis for doing this is:

• “Contractual Obligation” – where we need to process your personal data either to take steps to enter into a contract with you or to fulfil a contract, we already have with you. 
• "Legitimate Interest” – where we have assessed that the benefits of us processing your data are legitimate and not outweighed by your interests or legal rights.

We do not use your personal data to make automated decisions or undertake profiling about you.

We process personal data to recruit, train and manage our contract with Invited Reviewers so that we can organise the review visit, deliver the report and inform development of the Invited Reviewers cohort. This includes, where processing is necessary, for us to identify individuals to participate in review visits, depending on their specialty, discipline, and experience.(Contractual obligation)

Participation comprises identification of a review team for each review, preparatory activities, organising the visit and production of the report. We require Invited Reviewers to provide us with a biography so that this can be submitted to the healthcare organisation (HCO) commissioning the invited review ahead of the review to inform them who their reviewers are. (Legitimate interest)

Further to this, we process your personal data to provide updates about the activities of the programme, including non-core activities (Legitimate interest). If you wish to unsubscribe from future updates about developments and updates, please contact the Invited Reviews team via: invited.reviews@rcpch.ac.uk.

Healthcare Organisations (HCOs)

Data protection law requires that we have one or more of the following legal bases to process your information: 

• "Legitimate Interest" - where we have assessed that the benefits of us processing your data are legitimate and not outweighed by your interests or legal rights.
• "Contractual Obligation" - where we need to process your personal data either to take steps to enter into a contract with you or to fulfil a contract we already have with you.

We collect and process your personal data for the following purposes:

• To process your request for an Invited Review (Legitimate Interest)
• To finalise the Review contract (Contractual obligation)
• To coordinate with the HCO on-site Review coordinator (Contractual obligation)
• To select, engage and prepare appropriate reviewers for your site (Contractual obligation)
• To liaise with HCO staff on-site to conduct the review (Contractual obligation)
• To review the final report (Legitimate interest)
• To provide the final report to the HCO (Contractual obligation)

Participants and interviewees

Data protection law requires that we have one or more of the following legal bases to process your information:

• "Legitimate Interest" - where we have assessed that the benefits of us processing your data are legitimate and not outweighed by your interests or legal rights.

Although participation is voluntary, if you do take part, we will process your personal data where we have a legitimate interest to do so, in order to conduct the review.

We encourage organisations to submit data as it forms the basis for the improvement of services for children and young people both on a local and national scale. By participating in an invited review, you are agreeing to the data that we collect, which includes personal information, to be used for the purposes of conducting and reporting the review and only for this purpose.

We may also process your data where we have a legal obligation to do so or where we need to perform a task in the public interest, for example if we receive a legal request for disclosure or if we have to escalate a safety concern. Section 9 of the ‘Information and guidance booklet for participants and interviewees involved in an invited review’ provides more information about this. 

The RCPCH invited review report will only include anonymised data from the interviews.

Who might we share your information with?

Reviewers

Information such as names, biographies and employer details are shared with members of the HCO to facilitate the organisation and delivery of the invited review and report, and to facilitate the identification of potential Conflicts of Interest.

In addition, dietary/accessibility requirements are shared with service representatives to enable organisation of the review visit. 

We may occasionally be required by law or a statutory obligation to disclose your information, for example if there is a safeguarding incident or where a criminal investigation requires it. Should we receive any other request to share your personal data, we will obtain your consent beforehand, where possible.

Healthcare Organisations (HCOs)

Personal data is shared internally with the Invited Reviews team, and with the selected reviewers to facilitate the organisation of the review and the writing and sharing of the subsequent report.

Participants and Interviewees

Section 9 of the ‘Information and guidance booklet for participants and interviewees involved in an invited review’ provides retention details. We put security measures in place to ensure that your information is securely stored. 

 How long do we keep your data for?

Reviewers

We put security measures in place to ensure that your information is securely stored. 

If you have successfully been selected as an Invited Reviewer, we will retain your information until end of service plus six years. We will then dispose of your information by removing all received information from our electronic files.

If you have not been selected as an Invited Reviewer, we will keep your information until six months after your application. If you have consented to us processing your information, we will only process it for as long as you consent, and as soon as you withdraw consent, we shall suppress your details.

Healthcare Organisations (HCOs)

We put security measures in place to ensure that your information is securely stored.

We will keep any personal information collected as part of the review until the final report is sent to the HCO. We will review all information to check for historical importance, in line with the College retention policy.  This means we may retain some of your personal information for a set period of time after our relationship with you has ended.

Participants and interviewees

We put security measures in place to ensure that your information is securely stored. 

Section 9 of the ‘Information and guidance booklet for participants and interviewees involved in an invited review’ provides retention details.

Transferring information outside of the UK

Your personal data will not be transferred outside of the UK.

Understanding your data rights

To help you understand more about the information in this and all our privacy notice, see our page, Understanding GDPR and your data rights. This explains common words and phrases used in our privacy notices, describes our use of artificial intelligence (AI) and details the rights you have in relation to the processing of your personal data under UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

Changes to this policy

These terms are subject to change at any time by the RCPCH. Any such changes will be posted online. Please check these terms on a regular basis to make sure you are aware of any changes made by the RCPCH. Your continued use of this site or engagement with examiner application or allocation processes after changes are posted indicates that you agree to these terms as updated and/or amended.

If the privacy policy changes in any way, we will place an updated version on this website. Regularly reviewing the privacy policy page ensures you are always aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances, if any, we will share it with other parties.

Last updated 15 August 2025