Pathology Direct Service Terms and Conditions

The Service

PDS is the provision of an easily accessible, high-quality testing service. The Service includes arranging the collection of appropriate samples for the Tests purchased, at a Nuffield Health location, date and time arranged by mutual agreement. The subsequent anaylsis and product of Results of the Tests of those Samples are carried out in our accredited Nuffield Health pathology laboratories or those of our accredited partners. The report of Results of Tests is sent to you and/or your GP or consultant in accordance with the instructions we receive from you by encrypted email. The Results can also be sent by post if requested. Interpretation of the Results and any follow-up testing, investigation or analysis are outside the scope of the Service. It is your responsibility to arrange any further follow-up testing, investigation, analysis or treatment.

Definitions

In these PDS Terms and Conditions, the following words and expressions have the following meanings:

Nuffield Health: A company limited by guarantee incorporated and registered in England and Wales (Number 576970), a charity registered in England and Wales (Number 205533) and a charity registered in Scotland (Number SC041793), with its registered office is at Epsom Gateway, Ashley Avenue, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5AL.
PDS: Pathology Direct Service, a direct-to-consumer pathology testing service of Nuffield Health.
Request Form: The online Pathology Direct Service request form (as amended from time to time), by which you complete in order to purchase your Test(s) and request an appointment for the taking of a Sample or Samples for the performance of Test(s).
Results: The final report of the Tests carried out by us or any of our accredited partners.
Sample(s): Any sample or samples provided by you to us for the purpose of the Test(s).
Service(s): The performance of any Test(s) and reporting of Results with respect to your Samples following the completion of a Request Form and our acceptance of it.
Test(s): A laboratory test or tests and/or investigation and/or analysis carried out by us or our accredited partners on Sample(s) supplied by you, or agreed in discussion with our PDS team, or from clinician referral or selected from available options on-line.
Working Hours: 9am to 5pm during Working Days.
Working Days: Mondays to Fridays, excluding weekend and bank/public holidays in England, Wales and Scotland.
You or Your: The person that purchases or orders Services from us.
PDS Service Access:Purchases of Test(s) can be made on-line or by telephone with a member of our PDS staff.

You may only make online purchases of Test(s) if you are a self-pay customer.

The online purchase process includes:

Agreed selection by you of the Test(s) that you require from the available options (please note that you and we may agree to vary your selection at the time of you confirming your appointment details);
your choice of Nuffield Hospital to attend for your Sample(s) to be collected or taken; and
your preferred date and time of appointment for Sample(s) collection,

all subject to availability.

You will be contacted within 24 Working Hours of purchase to agree and confirm the details of your appointment. A member of our PDS team will then book your appointment at your chosen Nuffield Hospital.

A receipt of payment and confirmation notification of your provisional appointment booking will be sent to you by email. The PDS team will be aware of your chosen Nuffield Health Hospital and Tests as confirmation of your booking. You agree that, if your booking relates to two or more named persons, then you and each such person(s) are jointly and severally liable to us.

Once taken, the Sample(s) automatically become our sole property and may be destroyed or disposed of by us unless otherwise agreed in advance and in writing by you and us.

You shall ensure that:

you will co-operate with us in relation to the Service; and
you will provide us with any information we reasonably require to enable us to provide you with the Services, and you will ensure that such information is complete and accurate in all material respects.

Payments and fees

All payments must be made in full, either online or over the phone to a PDS member of staff prior to any appointments being booked.
A receipt will be provided for any payment made for customers not using the online booking option.
For phone bookings, any verbal or written quotation given by us does not constitute an offer, and is only valid for a period of 14 days from its date of issue, after which it will lapse.

Cancellation, cancellation charges and refunds

Subject to the remaining provisions of this section, where you purchase Services online as a consumer, you have the right to cancel your contract for those Services. You must exercise that right within 14 days from the day after the date of your contract to purchase the Services following which your right to cancel will lapse.
Where you expressly request and agree that we may commence the provision of the Services within that cancellation period, and we do so (by way of example only where your Sample(s) are taken and Test(s) commenced within the cancellation period), we may charge you for all Services so provided should you subsequently cancel your contract within the cancellation period.
You acknowledge that you will lose your right to cancel your contract where we have, at your request, fully performed the Services under your contract within the 14-day cancellation period.
Where the Services have been started within the cancellation period at your express request but have not been completed, you can still cancel the contract but must pay us for the Services we have supplied during the time up to when you informed us of your decision to cancel.
You agree that we will charge you a £10 cancellation fee after an appointment has been made for your Sample(s) to be taken.
Refunds of charges apply if:
1. you change your mind prior to an appointment and you have given us no less than 1 (one) business day’s notice of cancellation of your appointment; or
2. on further clinical consultation, the Test is no longer required. We may ask for you to provide satisfactory proof of this.
Refunds will be paid within two weeks of your request to the card that you used.
Once you have attended an appointment, you will no longer be entitled to a refund of any charges you have paid or owe us unless your Sample(s) is/are (i) lost or (ii) have been incorrectly processed resulting in an erroneous or invalid result. In that event, you have the choice of a refund of charges for the Test(s) involved or, alternatively, the opportunity to attend another appointment in order for your Sample(s) to be re-taken.

Turnaround times

The turnaround times stated on the PDS website for Results for each Test are indicative and intended as a guide only. We cannot and do not commit to providing your Results on or by any given date or within a timeframe, and we cannot accept any liability or responsibility for any delays in the processing of your Sample(s) and/or the provision of your Results.

The turnaround times refer to the number of Working Days that it takes between your Sample(s) being received by an accredited Nuffield Health pathology laboratory or that of one of our accredited partners, and the Results being made available. You acknowledge that we give no warranty, guarantee or assurance, whether express or implied, in respect of the Services and the provision of Results. By way of example, and without limiting the generality of the preceding wording, although we make every effort to achieve the turnaround times quoted by us for the provision of Results, no warranty, guarantee or assurance is given that such turnaround times will be achieved. We accept no liability or responsibility for any loss you may suffer or incur as a consequence.

Results

Once the Results are available, they will be sent to you via encrypted email. A copy of the Results will be emailed to the requesting GP or consultant. Result can be posted as per request.

Except to the extent that we are negligent, we accept no liability for any inaccuracy or error in any Test or report of any Test carried out by us or our accredited partners, nor are we liable or responsible for the loss or theft of any of your Sample(s).

Data protection and confidentiality

At Nuffield Health, we are committed to protecting and respecting your personal data. The highest standard of confidentiality will be applied to your personal data in accordance with Data protection legislation.

Information about how Nuffield Health process your personal data in relation to the Pathology Direct Service can be found here.

Further information on how Nuffield Health process your personal data in general, including an overview of your rights, are available in our privacy policy.

Limitation of liability

We exclude, to the fullest extent permitted by law, all conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity, all liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by you in connection with the Services including, without limitation any liability for loss of income or revenue; loss of business; loss of profits or contracts; loss of anticipated savings; loss of data; loss of goodwill; wasted management or office time; and for any other loss or damage of any kind, however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

We do not exclude or limit our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or that of our personnel, or for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter, or for any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

Subject to the above, in no event shall our total liability to you for any event or series of related events exceed the sum of 150% of the total amount paid by you for the Services giving rise to the liability in the 12 months preceding the first incident out of which the liability arose.