Cookie policy

What are cookies?

Cookies are files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website.

They store information about how you use the website, such as the pages you visit.

Cookies are not viruses or computer programs. They are very small so do not take up much space.

We only use cookies to:

make our website work
measure how you use our website, such as which links you click on (analytics cookies)

We do not use any other cookies, for example, cookies that remember your settings or cookies that help with health campaigns.

These cookies make our website work, for example by keeping it secure.

See cookies that make our website work

List of cookies that are needed to make our website work
Name	Purpose	Expires
Name nhsuk-cookie-consent	Purpose Remembers if you used our cookies banner	Expires When you close the browser (if you do not use the banner) or 1 year (if you use the banner)
Name ARRAffinity	Purpose Helps stop our site crashing by spreading traffic across web servers	Expires When you close the browser

These cookies store information about how you use our website, such as the links you click on. We use them to help make our website better.

See cookies that measure website use

List of cookies that measure website use
Name	Purpose	Expires
Name _ga	Purpose Used by Google Analytics to distinguish users	Expires 2 years
Name _ga_<container-id>	Purpose Used by Google Analytics to persist session state	Expires 2 years
Name SSID	Purpose Used by Google to track the user’s session on the website	Expires 13 months
Name __Secure-3PSID	Purpose Used by Google to track the user’s session across different Google websites	Expires 13 months

These cookies help us show you relevant adverts for our health campaigns on social media, such as Facebook or X (formerly Twitter).

See cookies that help with health campaigns

List of cookies that help with health campaigns
Name	Purpose	Expires
Name datr	Purpose Used by Facebook to help detect fraud	Expires 400 days
Name sb	Purpose Used by Facebook to identify your browser securely	Expires 400 days
Name wd	Purpose Used by Facebook to help deliver an optimal experience for your device's screen	Expires 7 days