Terms and Conditions

Introduction

In these Terms ‘We’, ‘us’ or ‘our’ means HealthHero Solutions Ltd (‘HealthHero’). 

‘You’ or ‘your’ means the person using our services. 

Please read these HealthHero Terms and Conditions carefully as they contain important information on the scope of the clinical services we provide and how we deliver them. They are additional to the Pharmacy2U Online Doctor service terms and conditions and your agreement to both is a requirement for service to be provided. 

You should read these HealthHero Terms and Conditions alongside our Privacy Policy which contains important information on us and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal information. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal information and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint. 

HealthHero provides clinical services under contract to Pharmacy2U for the Online Doctor service. We do this by supplying qualified doctors and independent prescribing pharmacists. These healthcare professionals (collectively ‘clinicians’) are registered with the General Medical Council or the General Pharmaceutical Council in the UK. 

HealthHero Solutions Ltd, a company registered in England (No. 03766413), is regulated by the Care Quality Commission. See https://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/1-1837286653. 

For more information on our ‘Good’ CQC rating, see our latest inspection summary.

Eligibility 

• You must be over the age of 18 to use this service. 
• The service is only available to patients in the UK. 

Children and Young Persons 

The service is not available to persons under the age of 18. 

Pregnant Patients

We may not be able to provide full service if you suspect you may be or are pregnant. HealthHero has defined the duration of pregnancy to be from conception to 8 weeks post-delivery. 

If you are pregnant and book a consultation, we will undertake that consultation and the clinician will use their professional judgement when assessing next steps. 

HealthHero policy is that we should not provide medical advice or diagnosis for conditions that may be impacted or influenced by the fact you are pregnant. It is at the discretion of the consulting clinician to provide you with any medical advice or diagnosis, but our default position is to refer you back to your regular health professional or maternity care provider, as pregnancy impacts on many conditions for which an online telemedicine service is not well suited to make a safe diagnosis or offer treatment, including advice. 

It is also our policy that should you declare to us that you are pregnant or have had a positive pregnancy test, we will signpost you to a local healthcare provider or specialist maternity care provider to arrange a ‘booking visit’ and antenatal care if you have not already done so.  

Scope of Clinical Service Provision 

You must not use our service for emergencies or urgent conditions, such as (but not limited to) those listed below, as this may delay necessary treatment.  

If you believe that you are in an emergency or life-threatening situation you should contact your local Emergency Services immediately by dialling 999 or 112, especially if you, or someone: 

• has severe difficulty or are not breathing. 
• is having a heart attack or stroke. 
• has severe chest pain. 
• has severe abdominal pain. 
• has severe bleeding. 
• has lost consciousness. 
• is in an acute confused state and/or is having fits which aren’t stopping. 
• is in suicidal distress. 
• is experiencing an acute mental health crisis. 

Providing you with Safe and Effective Care

The clinical services provided by HealthHero are not a replacement for any regular health service(s) you are normally registered with, e.g., a General Practice.  

• You may still need to see a healthcare professional face to face.  
• You may also be advised to contact the emergency services if the clinician feels it is necessary. 

It is a condition of service that where it is available, you consent to the clinician having accesses to your NHS England National Care Record (or the equivalent in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, for up to 6 weeks after your last Online Doctor prescription, if required. 

In all other cases, the clinician will not have access to your full medical records and therefore any advice or treatment options given are based on information you provide. 

As an acute, episodic provider of healthcare we are not offering, nor seeking to provide, continuity of care. This care should be provided through the regular health service(s) you are normally registered with, or other healthcare providers to whom you may have been referred, or you have self-referred for treatment. One of our aims is to supplement the care provided by your regular health service(s), and we are careful not to replace this care.  

Consequently, it is a requirement of the service that you give us permission to share information regarding the consultation with your regular health service provider, e.g., the GP Practice you are registered with. Should you decline to give consent to share information, we will not prescribe the medication requested. 

To ensure we are giving safe and effective care to you, we may, amongst other measures, monitor the clinical appropriateness and frequency with which you use our services. In exceptional circumstances, where we believe that seeking treatment from our service might be interfering with, if not jeopardising, the care that you receive from specialists and other healthcare professionals, we may come to the reluctant conclusion that it is not in your best medical interests that we continue to provide our service to you. Where this is the case, we reserve the right to deny service to you. 

Your Responsibilities 

It is your responsibility to ensure that any information you provide is honest, accurate and lawful. If you choose to withhold relevant information from the clinician it could affect the care they can give, and they may not be able to prescribe the medication you have requested. 

We cannot be held responsible should the information you provide be inaccurate or incomplete. 

For example, if you are seeking a prescription for the combined oral contraceptive pill, the clinician will require information such as your weight and blood pressure to be able to safely prescribe.  

If you give incorrect or untrue information in this respect, which would have impacted upon the clinician’s decision to prescribe and you subsequently have an adverse reaction to such medication, neither the consulting clinician nor HealthHero can be held responsible. 

There may be occasions when we will not be able to meet your medical needs.  Where this is the case, we may need to refer you back to other health services. We understand that this can be frustrating, but as a regulated healthcare provider, we are required to follow established policies and procedures to comply with the law and to ensure we provide you with safe and effective care.  

The HealthHero team will treat you with dignity and respect and we ask you to afford them the same. We take a zero-tolerance approach to any rude, abusive, disrespectful, or inappropriate behaviour, in any form. Our team will terminate any electronic (or other) communications if any of the above is experienced and will report all instances to Pharmacy2U and, if required to do so by law, to the relevant law enforcement authorities. 

Whether it is related to the care you have received, or the administrative services we provide to support your care, we ask that you do not unfairly or unreasonably apply direct or indirect pressure on anyone in HealthHero to deviate from our policies and procedures put in place to ensure patient safety. We will only ever act in the best interests of a patient, even if that means we cannot provide the service they want or need. 

We reserve the right to deny service to individuals who demonstrate any of the above, or other unreasonable behaviours.

Service Availability 

You will only be entitled to those services we have agreed to provide on behalf of Pharmacy2U.  

• We process prescription medication requests between 8am and 6pm, seven days a week.  
• We will make reasonable endeavours to process all prescription medication requests within 24 hours, and those received before 3pm on the same working day.  
• Prescription medication requests received after 3pm may not be processed until the next working day. 
• Where we need to contact you for further information, your medication request(s) will not be processed until you have responded satisfactorily. 
• We will cancel your prescription medication request(s) after 7 days if you do not respond to a request from us for further information. This is reduced to 3 days in the case of medication requests for the treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs).  

Fees 

HealthHero provides its clinical services under contract to Pharmacy2U. As such, we will not charge you any fees for these contracted services.  

Where a clinician declines to prescribe a particular medication to you, you will automatically be refunded for the cost of that medication by Pharmacy2U. 

The clinician may also recommend an alternative that is available through the Online Doctor service, and you will be invited to complete the transaction for this medication through the Online Doctor website.

Refunds

Any queries relating to refunds must be directed to Pharmacy2U. See https://www.pharmacy2u.co.uk/about/returns-and-refunds  

Online Services

The availability of our online services cannot be guaranteed as mobile data and internet connections are controlled by third parties with whom HealthHero has no direct relationship or contract. 

Images and Documents

Providing images or relevant documents can, where appropriate, help the consulting clinician to make a diagnosis.  

Where possible, please do not send any images of intimate areas of the body which would normally be covered by a bikini or swimming trunks, unless it is specifically related to seeking treatment for a sexually transmitted infection (STI) or skin condition.  

Please be aware that the quality of any images or documents you send may not permit a diagnosis and that any you provide are for the sole purpose of the consultation. 

Images and Documents sent to us will be processed and stored in accordance with our Privacy Policy. 

Prescription Service

The clinician will only issue you a private prescription if they feel that the requested medication is indicated. 

Prescriptions will only be issued: 

• At the sole discretion of the clinician. 
• Where you have provided sufficient information to make a diagnosis. 
• If it is safe, clinically appropriate and in your best interests. 
• If it complies with our prescribing policy. 

Where available, the clinician will review your previous Online Doctor history before deciding if it is safe to proceed with issuing a prescription. If you are unable to satisfactorily answer any additional clinician questions, they may decline to do so. 

Where a clinician decides not to prescribe, we will explain to you the reasons for not doing so. 

Concerns and Complaints

Should you wish to make a complaint or would like to raise a concern you can e-mail our Patient Care Team at complaints.epc@healthhero.com. Alternatively, you can also write to us at the following address: 

The Complaints Manager 
HealthHero Solutions Ltd 
Inspired, 
Easthampstead Road, 
Bracknell,
RG12 1YQ  

We will endeavour to acknowledge your complaint or concern as soon as it is received. We hope to be able to resolve it to your satisfaction within three working days of receipt, but if we are unable to do so, we will formally respond to you and follow our complaints procedure, which can be found here:  

https://www.healthhero.com/Complaints-Procedure/ 

Limitation on Liability

Nothing herein excludes or limits our liability for: 

• death or personal injury caused by our negligence; 
• fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or  
• any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.  

Nothing herein shall affect your statutory rights. 

Except as may be expressly set out in these terms, all conditions, representations, and warranties relating to the services are excluded to the maximum extent permitted by law. 

We shall not be liable for any defects or errors in the services, nor interruptions in or unavailability of the services, nor any breach of any obligations due to a cause beyond our reasonable control. 

When using our services, except to the extent permitted by law, we shall not be liable for: 

(i) any loss, damage or distress incurred by you arising from reliance on information or the availability of the services; or 

(ii) any indirect, consequential, or economic loss, damage or distress incurred by you (including any such loss, damage or distress arising from unauthorised use of or damage to your data or content); or 

(iii) any consequential loss, damage or distress incurred by you arising from where you have not provided us with a full and accurate medical history or where you withhold any relevant information; or 

(iv) any loss, damage or distress arising from use or attempted use of the services for emergency or urgent conditions or any consequential delays to necessary treatment. 

Our total liability to you in connection with the services whether under contract, tort, statute, common law or otherwise (and including for negligence or wilful default) shall not in any circumstances exceed GBP500,000. 

Applicable Law

For the avoidance of doubt, the provision of our services from the UK shall be governed by and construed in accordance the laws of England and Wales and each of the Parties submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. 

The published timings are correct as of the date of last update stated below but may be subject to change. 

Links checked and Terms and Conditions last updated on 13 May 2024.