REACT-LC follow up questionnaire

Why have I been invited to take part?

You have been invited to take part in this study because you:

  1. Took part in one of the REACT studies carried out by Imperial College London. This would have either been the REACT-1 (nose and throat swab) testing study or the REACT-2 antibody (finger-prick blood) testing study; and
  2. Consented to be invited to take part in further research studies.

If you agree to take part in this study, the data you share will be linked to your earlier data collected during the REACT study. This will include the information you answered in response to the original questionnaire.

You do not need to have had COVID-19 or experienced symptoms or ill health related to COVID-19 to take part in this study. Participation from a range of people who have had and have not had COVID-19 is extremely important for helping us understand the impact of the pandemic. 

How will this research help others?

The study aims to further our understanding of what differences exist between those who have had COVID-19 and those that haven’t, by exploring what symptoms these groups have experienced since the start of the pandemic.

By identifying the differences we will also be able to see who is most at risk of developing ongoing ill health and how best to treat it and care for those affected.

What does the survey involve?

The survey will contain a mix of multiple-choice and free text questions that will cover:

  • Your current health status
  • Any recent symptoms, illness and COVID-19 tests
  • Impacts of your health and wellbeing on your day to day life
  • Underlying health conditions
  • You and your sociodemographic background (e.g. age, gender, ethnic group)
  • Plus, further questions for people who have had COVID-19 and/or Long COVID exploring any symptoms related to COVID-19 and experiences of any care or support received.

At the end of the survey, you will be invited to do an online assessment to better understand how your cognitive function has been affected by the pandemic. The assessment will take 25-30 minutes to complete. This online test will assess your cognitive ability, including reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion processing abilities. On completing the assessment, you can choose to view a summary report of your test scores relative to all other people who have undertaken the test.

You may be invited to complete a follow-up survey(s) 12/18 months later, but you can choose to say no.

Can I withdraw from the study?

Yes, you can withdraw from the study at any time without giving reasons. You will have to inform the study team of your wish by phone, email or letter (details in this leaflet). We will then send you a Withdrawal from Study Form which you have to sign and send back to the research team at Imperial College. 

You can stop being part of the study at any time, without giving a reason, but we will keep information about you that we already have. We need to manage your records in specific ways for the research to be reliable. This means that we won’t be able to let you see or change the data we hold about you.

What is the purpose of the study?

REACT Health and Wellbeing survey is part of an extension study to the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) Programme. The main aim of this extension study is to better understand what causes some people to experience ongoing symptoms and ill health after having COVID-19 (commonly described as Long COVID), regardless of how severe the original infection was, whilst others recover quickly.

Through a variety of approaches, this study will explore the role that people’s health, social setting, demographics and environmental exposures (e.g. air pollution) plays in the development and duration of Long COVID. Such insight could improve patient care and support the development of better treatments.

This aspect of the study is focused on exploring the health and wellbeing experiences of the public since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Who has reviewed this study?

To protect your interests, all research at Imperial College London is reviewed by an independent group of people called a Research Ethics Committee. This study has been reviewed and granted approval by the South Central Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee.

What will happen to the results of this research study?

The results of this study may be shared in many different ways, such as being published in medical journals, presented at meetings of scientists and reported to both Imperial College, London and the Health Research Authority who oversee and review how research takes place in England. No personally identifiable information about you will be made available outside of the study team.

What will you do with my data?

Your survey data (and cognitive assessment data if you take part in this aspect) will be held on secure servers at Imperial College London, linked to your earlier data collected during the REACT study, and given a unique study code so that your identity remains confidential.

If you have consented to health data linkage, Imperial College London will also use information from your medical records held by NHS England and other UK public health bodies for this research project. This information will be linked by your NHS number.

Investigators will use this information to monitor the long term health status of participants from this study. Unless they really need to know who you are, they will not be able to see your name or contact details. Your data will have a code number instead. The number of people who access this information will be kept to a minimum.

We will keep all information about you safe and secure.

Once we have finished the study, we will keep some of the data so we can check the results. We will write our reports in a way that no-one can work out that you took part in the study.

Imperial College and other research institutions both academic and commercial may continue to carry out research using the de-identified data collected during the study. The results of any research that is published, whether by Imperial College or anyone else, will never identify you. See ‘Do you share my information with others’ to learn more. From time to time we may invite you to other research studies that you might be interested in participating in. Even if you receive invitations to future studies, there is no obligation to take part and you can drop out at any time.

The information you share with us as part of this study will only be used for the purpose of health and care research or to contact you about future opportunities to participate in research. It will not be used to make decisions about your healthcare or future services available to you, such as insurance.  

How will you protect my privacy?

Your name, address, email will be kept separate from your study data and only linkable by your unique study code. This is in case the Imperial College study team need to contact you about research that your data has been used in. Your contact details will never be passed to another organisation without your permission and will not be visible to the investigators performing the analysis. The results of any research that is published, whether by Imperial College or anyone else, will never identify you. See p6 ‘Do you share my information with others’ to learn more.

Do you share my information with others?

So that the maximum information can be obtained from your participation in this study we may make the deidentified data available to other researchers.

It is important that researchers understand as broadly as possible the factors concerning your health now, and in the future to identify as accurately as possible what puts people at greater risk of developing COVID-19, experiencing severe illness or suffering from ongoing ill health. We therefore require your consent for Imperial College London to link data (such as your GP health records) held by NHS England and other UK public health bodies to the REACT study data.  This will provide information on the long term health status of the participants.  An example of the use of this information would be to enable the monitoring of the longer term effects of COVID-19 on health. You can withdraw this consent at any point.

Researchers in the UK and overseas who wish to access the data from this study and/or to contact participants about future research will have to apply to a Data Access Committee composed of at least three of the study investigators and at least one public representative.

Can I claim compensation if I am harmed during the study?

If you are harmed by taking part in this research project, there are no special compensation arrangements.  If you are harmed due to someone’s negligence, then you may have grounds for a legal action.  Regardless of this, if you wish to complain, or have any concerns about any aspect of the way you have been treated during the course of this study then you should immediately inform the study team at react.covid@imperial.ac.uk

The normal National Health Service complaints mechanisms are also available to you. If you are still not satisfied with the response, you may contact the Imperial College Research Governance and Integrity Team at rgitcoordinator@imperial.ac.uk.  

REACT 1 and REACT 2

Research background

What is this research about?

Ipsos and Imperial College London are conducting the Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) study on behalf of the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), to help the Government to measure the prevalence of COVID-19 in different areas of the country including in people who do not have any symptoms.

Who is doing this research?

Imperial College London is a leading university closely involved in the COVID-19 response and Ipsos is an independent research organisation. Both are carrying out the study on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). You can find out more about Imperial College London, Ipsos at https:/www.ipsos.com/en-uk, and DHSC at https://www.gov.uk/dhsc.

This study has received formal ethical approval from the South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee. You can find out more about the research in this news article.

How do you know my name and address?

Your name was chosen at random from the NHS list of patients registered with a GP. Under the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 NHS England are responsible for your data. For the data collected as part of this survey, the Department of Health and Social Care will be a joint ‘Data Controller’ together with Imperial College London. Ipsos is a data processor, acting on behalf of DHSC and Imperial College London. Ipsos and Imperial College London will keep your contact details confidential and use them to send out the test for this study if you register to take part. Neither organisation has been given any information about your health.

Why was I asked to take part?

You were randomly selected to take part in this research to give a better understanding of the extent to which the virus that causes COVID-19 is present in the community. We are also testing for the influenza (flu) virus to see how this might affect COVID-19.

Why are you now testing for flu as well as COVID?

Testing for both COVID-19 and flu will provide us with vital information about how this might affect COVID-19. This will help the NHS and the Government plan their response.

What is a swab test?

A swab test involves taking a swab of your nose and throat. We will provide full instructions with the kit. There is no obligation to take the test if you agree to be sent it.  The test is of a high clinical standard, can be self-administered, and takes only a few minutes to complete.  It may cause some mild short-lived discomfort. The test tells us whether you may currently have the COVID-19 virus, not whether you have had it in the past.  Results are not 100% conclusive so a negative COVID-19 result does not guarantee you do not have the virus. The test will also be analysed for flu. The flu swab test we perform is for research and monitoring purposes only.  We will not provide the result of the flu test to you. However, the flu results can still provide us with vital information about the spread of flu in the community and how it might affect the spread of COVID-19.

Will I get the results of my test?

We will send the COVID-19 swab test result back to everyone who takes part. It is important that you continue to follow the Government guidance at the time of your test, regardless of what the results of your test show.
At the moment the flu test is for research and monitoring purposes only. We will not provide the result of the flu test to you. However, the flu results can still provide us with vital information about the spread of flu in the community and how it might affect the spread of COVID-19.

If you do have ‘flu-like’ symptoms at the time of testing please continue with the test, record the information on the questionnaire, and take standard respiratory precautions to avoid spreading infection by following the NHS guidance: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flu/.

The COVID-19 results from the test will be sent to you by email and/or text message, if you have provided these contact details, on the same day that we receive the information from the laboratory. A letter with your result will also be sent by first class post if you have tested positive, or if you have not provided your email address and your mobile telephone number when registering to take part.

How will I get my COVID-19 test result?

The COVID-19 result from the test will be sent to you by email and/or text message, if you have provided these contact details when registering to take part in the study. The results are sent on the same day that we receive the information from the laboratory. A letter with your result will also be sent by first class post if you have tested positive, or if you have not provided these contact details or you have provided only your email address or only your mobile telephone number when registering to take part.

If you have provided both your email address and your mobile telephone number and your result is negative or inconclusive, you can request a letter with your result is sent to you by emailing REACT.COVID@Imperial.ac.uk. When you contact us please provide your full name and your address or the eight-character serial on your letter.

It is important that you continue to follow the current Government advice, regardless of what the results of your test show. For the current Government guidance about COVID-19, please visit https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

Taking part

Do I have to take part?

Taking part is voluntary and you do not have to take part if you do not want to. If you do decide to take part, the results will help understand more about the prevalence of COVID-19 and flu in different areas of the country.

What do I have to do?

If you agree to take part, you will need to register online or via telephone if you do not have access to the internet. We will then send you a self-testing swab kit. The test involves taking a swab of your nose and throat. We will provide full instructions with the kit. There is no obligation to take the test if you agree to be sent it.

Once you have done the swab, the kit should be returned to the laboratory by post using your local priority postbox and we will inform you of the result of your COVID-19 test (showing whether or not the COVID-19 virus was detected on the sample you provided).

We would also like you to complete a short questionnaire as well as doing the swab test, which asks about you, including your health and any COVID-19 or flu related symptoms you may have had.

The swab test results will be passed to Ipsos and Imperial College London to link to the information in the questionnaire. All questionnaire information will be kept confidential by Ipsos, and approved Imperial College London staff and researchers. Nobody will be able to identify you in any published results.

I don’t want to take part, can I opt out?

Yes. Please email REACT.COVID@Imperial.ac.uk. When you contact us please provide your address or the eight-character serial on your letter.

Why have you sent this to my deceased relative?

We sincerely apologise for sending the letter to your relative, and we are sorry for any distress or upset this may have caused. Names were chosen at random from the NHS list of patients registered with a GP in England and this may have happened because the records held for your relative are not up to date, or have not yet been changed. You can email REACT.COVID@Imperial.ac.uk with the address or eight character serial number on the letter to opt out of further correspondence for this research.

I have been offered a gift voucher if I return my completed swab test. When will I get my voucher?

Some people who have been invited to take part in the REACT study in Round 18 (January to March 2022) and Round 19 (February to April 2022) will receive a gift voucher if they return a completed swab test. This is to help increase responses in these groups so that virus prevalence can be measured as accurately as possible for all groups. If you have been selected to receive a gift voucher for returning a completed test, you will be informed in the letter inviting you to take part in the study. All gift vouchers will be sent by Ipsos after the study has closed, in mid-April 2022.

I have been offered a gift voucher if I return my completed swab test. How will I receive my voucher?

Some people who have been invited to take part in the REACT study in Round 18 (January to March 2022) and Round 19 (February to April 2022) will receive a gift voucher if they return a completed swab test. If you have been selected to receive a gift voucher for taking part (which will be stated on your invitation letter) and agree to receive an online gift voucher, an email and text message with the voucher code will be sent to the email address and/or mobile telephone number you provided in the registration survey. Alternatively, if you have told us in the registration survey that you prefer to receive a postal voucher this will be sent by post. This will be sent to the same address as the letter you received inviting you to take part in this study. All gift vouchers will be sent by Ipsos after the study has closed, in mid-April 2022.

I have been offered a gift voucher if I return my completed swab test. How do I spend my voucher?

If you have provided your email address and/or mobile telephone number, Ipsos will send you an email and/or text message containing a unique voucher code to claim and full instructions. You can use this link to select a gift voucher of your choice from a variety of retailers, restaurants and entertainment services. Please be sure to check your email junk or spam folder in case the email containing the voucher was filtered out of your inbox. If you have opted for a postal voucher, Ipsos will send your voucher to you in the post. This will be sent to the same address as the letter you received inviting you to take part in this study.

Online survey

How do I complete the online survey?

If you already have your test kit, please go to www.reactstudy.org/antigentest to complete the online survey. If you have not yet registered to receive a test kit, please go to www.reactstudy.org/antigenreg to register. You will need your access code which can be found on your invitation letter or on the address label sheet provided with the test kit. Alternatively, we can help you complete it on the phone.

Can I complete the online survey if I have not done the swab test?

Yes, if you have received a test kit, but do not want to do the swab test we are interested in finding out about you and your health, so please do complete the survey. If you have not yet registered to receive a test kit, make sure you complete the registration survey at www.reactstudy.org/antigenreg.

GDPR and ethics

Is this research GDPR compliant?

 

Yes. Ipsos is a member of the Market Research Society. All questionnaire information will be kept confidential by Ipsos, and approved Imperial College London staff and researchers. Nobody will be able to identify you in any published results.

 

The GDPR includes a number of rights, although not all of these apply where the legal basis for processing is public task, including the right to erasure and data portability.

You have the right to request access to any personal data within the limited period that Ipsos holds it, before the end of  April 2022 for Round 18 (access codes starting with LL) and May 2022 for Round 19 (access codes starting with MM), when it is deleted.

Providing responses to this survey is entirely voluntary and is done so with your consent.  You have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal data at any time before the data is processed for reporting in March 2022 for Round 18 (access codes starting with LL) and May 2022 for Round 19 (access codes starting with MM).

We must generally respond to requests in relation to your rights within one month, although there are some exceptions to this. The DHSC Privacy Notice explains your rights and how to exercise them.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or another data protection regulator, if you have concerns on how we have processed your personal data. You can find details about how to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or by sending an email to: casework@ico.org.uk

What will happen with the information I provide?

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Imperial College London are joint data controllers for the processing of personal data for this survey, which means that they are responsible for ensuring that the processing complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can access DHSC’s Privacy Notice here and Imperial’s Privacy Notice here.

Ipsos is a data processor, acting on behalf of DHSC and Imperial College London. They will only keep your data in a way that can identify you for as long as is necessary to support the research project and findings. By the end of  April 2022 for Round 18 (access codes starting with LL) and May 2022 for Round 19 (access codes starting with MM), Ipsos will delete your personal contact data from their systems.

If you consent to being contacted for future research, and/or for the results of this study being linked to other health information that the NHS holds about you, Imperial College London, may keep your data for up to 20 years in order to support this research. That includes the contact details you provide to Ipsos.  If you have consented to data linkage, we may receive your contact details from the NHS and, if you have consented to be contacted for future studies we may use them to contact you.

If you agree to data linkage, identifiable data may be shared outside the two research teams (Ipsos and Imperial College London) and NHS Test and Trace for the purposes of data linkage only.  It will not be possible to identify you in any published results.

If you agree to data linkage, your survey answers will NOT be provided to your healthcare provider.

Researchers who wish to access the data from this study and/or to contact participants about future research will have to apply to a data access committee composed of at least 3 of the study investigators and at least one public representative.

Ipsos has a legal obligation to pass on your COVID-19 test result (whether positive, negative or inconclusive) and a small amount of additional data about you to NHS Test and Trace. A full list of the data that will be provided can be found on the gov.uk website.

This change in law has been made to improve the overall understanding of how COVID-19 is spreading and to improve the actions taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Legal Basis

We use personally-identifiable information collected in this study to conduct research to improve health, care and services.
The Department of Health and Social Care, who are the data controller for this study, have the following legal duty under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and are conducting this research in order to discharge that duty, to generate incidence and prevalence rates in relation to COVID-19 and influenza (flu).

DUTY: Protection of public health

Under section 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the Department of Health and Social Care has a statutory duty to protect ‘the public in England from disease or other dangers to health’ including conducting research ‘for advancing knowledge and understanding’

The legal bases for the majority of processing conducted by the Department of Health and Social Care is:

  • Article 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

For the REACT COVID-19 testing research study this means that the Department of Health and Social Care are not relying on consent as a basis for obtaining contact details or for processing the data provided voluntarily by those completing it, and they can use the personal data they hold about you for research with appropriate safeguards in place. For this study they have shared a limited amount of information with the research team at Ipsos in order to invite a random selection of patients to take part in the testing research.

Ipsos is required by law to provide information to NHS Test and Trace under The Health Protection (Notification) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 and The Health Protection (Notification) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020. You can find what information is provided under “What will happen with the information I provide?"

Health and Social Care research should serve the public interest, which means that we have to demonstrate that our research serves the interests of society as a whole. We do this by following the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research.

What are my choices about how my information is used?

You can stop taking part in the study at any time, without giving a reason, however once your data has been included with the rest of the study data and analysed, it is not possible to remove your specific data from the results.

Where can I find out more about how my information is used?

You can find out more about how your information is used on the privacy notice on www.ipsos.uk/covid-swab-privacy. For further information on Patient information and health and care research please visit www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients.

Has this research received ethical approval?

This study has received formal ethical approval from the South Central - Berkshire B Research Ethics Committee. In addition, Ipsos adheres to the Market Research Society code of research ethics, and the patient details provided are not used for anything other than the purpose of this study.

How were people chosen to take part?

Ipsos is contacting you on behalf of DHSC. Names were chosen at random from the NHS list of patients registered with a GP in England. NHS Digital has shared a limited amount of your personal data so that Ipsos can invite you to take part in this research. This data consists of:

  • Your name and address
  • Your mobile number
  • Your NHS number
  • Your gender and month/year of birth

This information has come from the Personal Demographics Service, the national electronic database of all NHS patients registered with a GP. While patients can opt out of having their confidential patient information shared, this does not apply to the demographic information held on the Personal Demographics Service. There is more information on this in our Privacy Notice: www.ipsos.uk/covid-swab-privacy. You can find more information on the Personal Demographics Service here. Ipsos may use your telephone number to contact you to remind you to register for the study.

Are national data opt-outs applied to this survey?

No. NHS Digital have stated that the information shared with Ipsos from the Personal Demographics Service, for the purpose of the REACT 1 study, should be classed as Confidential Patient Information. NHS Digital has shared a limited amount of your personal data so that Ipsos can invite you to take part in this research. This data consists of:

  • Your name and address
  • Your mobile number
  • Your NHS number
  • Your gender and month/year of birth 

Ipsos has not been given access to clinical data about any individual (such as any medical conditions, prescriptions or care received), nor any information from an individual’s medical record.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has issued NHS Digital with a Notice under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI) to require NHS Digital to share confidential patient information with organisations entitled to process this under COPI for COVID-19 purposes. These data have been provided to Ipsos under this COPI regulation and, as such, the National Data Opt-out does not apply.

Has Ipsos got access to my health data?

No, absolutely not. Ipsos has been given your NHS number, name, address, phone number, month/year of birth, and gender. Ipsos has not been given any information about your health.

Ipsos is given your NHS number so that it can, as far as possible, avoid selecting people for more than one round of the study. Your contact details are used to contact you regarding the study.

Information about date of birth and gender will be used to make sure that the anonymised survey data matches the profile of the population as closely as possible.

Who is information shared with and for what purpose?

Ipsos and Imperial College are working with supplier organisations to assist us in running this COVID-19 testing research. If you are happy for us to send you a testing kit, we will need to disclose your personal data to these supplier organisations for that purpose. These supplier organisations are:

  • Formara and Adare: printing letters and despatching testing kits (name, month/year of birth and gender)
  • Royal Mail: distribution
  • Tivian (online data collection) (name, month/year of birth and gender)
  • Textlocal (to contact you by text about the study, including the COVID-19 results of your test) (mobile phone number)

These suppliers are approved and compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Ipsos has a legal obligation to pass on your COVID-19 and flu test results (whether positive, negative or inconclusive) and a small amount of additional data about you to NHS Test and Trace, to improve the overall understanding of how COVID-19 is spreading and to improve the actions taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The full list of information relating to the participant is as follows: first name, surname, sex, date of birth, NHS number (if known), ethnicity, current address (including postcode), telephone number (only in the case of SARS-CoV-2 positive or indeterminate results), email address (only in the case of SARS-CoV-2 positive or indeterminate results).

The full list of information relating to the test is as follows: name of the test provider, the type of establishment of the test provider (for example school), test result code (such as COVID-19 +ve/-ve or influenza A +ve/-ve), specimen identification number (if applicable), specimen type, specimen date, date test performed, test method (for example PCR), name of the testing equipment manufacturer.

For further information please visit the gov.uk website.

There is more information about how your personal data will be used and stored in the Imperial College privacy policy and the Ipsos privacy policy.

Does this survey use Cookies or similar code?

Some online surveys collect information through the use of 'cookies'. These are small files stored on your computer.  These files are used as sparingly as possible and only for quality control, validation and, more importantly, to prevent us sending you reminders for an online survey you have already completed. It is possible for you to delete 'cookies' or to prevent their use by adjusting the browser settings on your computer.

We also automatically capture information about your operating system, display settings and browser type in order to ensure that the survey questionnaire is delivered in a form suited to the software your computer is using. We do not capture any other information from your computer.

What happens to the answers I give online?

Ipsos and Imperial College London will keep all personal data collected for the survey and responses in strict confidence in accordance with the Privacy Notice. You can find this at www.ipsos.uk/covid-swab-privacy.

Some of your responses will be shared with NHS Test and Trace when we receive your COVID-19 test result. Otherwise no identifiable data will be shared outside the two research teams. It will not be possible to identify you in any published results.

We will also ask if you are happy for Imperial College London to link your answers and the results of your swab test to your NHS record. If you agree to this, Imperial College London may also link your survey answers to other health information that the NHS holds about you both now and in the future using your NHS number. This linkage would be done by the NHS and returned to Imperial College London.

Where will my personal data be held and processed?

All of your personal data used and collected for this survey will be stored by Ipsos and Imperial College London in data centres and servers within the United Kingdom and EEA.

What happens to my test?

The swab test needs processing within 72 hours, so please post it in your local priority postbox on the same day you take the test.

The laboratory will share the results of the test with Ipsos and Imperial College London.

The COVID-19 results from the test will be sent to you by email and/or text message, if you have provided these contact details, on the same day that we receive the information from the laboratory. A letter with your result will also be sent by first class post if you have tested positive, or if you have not provided your email address and your mobile telephone number when registering to take part.

How will Ipsos and Imperial College London ensure my personal information is secure?

Ipsos and Imperial College London take their information security responsibilities seriously and apply various precautions to ensure your information is protected from loss, theft or misuse. Security precautions include appropriate physical security of offices and controlled and limited access to computer systems.

Ipsos has regular internal and external audits of its information security controls and working practices and is accredited to the International Standard for Information Security, ISO 27001.

Similar processes are in place at Imperial College London where a database to carry out statistical analyses of the data at postcode level will be established in an ISO 27001 environment.

Imperial College London’s insurance statement

Imperial College London holds insurance policies which apply to this study. If you experience harm or injury as a result of taking part in this study, you will be eligible to claim compensation without having to prove that Imperial College is at fault. This does not affect your legal rights to seek compensation.

If you are harmed due to someone's negligence, then you may have grounds for a legal action. Regardless of this, if you wish to complain, or have any concerns about any aspect of the way you have been treated during the course of this study then you should immediately inform the Investigators on REACT.COVID@Imperial.ac.uk. The normal National Health Service mechanisms are also available to you. If you are still not satisfied with the response, you may contact the Imperial College, Joint Research Compliance Office.

How long will Ipsos and Imperial College London retain my personal data and identifiable responses?

Ipsos will only retain your data in a way that can identify you for as long as is necessary to support the research project and findings.  In practice, this means that once we have satisfactorily captured the data and transferred the database to Imperial College London, we will securely remove your personal, identifying data from our systems.

For this project, Ipsos will securely remove your personal data from our systems by the end of April 2022 for Round 18 (access codes starting with LL) and May 2022 for Round 19 (access codes starting with MM).

Imperial College London will maintain its database for up to 20 years to allow it to undertake studies of possible long-term health outcomes.

How can I contact DHSC, Ipsos and Imperial College London about this survey and/or my personal data?

If you have any questions about the research, please contact our helpline by email on REACT.COVID@Imperial.ac.uk.

For questions about our privacy notice, our compliance with data protection laws or information we hold about you, please contact:

DHSC:
Email: data_protection@dhsc.gov.uk
Post:
Department of Health and Social Care
1st Floor North
39 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0EU

Ipsos:
Email: REACT.COVID@Imperial.ac.uk
Post:     
22-005976-01 REACT 1 COVID-19 testing study
Data Protection Officer, Compliance Department
Market and Opinion Research International Limited
3 Thomas More Square
London E1W 1YW
United Kingdom

Imperial College London:
Email: dpo@imperial.ac.uk,
Post:     
Data Protection Officer
Imperial College London
Exhibition Road
South Kensington
London
SW7 2BU