Privacy Policy

Last updated: July 2026

GPFinder is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights. The short version: we collect very little, we don't sell anything, and we don't track you across the web.

What data we collect

GPFinder is designed to work without requiring any personal information from you. Here's a complete picture of what we do and don't collect:

Information you provide directly

When you search for GP practices, you enter a postcode. This postcode is sent to our server solely to find nearby practices and calculate distances. We do not store postcodes in any database, and they are not linked to you in any way. Once your search results are returned, the postcode is discarded.

If you submit a review for a GP practice, you sign in with Google once to verify you're a real person — this is the only way we prevent spam and fake reviews. We do not require a persistent account: this is a one-time check at the moment you submit, not a GPFinder login. Your Google email and name are stored privately for verification only and are never shown publicly. You separately choose what displays with your review — your Google name, a custom display name, or "Anonymous" — see "User reviews" below for full detail.

If you contact us by email, we retain your email address and message solely for the purpose of responding to your enquiry. We do not add contact emails to any mailing list.

If you use our feedback form, we collect the options you select, any message you choose to write, the page you submitted it from, and an email address only if you choose to provide one. Feedback is sent to our private Slack workspace so the GPFinder team can review and act on it.

Information collected automatically

Like most websites, GPFinder automatically receives certain technical information when you visit:

• IP address — processed by our hosting provider (Vercel) for security and performance purposes, but not stored by GPFinder in any identifiable form
• Browser type and device information — collected anonymously by our analytics tools to help us understand how people use the site (e.g., mobile vs desktop)
• Pages visited and time spent — collected anonymously to help us improve the most useful parts of GPFinder
• Approximate geographic region — derived from your IP address by analytics tools (country/city level, not precise location)

Information we do NOT collect

• We do not require or offer user accounts for browsing, searching, or comparing GP practices — a one-time Google sign-in is only required to verify you're a real person before submitting a review
• We do not collect names, phone numbers, or physical addresses; we collect an email address only if you contact us or voluntarily include it with feedback
• We do not collect any health or medical information
• We do not collect payment information (GPFinder is free)
• We do not use fingerprinting or cross-site tracking
• We do not collect or store the results of your searches

How we use your data

The limited data we collect is used exclusively for:

• Providing search results — your postcode is used in real time to find nearby GP practices, then discarded
• Displaying reviews — if you submit a review, it is shown publicly on the relevant practice page
• Understanding usage patterns — anonymous analytics help us know which features are most useful and where to improve
• Monitoring performance — error tracking helps us fix bugs and keep the site running smoothly
• Improving GPFinder — feedback and GP-page helpfulness votes help us identify what works and what needs attention
• Responding to enquiries — if you email us, we use your email to reply

We do not use your data for advertising, profiling, or any purpose other than operating and improving GPFinder.

Cookies and analytics

GPFinder uses a small number of cookies and analytics tools. Here's exactly what they are:

Your cookie choices

You can disable cookies in your browser settings at any time. GPFinder will continue to work normally without cookies — you'll still be able to search, view practices, and compare. The only effect is that our analytics won't record your visit, which is perfectly fine.

We do not use advertising cookies, retargeting pixels, or social media tracking scripts.

Third-party services

GPFinder relies on a number of third-party services to function. Each is used for a specific, limited purpose:

We do not share your data with any third party for advertising, marketing, or data brokerage purposes.

GP practice data

All GP practice information displayed on GPFinder — including names, addresses, CQC ratings, patient survey results, workforce statistics, and appointment data — comes from publicly available NHS and government sources published under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

This is aggregated, anonymised data about GP practices as organisations. We do not collect, store, display, or have access to any individual patient data, medical records, or personally identifiable health information.

User-submitted reviews on GPFinder are the opinions of individual contributors and do not come from NHS data sources.

User reviews

We collect reviews from patients, and from the GPs who work at these practices, to help others make informed decisions. To keep reviews trustworthy, submitting one requires a one-time Google sign-in that verifies you're a real, unique person.

What's shown publicly

• The name you choose to display — your Google account name, a custom display name you type in, or "Anonymous"
• Your review text and title (if provided)
• Your star rating
• The date of submission

What's kept private

Your Google account email, name, and account identifier are stored on our servers but are never published or shown to anyone visiting the site. They exist solely so we can: verify you're a real person, prevent the same account from submitting more than one review for the same practice, and give our moderators context if a review is reported as abusive or fake. We do not use this information for marketing and do not share it with third parties.

Reviews are moderated before publication to remove spam, offensive content, and personally identifiable information about healthcare staff. We reserve the right to remove reviews that violate our review guidelines.

Once published, your review is visible to all visitors of the practice page. If you wish to have a review removed, please contact us at hello@gpfinder.co.uk with the practice name and approximate date of your review.

Data retention

• Postcode searches — Not stored — discarded immediately after returning results
• Analytics data — Retained by Google Analytics for 14 months, then automatically deleted
• Error logs — Retained by Sentry for 90 days
• User reviews (published content) — Retained indefinitely unless removal is requested
• Google identity used to verify a review — Retained privately and never published — kept only to prevent duplicate/fake reviews, deleted if the review itself is removed
• Contact emails — Retained for as long as needed to resolve the enquiry, then deleted within 12 months
• Site feedback — Retained in our private Slack workspace for up to 12 months

Children's privacy

GPFinder is a general information service about GP practices and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect any information from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted personal information through our site, please contact us and we will take steps to remove it.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), you have the right to:

• Access any personal data we hold about you
• Correct any inaccurate personal data
• Delete any personal data we hold about you
• Object to processing of your personal data
• Withdraw consent for cookie-based analytics at any time (by disabling cookies in your browser)

In practice, because GPFinder collects minimal personal data, there is usually very little (if anything) to access, correct, or delete. However, we take these rights seriously. If you have any questions or requests, please email us at hello@gpfinder.co.uk.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Data security

GPFinder is hosted on Vercel, which provides enterprise-grade security including HTTPS encryption for all connections, DDoS protection, and SOC 2 compliance. All data transmitted between your browser and GPFinder is encrypted using TLS.

We do not store sensitive personal data, which significantly reduces our security risk profile. Our codebase is regularly updated to address known vulnerabilities in dependencies.

Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

For material changes that affect how we handle personal data, we will make reasonable efforts to notify users through a banner on the website.

Questions about privacy?

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how GPFinder handles data, please contact us:

We aim to respond to all privacy-related enquiries within 14 days.