Who we are
The Doctor is an independent UK publication at the-doctor.co.uk. For any privacy question or request, use our contact form.
What we collect
- When you visit: our host, Cloudflare, processes technical data such as your IP address and browser type to deliver pages and protect the site from abuse. We do not use this to identify you.
- If you accept analytics cookies: usage data through Google Analytics, described below.
- If you use the contact form: what you write, and your name and email if you give them. We use this only to reply and act on your message, keep it for up to 180 days and then delete it. A one-way hash of your IP address is kept for one hour to stop spam.
We have no accounts, sign-ups or newsletters, and we do not sell or share personal data. Our fonts and images are served from this site.
Cookies and analytics
With your permission we use Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which pages people use, so we can improve the guides. It is switched off until you choose Accept on the banner, and choosing Reject is just as easy. The site works the same either way.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Google Analytics | Tells one visitor’s visits apart, using a random identifier | 13 months |
_ga_<ID> | Google Analytics | Keeps the state of the current visit | 13 months |
We keep your choice in your browser’s local storage (td-consent) for 12 months, so we do not ask on every page. It is not sent to us.
Google Analytics is set up with Google signals and advertising features switched off, and IP addresses are not stored by Google Analytics 4. Reports are kept for 14 months. Google acts as our processor and may process data in the United States under its data transfer safeguards; see Google’s privacy policy.
Changing your mind: use the “Cookie settings” link at the foot of any page. If you withdraw consent, we stop analytics and delete the Google Analytics cookies we can reach.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask to see, correct or delete personal data we hold about you, or object to how we use it. Contact us through the form. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Our legal bases
Analytics cookies: your consent. Contact messages: our legitimate interest in answering you and keeping the site accurate. Security logs: our legitimate interest in keeping the site safe.
Last updated 9 November 2026.