Cookies

A cookie is a small file a website asks your browser to keep, so that something can be remembered from one page to the next. This page lists what this website stores and why. There is no advertising on this site, and nothing here is used to follow you around other websites.

Analytics cookies are only set if you agree to them. When you first visit, a message asks whether you accept them. Until you say yes, they are switched off.

Your choice

You can also change your mind at any time with the round cookie button in the bottom corner of the screen, or the “Cookie settings” link at the bottom of every page. Turning analytics off removes the analytics cookies already set.

Essential: always on

These make the website work and can’t be turned off. They are kept in your browser’s storage rather than as cookies, and are never sent anywhere.

• stcm.hasConsented, stcm.consent.essential and stcm.consent.analytics: remember whether you accepted analytics cookies, so you aren’t asked on every page. Kept until you clear your browser’s data for this site.
• enquiry-sent: clears the contact form if you come back to the page after sending a message. Deleted as soon as it has been read, or when you close the tab.

Analytics: only if you accept

These help improve the website. They are not used to identify you, none of it is used for advertising, none of it is sold, and none of it is linked to your treatment records.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics counts visits: how many people find the site, which pages they read, and whether they get in touch by phone, email or the contact form. Google receives which page you looked at, roughly where in the country you are, and what kind of device and browser you used. It sets two cookies:

• _ga: tells one browser apart from another, so that two pages viewed in a row count as one visitor rather than two. Lasts 2 years.
• _ga_ followed by a code for this website: keeps track of the current visit, so it has a start and an end. Lasts 2 years.

Microsoft Clarity

Microsoft Clarity shows how the pages are used: where people click, how far they scroll, and where they get stuck, so that problems can be found and fixed. Anything typed into the contact form is hidden from it. It sets two cookies:

• _clck: tells one browser apart from another across visits. Lasts 1 year.
• _clsk: joins the pages of a single visit together. Lasts 1 day.

Microsoft may also set its own cookies from its clarity.ms website.

How your choice is passed on

Both are loaded through Google Tag Manager, which sets no cookies of its own. It uses Google’s Consent Mode (opens in new tab) to pass on your choice: if you haven’t accepted analytics cookies, Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity are not started at all. Advertising storage is always refused, because the site has no advertising.

Google Maps: only if you ask for a map

The clinic maps on the Contact page are provided by Google Maps. They are not loaded until you press “Show map”, because Google sets its own cookies when a map loads, under its own terms. Those cookies are not readable by this site, and the cookie settings above don’t cover them. If you’d rather not, the “Open in Google Maps” link takes you to Google’s own site instead.

Fonts

The website’s font is served from this website itself, not from Google Fonts or any other service, so loading a page doesn’t tell anyone else that you visited.

Other ways to turn cookies off

Every browser can block or clear cookies, usually under Settings → Privacy. Google also offers a browser add-on that opts you out of Google Analytics (opens in new tab) on every website. Blocking cookies will not stop you using this site.

Questions

If you would like to know more, please get in touch by email at [email protected] or call 01384 288 077. You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk (opens in new tab).