Liability Statement
We exclude any liability to you, should the National Elf Service not be available at any particular time.
We do not accept any liability to you for any of the following types of loss or damage (which you may suffer as a result of your use of the National Elf Service) whether the losses were foreseen, foreseeable, unforeseen, unforeseeable, known, unknown or otherwise:
- loss which arose when you first accessed or registered to use the National Elf Service (even if that loss results from our failure to comply with these terms or our negligence);
- any business loss you may suffer, including loss of revenue, loss of profits or loss of anticipated savings (whether those losses are the direct or indirect result of our default);
- loss which you suffer other than as a result of our failure to comply with these terms or our negligence or breach of statutory duty;
- any loss suffered due to the default of any party other than us.
We do not warrant that the National Elf Service or any content will be available uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that The National Elf Service or its supporting systems are free of viruses or bugs.
We do not accept any liability to you if we fail, or are interrupted or delayed in the performance of any obligation because of:
- the non-availability or failure of any telecommunications or computer services, systems, equipment or software operated or provided by you or any third party;
- any other event not reasonably within our control.
We do not give any commitments or accept any liability to you in respect of the National Elf Service content provided by other users of the website or third parties.
Moderation Policy
We ask you to please bear in mind our guidelines when submitting comments. Where views have been sought, all comments will be considered before the response is published.
Guidelines for taking part in discussions
Contributions may be moderated, that is, checked to make sure they don’t break our rules. You will need to keep your contributions constructive, relevant and civil.
We pre-moderate most of the comments we receive. ‘Pre-moderation’ means that comments will not be published instantly. Comments will be checked first by moderators who will monitor the site during normal working hours (0900 – 1730, GMT) and aim to process comments as quickly as possible.
The first comments posted by a user are moderated but subsequent comments by the same user are not, after first comment has been approved. This enables us to streamline the process and moderate comments quickly and efficiently.
This is not about censoring your views. The aim is to ensure that comments relate to the particular subject being discussed. Moderation will not be used to suppress legitimate, reasoned discussion.
Sometimes there is a delay in publishing whilst we seek information from various sources to be included in our response to questions.
The following rules and guidelines are to protect both you and the National Elf Service, and our moderators will remove contributions that break the rules.
- Comments must be relevant to the page they are to appear on.
- Be civil: respect other humans and elves. Comments should not be malicious or offensive in nature, and should not constitute a personal attack on a person’s character.
- Please do not use the Comments on the National Elf Service to further a grievance against any other person or organisation. Such posts will be removed.
- Don’t incite hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or any other personal or elf characteristic.
- Don’t reveal personal details, such as private addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other online contact details.
- Write comments that are reasonably concise, and don’t constitute spamming of the site.
- Don’t impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation.
- Don’t write comments that are party political in nature. Whilst we acknowledge that references to political parties and their policies may often be inevitable, we reserve the right to exclude comments which are purely party-political in nature.
- Don’t include swearing, hate-speech or obscenity. People of all ages use the National Elf Service website and language should be suitable for them.
- Don’t break the law – this includes libel, condoning illegal activity, and breaking copyright.
- Comments that stereotype sections of society will be removed.
- Comments containing threats of public fear, terrorism or threats towards any individual are not permitted.
- Don’t advertise commercial products and services – you can mention relevant products and services as long as they support your comment.
- Write in English – unfortunately, we do not currently have the resource to moderate comments in other languages.
- Do not write in capital letters – on the internet this is regarded as “shouting” and many people are offended by it.
- Duplicate comments or repeats will be removed.
- If you are aged 16 or under, please get your parent/guardian’s permission before submitting a comment. Users without this consent are not allowed to participate or provide us with personal information.
We reserve the right to suspend comments at any time, and remove any comment that we think breaks our rules. Comments may also be removed if they are older than six months.
Where we choose not to publish a comment for a reason other than those listed above, we will reply to the commenter by email (if an email address has been submitted with the comment) explaining our reason and inviting them to make appropriate changes so that the comment can be reconsidered.
We read every comment, and respond wherever we can. We endeavour to answer your questions where possible, but if you require an official response you should contact the National Elf Service by post or email.
Health advice, medical products and commercial activity
Comments that glamorise smoking, drug use or drinking or that promote a poor moral example will be removed.
Asking for and giving specific medical advice will be permitted only in clearly marked areas and will be removed from other areas.
Comments deemed to be advertising a product or service will be removed.
We may remove references to specific medical products or medicines if the context is not appropriate.
Irrespective of their contents, comments will be removed if they were, or might reasonably be suspected of being, made following financial or any other inducement.
Legal issues, criminal activity or negligence
Current court cases and court injunctions: contempt of court rules mean you cannot make comments that could prejudice the outcome of a court case or General Medical Council hearing. Comments on something that subsequently becomes the subject of a court case or hearing will also be removed if they risk contempt of court. Contributions that break a court injunction will be removed.
Defamation: defamation may occur when someone makes an untrue statement which damages a person’s reputation or someone makes a statement which expresses an opinion which they do not sincerely hold.
Twitter Policy
The National Elf Service uses Twitter, a free messaging service offered by a third party, as one tool in its efforts to communicate clearly, quickly and in an engaging manner to people interested in our work. You can follow us:
- National Elf Service @NatElfService
- Mental Elf: @Mental_Elf
- Commissioning Elf: @CommissionElf
- Dental Elf: @TheDentalElf
- Diabetes Elf: @Diabetes_Elf
- Education Elf: @EducationElf
- Learning Disabilities Elf: @LearningDisElf
- Musculoskeletal elf: @MSK_Elf
- Lifestyle elf: @LifestyleElf
- Child elf: @TheChildElf
- Stroke Elf: @TheStrokeElf
- Social Care Elf: @SocialCareElf
Twitter content delivered by the National Elf Service includes (but is not limited to):
- Links to news releases, blog posts, videos, guidance and other approved, publicly available National Elf Service material
- Links to relevant information produced and published elsewhere (work of other organisations, researchers, news organisations and others). This can include videos, blog posts, and retweets (RTs) from other Twitter users. (See below for our policy on RTs.)
- Interesting facts, quotes or observations related to our work
- Topical questions related to our work intended to provoke discussion
Retweets (RTs)
Tweets we repeat (RT) do not imply endorsement on the part of the National Elf Service. We may retweet news, links and personal observations we believe are relevant to the work we do.
Twitter as a source of official policy
Tweets should not be considered as the authoritative source of new policy or guidance from the National Elf Service. Any change or evolution in the National Elf Service’s official position on legislation, guidance, investigations and audits will be communicated through more traditional channels: official publications and statements on our website, speeches, and media releases. Importantly, our decision to RT should not be taken as explicit endorsement of any position or argument that may vary from The National Elf Service’s current official position, nor should it be taken as an indication of a possible shift in the current official position.
Following
The National Elf Service’s decision to follow a particular Twitter user does not imply endorsement of any kind. We follow accounts on Twitter we believe are relevant to our work. This could include following the Twitter accounts of companies and other commercial enterprises (and/or their employees) who comment on related issues.
Availability
We commit to updating and monitoring our Twitter account during regular office hours: 0900 – 1730, GMT. However, like many Twitter users, we may monitor and respond at other times of the day. We accept no responsibility for lack of service due to Twitter downtime.
@Replies and Direct Messages
We will read all @replies and Direct Messages sent to us and, when possible, will respond to them.
Complaints, media requests and personal issues
We encourage you to follow traditional channels to make a media request, freedom of information (FOI) request or complaint.
National Elf Service staff tweeting
Some National Elf Service staff tweet under their own names or pseudonyms. Despite their professional affiliation with the National Elf Service, their tweets do not represent the official position of the National Elf Service, and should be considered the product of each individual as a private citizen.
Disclaimer
The National Elf Service website and material relating to the National Elf Service, products and services (or to third party information, products and services), is provided ‘as is’, without any representation or endorsement made and without warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, compatibility, security and accuracy.
We do not warrant that the functions contained in the material contained in this site will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that this site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or represent the full functionality, accuracy, reliability of the materials.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including, without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damages whatsoever arising from use or loss of use of data or profits arising out of or in connection with the use of the National Elf Service website.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Any dispute arising under these terms and conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
Although we may from time to time monitor or review discussions, chat, postings, transmissions, bulletin boards and the like on www.nationalelfservice.net we are under no obligation to do so and assume no responsibility or liability arising from the content of any such locations nor for any error, omission, infringement, defamation, obscenity, or inaccuracy contained in any information within such locations on www.nationalelfservice.net.
We may revise these terms and conditions without notice. Please check regularly. Continued use of the National Elf Service website after a change has been made is your acceptance of the change.
A breach of any of our rules can lead to your comment being rejected. Repeated or serious breaches of our rules may lead to The National Elf Service blocking contributions from your email address or suspending your ability to comment on The National Elf Service.
The National Elf Service reserves the right to delete any content at any time for any reason and is under no obligation to publish any contributions.
Copyright
Ensure that you own the copyright to any material you put on the site – especially if you have copied it from another source. If we are in doubt about the ownership of content we will remove it from the site.
Your contributions to The National Elf Service website are published and viewable to the general public. In submitting your comments you assign all rights to the National Elf Service for use and publication of your contribution (further information can be found in terms and conditions).
If you are unwilling to grant The National Elf Service copyright to your contribution you should not submit it to the site.
