Patient Terms & Conditions

About Sparrow and these Terms

Sparrow Connect is a mobile application that helps people living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other long-term respiratory conditions to take part in their own care between appointments — by recording symptoms and readings, following a care plan set by their clinician, receiving medication reminders, and staying connected with the clinical team responsible for their care.

The app is provided by Sparrow Telehealth Ltd (“Sparrow”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a company registered in England and Wales (company number to be confirmed), whose registered office is at to be confirmed. You can contact us at support@sparrowtelehealth.com.

These Terms & Conditions (the “Terms”) are a legal agreement between you (“you”, the “patient”) and Sparrow. They govern your use of the Sparrow Connect app and any content or features within it (together, the “Service”). By creating an account, ticking the box to accept these Terms, or using the Service, you agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.

Please also read our Privacy Policy, which explains how we and your healthcare provider handle your personal and health information. The Privacy Policy forms part of these Terms.

Definitions

Defined terms
Term	Meaning
Care plan	The plan of care, medications and goals set for you by your clinician and made available to you in the app.
Clinician	The doctor, nurse or other regulated healthcare professional responsible for your care through the platform, together with the GP practice or clinic (the “provider”) they work for.
Clinical record	The medical record about you that your provider maintains, and to which the app links your account.
Content	Any information you enter in the app, including symptom logs, questionnaire answers, vital-sign readings and free-text notes.
Provider	The NHS organisation, GP practice or clinic responsible for your clinical care that has invited you to use Sparrow Connect.

Who can use Sparrow Connect

You may use the Service only if all of the following are true:

You are aged 18 or over (or such other minimum age agreed with your provider);
You are under the care of a provider that uses the Sparrow platform and has invited you to use the app;
You have been given, or can obtain, the details needed to link your account to your clinical record; and
You can enter into a binding agreement under the laws of England and Wales.

Sparrow Connect is intended for your personal use in relation to your own care. You must not create an account on behalf of another person unless you are their lawful representative and are authorised to do so.

Your account and signing in

4.1 Creating and verifying your account

You sign in to Sparrow Connect using your email address. Rather than a password, we send a single-use verification code (a “one-time passcode”) to your email each time you need to confirm it is you. You must keep access to that email account secure, because anyone who can read your email and use your device may be able to access the app.

4.2 Linking to your clinical record

To see your care plan and record information against the correct medical record, the app links your account to the clinical record held by your provider. You do this by entering a short linking code issued by your clinician together with your date of birth. Please keep any linking code confidential and only enter one that your own clinical team has given to you.

4.3 Your device PIN

You can set a numeric PIN that locks the app on your device. This PIN is stored only on your device and is never sent to us. It adds a layer of protection if your phone is lost or shared. You are responsible for choosing a PIN that is not easy to guess and for keeping it confidential.

What the Service does — and what it does not do

Through Sparrow Connect you can, depending on what your clinical team has enabled:

Record daily symptoms (such as breathlessness, cough and sputum) and how you are feeling;
Complete recognised respiratory questionnaires, including the COPD Assessment Test (CAT) and the mMRC breathlessness scale;
Log vital-sign readings such as oxygen saturation, heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and peak flow, and record breathing (NEWS2) observations;
Record flare-ups (exacerbations) and whether you have taken or missed your inhaler or other medication;
Set and receive on-device reminders to take your medication;
View the care plan, clinical notes, assessments and prescriptions that your clinician chooses to share with you; and
Request or manage appointments with your clinical team.

5.1 A tool to support your care, not a replacement for it

Sparrow Connect is designed to support the relationship between you and your clinical team. It does not provide a diagnosis, and any scores, trends, prompts or educational information it shows are for guidance only. They are not personal medical advice and do not replace the judgement of a qualified clinician. Always follow the advice of your own clinical team, and speak to them before making any change to your medication or treatment.

You should not rely on the app as your only means of managing your condition or of contacting your clinical team. If you have concerns about your health, contact your provider, your GP, NHS 111, or the emergency services as appropriate.

Your responsibilities

So that the Service can work safely, you agree to:

Provide information that is accurate and, where it concerns your health, honest and complete to the best of your knowledge;
Keep your device, email account and any PIN secure, and tell your provider promptly if you think someone else has accessed your account;
Use the Service only for your own care and in line with these Terms and the law; and
Keep your contact details up to date so that reminders and communications reach you.

You must not misuse the Service — for example by attempting to access another person’s record, interfering with its security, uploading anything unlawful or harmful, or using it in any way that could put your own or another person’s safety at risk.

Your information and privacy

Sparrow Connect necessarily involves handling information about your health, which is treated with special protection under UK data protection law. Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect, how it is used, who it is shared with, how long it is kept, where it is stored, and the rights you have. In summary:

Your information is encrypted when it travels between your device and our servers, and is stored in secure, access-controlled systems;
Your provider is responsible (as “controller”) for the clinical record we hold on their behalf; Sparrow acts largely as their “processor” and also as controller for running your app account;
We do not sell your information or use it for advertising; and
You can withdraw your consent to use the app at any time, and you have rights to access, correct and (in certain circumstances) delete your information.

Notifications and reminders

If you turn on notifications, the app can show reminders on your device — for example to take your medication or complete a check-in. These reminders are generated on your device. They are a convenience feature and may not appear if your phone is switched off, out of battery, or if notifications are disabled in your device settings. You should not rely on them as your only prompt to take medication. You can manage or turn off notifications at any time in your device settings.

Availability, offline use and changes to the Service

We work to keep the Service available and reliable, but we do not promise that it will always be uninterrupted or error-free. We may need to suspend it for maintenance, updates or reasons outside our control.

Some features work offline: information you enter while your device has no connection is stored securely on your device and sent to our servers when a connection is next available. Until it has synchronised, your clinical team will not be able to see it.

We may update, add or remove features to improve the Service, meet clinical-safety or legal requirements, or reflect changes agreed with your provider. Where a change materially reduces the Service, we will give reasonable notice where we can.

Intellectual property and your licence to use the app

The Sparrow Connect app, its design, the Sparrow name and logo, and all software and content within it (other than the information about you) belong to Sparrow or its licensors and are protected by intellectual-property laws. We grant you a personal, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to use the app for your own care while these Terms are in force.

You must not copy, modify, distribute, sell, reverse-engineer or attempt to extract the source code of the app, except to the limited extent the law allows you to do so despite this restriction.

Clinical safety and medical-device status

Sparrow takes the safety of its software seriously and develops and maintains the platform in line with the relevant NHS clinical-safety standards (DCB0129). Your provider is responsible for deploying it safely in their setting (DCB0160). Where any part of the Service functions as a medical device, Sparrow will ensure it meets the applicable UK medical-device requirements. None of this changes the fact that clinical decisions remain the responsibility of your qualified clinical team.

Our responsibility to you

Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes our liability where it would be unlawful to do so — including for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for any other liability that cannot be limited under the laws of England and Wales.

Subject to that, and because Sparrow Connect is a tool to support (not replace) professional clinical care:

We are not responsible for clinical decisions, diagnoses or treatment, which are the responsibility of your provider and clinical team;
We are not liable for any loss caused by your reliance on the app instead of seeking appropriate professional or emergency care;
We are not liable for events outside our reasonable control, or for loss resulting from your failure to keep your device or account secure; and
To the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for loss that was not reasonably foreseeable, or for business losses (the Service is provided for personal use).

This section does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer, which remain unaffected.

Suspending or ending your use

13.1 By you

You can stop using Sparrow Connect at any time by withdrawing your consent in the app and, if you wish, removing the app from your device. Withdrawing consent stops further use of the app; it does not by itself delete the clinical record your provider is legally required to keep. The Privacy Policy explains what happens to your information and how to ask about deletion.

13.2 By us or your provider

Your provider or Sparrow may suspend or end your access — for example if you are no longer under that provider’s care, if these Terms are seriously or repeatedly breached, or where necessary for safety, security or legal reasons. Where we reasonably can, we will tell you and explain why.

Complaints and how to reach us

If something goes wrong, please tell us at support@sparrowtelehealth.com so we can help. If you are not satisfied with the response, or wish to raise a formal grievance, you can contact Rahul Bhatt at rahul@sparrowtelehealth.com. Concerns about your clinical care should be raised with your provider through their normal complaints process. If you have a concern about how your information is handled that we cannot resolve, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time — for example to reflect changes to the Service, or legal or clinical-safety requirements. If we make a significant change, we will bring it to your attention in the app or by email and, where appropriate, ask you to accept the updated Terms. The version and date in the document control panel show when it last changed.

Governing law and jurisdiction

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or in connection with them, are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction, except that if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in your local courts.