Privacy policy

We believe privacy policies should be understandable.

Improval is designed for healthcare professionals, educators and organisations who trust us with important information. We take that responsibility seriously.

• We only collect the information we need to provide our services.
  
• We never sell your personal information.
  
• We use trusted suppliers to help provide our services, including secure cloud hosting and AI providers.
  
• Where we use AI, your data is not used to train their models.
  
• We may use anonymised, aggregated information to improve Improval and support research into education and organisational improvement.
  
• You remain in control of your data and can ask us to delete your account.
  

If anything isn’t clear, please get in touch.

23 Lobsters Ltd, trading as Improval. 

For information relating to your Improval account, billing, support and operation of our services, 23 Lobsters Ltd is the data controller.

When organisations use Improval to store or manage information on behalf of their staff, patients or learners, 23 Lobsters Ltd normally acts as a data processor on behalf of that organisation.

This may include:

• your name
  
• email address
  
• organisation
  
• login details
  
• profile information
  
• payment information (processed securely through our payment providers)
  
• information you create within Improval such as learning entries, meeting notes, surveys, portfolios, goals and documents
  
• recordings and files that you choose to upload
  
• technical information such as browser type, device type, IP address and log information to help keep the service secure.
  

We only collect information that is necessary to provide and improve our services.

How we use your information

We use your information to:

• provide the services you have requested
  
• authenticate your account
  
• provide customer support
  
• improve the reliability, performance and usability of Improval
  
• communicate with you about your account
  
• send important service announcements
  
• send newsletters or product updates where you have chosen to receive them
  
• comply with legal obligations
  
• protect the security of our systems.
  

We do not sell your personal information.

Improval uses a small number of essential cookies to keep the website secure and functioning correctly. These cookies allow features such as secure sign-in, maintaining your session and protecting against fraudulent activity.

On selected public pages, we also offer you the choice to accept optional marketing cookies. If you consent, these cookies help us understand how people find Improval and measure the effectiveness of our advertising. We do not use these cookies unless you choose to accept them.

We do not use marketing cookies within the logged-in areas of Improval, and we do not use advertising cookies to track your activity across the application.
If you disable essential cookies, you will not be able to sign in or use many parts of Improval.

Artificial Intelligence

Some Improval features use artificial intelligence to help provide features such as:

• summarising meetings
  
• generating appraisal drafts
  
• providing coaching and educational feedback
  
• analysing consultation recordings
  
• suggesting learning entries from voice notes or photographs.
  

To provide these features, the relevant content may be securely processed by trusted AI providers such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
We have contractual and technical safeguards in place to ensure:

• your data is processed securely;
  
• your data is not used to train their models;
  
• the information is only processed to provide the service you requested.
  

Where possible, we use UK-based processing for healthcare-related features. The only exception to this is our AI patient simulation feature, which uses OpenAI's real-time language model service.

Research and improving healthcare

One of Improval’s goals is to improve education, professional development and organisational culture.
We may analyse anonymised and aggregated information from across the platform to:

• improve Improval’s products and AI features;
  
• understand how educational programmes are working;
  
• improve consultation skills training;
  
• evaluate organisational improvement programmes;
  
• publish anonymous research or statistics.
  

This information is anonymised so individuals and organisations cannot reasonably be identified.
We never sell personal information for research.
Where identifiable information would ever be required for research, this would only happen where there is an appropriate lawful basis and any necessary approvals or consent have been obtained.

Healthcare recordings

Improval Record allows healthcare professionals to store consultation recordings for education and feedback.
In relation to patient information, 23 Lobsters acts as a data processor.
The healthcare professional or organisation using Improval is the data controller and is responsible for:

• deciding whether recordings are made;
  
• obtaining any required patient consent;
  
• deciding who recordings are shared with;
  
• determining the lawful basis for processing;
  
• deciding how long recordings should be retained.
  

Improval provides tools to support these responsibilities, including confirmation that consent has been obtained where appropriate and automatic deletion options, but responsibility remains with the healthcare organisation or clinician.

Sharing information

We only share information where necessary to provide our services.
This includes trusted providers such as:

• secure cloud hosting providers;
  
• payment providers;
  
• email delivery services;
  
• AI providers;
  
• customer support tools.
  

These providers are required to protect your information and only process it on our instructions.
We do not sell your personal information.

International transfers

Improval stores customer data within the United Kingdom.
In a small number of cases, information may be processed outside the UK where this is necessary to provide a specific feature. Currently, this applies only to our AI patient simulation feature, which uses OpenAI’s real-time language model service.
This feature is optional and is clearly identified within the platform. Where it is used, only the information required to provide the simulation is sent to OpenAI. We have contractual safeguards in place to ensure that this data is not used to train OpenAI’s models, and appropriate safeguards are applied for any international transfer in accordance with UK data protection law.
All other Improval services, including consultation recordings, learning portfolios, appraisals, meeting content, surveys and uploaded documents, are stored and processed within the United Kingdom.

Data Retention

Security

Protecting your information is one of our highest priorities.
We use a range of technical and organisational security measures including encrypted connections, secure cloud infrastructure, access controls, audit logging and regular security reviews.
Healthcare consultation recordings and uploaded documents are stored securely within our cloud infrastructure.
More information about the Improval Record app can be found on our Improval Record Security page.

Your rights

Depending on your circumstances, you may have the right to:

• access your personal information;
  
• correct inaccurate information;
  
• request deletion of your information;
  
• restrict or object to certain processing;
  
• receive a copy of your information;
  
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
  

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please Contact us.

You also have the right to complain to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe we have handled your information incorrectly.

Children's privacy

Improval is intended for professionals, organisations and adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to this policy

From time to time we may update this privacy policy to reflect changes in our services or legal obligations.
When we make significant changes, we will notify users where appropriate.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we use your information, please Contact us.

We have further details on the pages below: