Ortho Exchange

Acceptable Use Policy

This policy protects the integrity of the question bank, the privacy of users and patients, and the security of the platform.

1. Use the platform for its intended purpose

Use Ortho Exchange for legitimate orthopaedic education, revision, peer discussion and authorised administration. Be accurate, constructive and respectful when contributing.

2. Examination and copyrighted material

You must not submit, request, reconstruct or distribute:

• recalled FRCS, UKITE or other confidential examination questions;
• questions copied or closely adapted from commercial question banks, textbooks, courses, websites or apps without permission;
• copyrighted images, diagrams or substantial extracts that you do not own or have permission to use; or
• material that breaches an examination body's rules, confidentiality duty or another person's intellectual-property rights.

Write original questions in your own words and cite a legitimate educational source where appropriate.

3. Patient and workplace confidentiality

Do not upload names, dates of birth, hospital or NHS numbers, recognisable photographs, imaging identifiers, exact admission details or any other information capable of identifying a patient. Do not upload confidential employer, training-programme or colleague information.

Clinical scenarios must be fictional, appropriately generalised or fully anonymised so that no individual can reasonably be identified.

4. Account conduct

• Do not share accounts, passwords, authentication links or access codes.
• Do not impersonate another person or misrepresent your professional status.
• Do not attempt to identify an anonymous question submitter.
• Do not use another user's notes, results or account data without permission.
• Do not harass, threaten, discriminate against or publish private information about another person.

5. Technical misuse

You must not:

• gain or attempt to gain unauthorised access to accounts, databases, administrative tools or source systems;
• introduce malware, malicious code, harmful files or deliberately misleading links;
• interfere with availability, bypass access controls, probe vulnerabilities without written permission or overwhelm the service;
• scrape, bulk-download, systematically copy or use automated tools to extract the question bank;
• reverse engineer the platform except where applicable law expressly permits it; or
• use platform content or user data to train, evaluate or supply an external commercial system without written permission.

6. Content standards

Contributions must be relevant, made in good faith and phrased professionally. They must not be unlawful, defamatory, deceptive, discriminatory, sexually explicit, abusive or designed to cause harm. Clearly flag uncertainty or controversy rather than presenting disputed material as settled fact.

7. Reporting concerns

Use the question-review tools for content errors. Report copyright, confidentiality, conduct or security concerns to contact@orthoexchange.co.uk. Include enough information to locate the material, but do not repeat sensitive information unnecessarily.

8. Enforcement

We may edit or remove content, restrict features, preserve relevant audit information, suspend accounts or permanently withdraw access when reasonably necessary. The response will reflect the seriousness, risk and history of the conduct. Suspected unlawful activity may be reported to the appropriate authority where required.