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Details about cookies on the NHS website

Find out about the cookies we use, what they're for and how long they last.

You can choose or change your cookie settings on the NHS website.

Cookies that measure website use (analytics cookies)

List of cookies that measure website use (analytics cookies)
Name Purpose How long it lasts
Name

_ga

Purpose

Used by Google Analytics. Tells us how you use our health campaigns sites.

How long it lasts

2 years

Name

gat

Purpose

Used by Google Analytics. Helps stop Google Analytics web servers crashing when collecting information on how you use our health campaigns sites.

How long it lasts

1 day

Name

_gid

Purpose

Used by Google Analytics. Sets a unique ID for your session to help tell us how you use our health campaigns sites.

How long it lasts

1 day

Name

AMCV_#

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Tells us if you've used our site before.

How long it lasts

2 years

Name

AMCVS_#AdobeOrg

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. This is set when you first visit our site. It lets us know your unique visitor ID each time you use our site.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

com.adobe.reactor.dataElementCookiesMigrated

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Includes data elements set to capture usage of our website.

How long it lasts

Until you clear your browser's local storage

Name

demdex

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Allows cross-domain analytics of NHS properties.

How long it lasts

180 days

Name

nbs_sess

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Tells us how you used selected radio button responses through the coronavirus vaccination booking service.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

s_cc

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Checks if cookies work in your web browser.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

s_getNewRepeat

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Tells us if you've used our website before.

How long it lasts

30 days

Name

s_ppn

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Tells us how you use our website by reading the previous page you visited.

How long it lasts

1 day

Name

s_sq

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Remembers the last link you clicked on.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

Random session ID set by Qualtrics

Purpose

Used by Qualtrics Feedback. Tells us which pages you’ve visited on our site.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

QSI_S

Purpose

Used by Qualtrics Feedback. Tells us if you’ve used our site before.

How long it lasts

1 week

Name

QSI_SI_(id)_intercept

Purpose

Used by Qualtrics Feedback. Allows us to show survey pop-ups if you come back to our site.

How long it lasts

Depends on the setting we use for Qualtrics Feedback surveys

Name

QSIPopUnder_PopUnderTarget_SI

Purpose

Used by Qualtrics Feedback. Stops multiple survey pop-ups appearing on the same page.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

mbox

Purpose

Used by Adobe Target to set a unique ID for user sessions, so we can show users different versions of the same page (called an A/B test) and so users can be shown personalised versions of pages.

How long it lasts

2 years

Name

at_check

Purpose

Used by Adobe Target to check if your browser allows cookies.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

mboxEdgeCluster

Purpose

Used by Adobe Target so we can show users different versions of the same page (called an A/B test) and users can be shown personalised versions of pages.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

nhsa.adb.cid

Purpose

Used by Adobe Analytics. Helps us understand how people move between NHS websites and the NHS App.

How long it lasts

1 year

Name

ai_session

Purpose

Used by Microsoft Application Insights to collect statistical usage and telemetry information. The cookie stores a unique identifier to recognise a user’s unique session.

How long it lasts

30 minutes

Name

ai_user

Purpose

Used by Microsoft Application Insights to collect statistical usage and telemetry information. The cookie stores a unique identifier to recognise users on returning visits over time.

How long it lasts

1 year

Name

mf_[website-id]

Purpose

Used by Mouseflow. Identifies your current session on the website.

How long it lasts

Until you leave the website

Name

mf_user

Purpose

Used by Mouseflow. Checks if you have used the website before.

How long it lasts

90 days

Cookies that remember pop-ups

List of cookies that remember pop-ups
Name Purpose How long it lasts
Name

Banner[Number]

Purpose

Checks to see if a survey banner has been dismissed to stop it appearing again.

How long it lasts

99 days

Name

nhsuk-banner-[number]

Purpose

Checks to see if a survey banner has been dismissed to stop it appearing again.

How long it lasts

99 days

Cookies that help with health campaigns

List of cookies that help with health campaigns
Name Purpose How long it lasts
Name

_gcl_au

Purpose

Set by Google Tag Manager. Helps us show you more relevant adverts for our health campaigns.

How long it lasts

3 months

Cookies that make our website work

List of cookies that make our website work
Name Purpose How long it lasts
Name

.AspNetCore.Antiforgery.#

Purpose

Keeps your information safe by checking that requests come from you.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

.ASPXANONYMOUS

Purpose

Remembers your activity across multiple pages to improve your experience.

How long it lasts

69 days

Name

_smokefree_session

Purpose

Remembers your pages input and states across multiple pages to improve your experience.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

_tobacco_session

Purpose

Remembers your pages input and states across multiple pages to improve your experience.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

akavpau_waitingroom

Purpose

Makes sure you are not sent back to wait for coronavirus tests to become available once you have been let through to apply for one.

How long it lasts

Up to 10 minutes after you've finished using the ask for a coronavirus test service

Name

akavpwr_waitingroom

Purpose

Makes sure you cannot ask for a coronavirus test when there are none available and that you cannot "game" the system by clicking refresh multiple times.

How long it lasts

Up to 30 seconds after you've left the page where you wait to ask for a coronavirus test

Name

ARRAffinity

Purpose

Helps stop our site crashing by spreading traffic across web servers.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

ASP.NET_SessionId

Purpose

Remembers your pages input and states across multiple pages to improve your experience.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

CAM

Purpose

Helps stop our site crashing by spreading traffic across web servers.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

CookieConsent

Purpose

Remembers your cookies settings on our website.

How long it lasts

1 year

Name

csrftoken

Purpose

Helps keep the site secure by preventing cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks.

How long it lasts

1 year

Name

mobile.display

Purpose

Determines if you should see the mobile version of our site.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

mobile.nodisplay

Purpose

Determines if you should see the desktop version of our site.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

nhsuk-cookie-consent

Purpose

Remembers if you used our cookies banner.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser (if you do not use the banner) or 1 year (if you use the banner)

Name

test

Purpose

Used to tell us if you have accepted cookies to help with health campaigns.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

WFE

Purpose

Keeps you connected to a web server when you use our website.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Name

.AspNetCore.Mvc.CookieTempDataProvider

Purpose

Remembers details from your session across different pages, so you do not need to enter them again.

How long it lasts

Until you close the browser

Page last reviewed: 20 March 2026
Next review due: 20 March 2029