Unacceptable behaviour and zero tolerance policy
We take an inclusive, collaborative and engaging approach to our work and we are committed to delivering a professional service to everyone, including people accessing our information and support services, the healthcare professionals and researchers we work alongside, and our community of fundraisers and supporters.
As a charity, we have a duty to protect our team of staff and those we support. We believe everyone should be treated fairly, with dignity and respect.
Bullying, harassment and discrimination of any kind have no place within our organisation. Any behaviour of this kind is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Telephone and email
We provide information and support to people affected by digestive conditions and symptoms, both by telephone and email.
When providing support, our staff have the right to be treated with respect. They should not be subject to harassment, discrimination, threat, violence or abuse of any kind. Calls may be ended by our team immediately if they experience unacceptable behaviour from callers, and emails with inappropriate, unacceptable or irrelevant content will not be responded to.
Social media
Unacceptable behaviour on social media
Whilst we welcome engagement with our content across our social media platforms, we reserve the right to hide and remove any comments and content that goes against the work and values of our charity. This can include, but is not limited to:
- Sharing information about digestive conditions or symptoms that is false, unverified, unapproved or lacks evidence.
- Sharing information about the diagnosis and treatment of digestive conditions and symptoms that may be unhelpful or harmful to others.
- Sharing sensitive, personal or identifiable information about an individual without their consent.
- Making or sharing offensive, antagonistic or hurtful comments about an individual, group or organisation.
- Making or sharing spam content (e.g. content unrelated to topic, multiple comments shared on one or many posts, commenting the same thing multiple times)
If Guts UK believes that an individual’s behaviour is unacceptable, as outlined above, we may reach out to that individual to discuss and agree appropriate action.
If content created by an individual is hidden or removed more than three times by Guts UK, the user will be blocked from the page and any other accounts, pages or group owned by Guts UK.
This approach protects the team of staff who monitor and manage our social media pages, as well as our followers and supporters who rely on Guts UK to provide appropriate and trusted content.
User-generated content on social media
Guts UK may reach out to supporters and social media followers about sharing their story or experiences. This can involve content created by an individual. This content will always be shared directly from Guts UK’s social media pages, with consent from the individual.
Social media users may create and share their own content which mentions Guts UK. This content might not have been approved or verified by us and does not express or represent the views of Guts UK.
If you have any questions about Guts UK’s social media statements, please contact comms@gutscharity.org.uk in the first instance.