Privacy Policy

1. Confidentially & Psychologists

Psychologists are licensed and regulated in the UK by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). It is recommended that psychologists keep information about their clients such as contact details and session notes for 7 years.

The new legislation ensures that you have the right to have your information deleted. Should for some reason you wish for this to be destroyed or amended before this expiry period, then please contact us as you now have a legal ‘right to be forgotten’.

2. What Data is Collected and Why?

You will likely first make contact with us to inquire about one of our services through some form of electronic communication such as email, website contact page or telephone call.

All emails to Regal Private Therapy Practice will be stored on our GDPR compliant and securely password protected server. Emails will be accessible from devices which are all password protected and/or finger print encrypted.

If your initial contact does not lead to engagement with one of our services, then your emails/messages and any information will be deleted. If you become a client, then the information will be stored as outlined above.

Some of our clinics have a shared reception service. The reception team may be given your first name and the time of your appointment to facilitate easy arrival for your session. They are not given any further details about you or why you are attending an appointment. This information with your first name and time of appointment is deleted/ destroyed at the end of each relevant day.

3. Your Registration Information will Include

Your name, address, date of birth, contact details of your next of kin (to only be contacted in case of an emergency and only if you have expressly granted permission when signing your Terms and Conditions Agreement).

Contact details of anyone medically responsible for you such as your General Practitioner (GP) or if applicable a referring psychiatrist or medical consultant.

Your email and/or telephone number for purposes of communicating any changes in agreed appointment time or sending you information, worksheets, invoices and other agreed information. You will need to opt-in to permit making such contact when signing your Terms and Conditions Agreement.

Should you choose to not allow us to contact your next of kin in an emergency or any persons medically responsible for you, such as your GP or psychiatrist, then we have to warn you of the potential risk this may cause to you if we are not able to get help in an emergency or share relevant information about your treatment with other professionals who are looking after you. Please see below information on when we may have to break confidentiality without your permission.

4. Ongoing Data Collection

We may take paper process notes during the session or go through worksheets with you. Your name will not be put on these documents. If there are any documents that need to be kept they will be scanned and uploaded to your secure patient notes. Any paper notes from the session will be destroyed.

Your contact details, assessment information and subsequent notes from sessions will be kept on GDPR compliant and securely password protected software called WriteUpp. Your information is securely stored on their cloud and not downloaded to any of my computers or devices.

You have a right to access any of the data we keep on you and requests will be responded to within 30 days without charge. Any documents that may be posted to us by you or on your behalf will also be stored digitally and then destroyed.

In order to process payments and keep track of accounts, our accountant who is GDPR compliant may have access to your name and payment details but none of your personal information about your treatment by logging into my accountancy software in order to prepare and file our tax returns.

5. Confidentially – What you need to Know

Psychologists have ongoing supervision as part of a running a safe and reflective practice. We may discuss our client work with a supervisor for reflection and advice, however, no names or identifying details will be shared. For example, we may say we are working with a young father who is experiencing stress balancing a corporate career and being available for his family, rather than John Smith who works for ‘named’ bank.

A colleague of your therapist is also named as a therapeutic executor in the event that your therapist passes away or becomes incapacitated. They will contact you to inform you of this and arrange for appropriate follow on care, either with them or refer you to another suitable psychologist. The therapeutic executor will only have access to your data in this instance.

There are legal exceptions where we may need to be break confidentiality without your permission.

These include:

• Your Safety:
o If you have become incapacitated and are unable to communicate consent for yourself in a situation of extreme emotional distress or in physical danger and I need to get you help.
o You have given me reason to believe you are going to take your life or seriously injure yourself.

• Public Interest:
o Disclosure of information about child abuse.
o Risk of serious injury or harm to someone else.
o Risk of serious injury or harm to someone else.
o Act of terrorism or serious crime or miscarriage of justice.
o If subpoenaed by a court of law.

If possible, all efforts will be made to inform you of any disclosure and only pass on details that are relevant.

Thanking you for taking the time to read through this Privacy Statement.

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