Purpose of Privacy Policy
The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation, (GDPR). From 25th May 2018 new legislation gives more rights to individuals, and more obligations to organisations holding their personal data. One of the rights is a right to be informed about how personal information is shared and stored.
Who am I?
I am Karen Bresloff, Data Controller and Data Processor at Karen Bresloff: www.karenbresloff.com: 077552 006030. This means I decide how your personal data is processed* and for what purposes. The lawful basis under which I process your data is GDPR Article 6 ‘Consent’. I am registered with and accountable to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
*’processing’ means any use of data such as obtaining, recording, holding, organizing, amending, retrieving, using, disclosing, erasing or destroying that data.
Whose information does this privacy notice apply to?
This privacy notice applies to information I collect from:
prospective clients;
current clients;
former clients;
people who subscribe to my newsletters;
visitors to my website;
What is personal data?
Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. Examples of personal data I may hold about you include your contact and appointment details.
Special category data is a sub-category of personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation. Examples of special category data I may hold about you include your client notes.
How do I process your personal data?
I comply with my obligations under the GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data. I use your personal data for the purposes set out below.
I use your name, address, telephone number and email address to make and rearrange appointments, and communicate with you about other relevant professional matters.
Phone Contact
I hold data about you on my mobile phone that will include your first name and telephone number so that I can recognise who is contacting me, and so that I can contact you by phone if I need to. If at any time I have more than one contact sharing a first name I will use your initials instead. My mobile phone is twice protected, by password, and finger recognition.
Email/Online Enquiry Forms
Some prospective clients and clients return pre-appointment questionnaires or tell me about their psychological and/or medical conditions and medication by email or online enquiry forms. I do not use encrypted emails so you should be aware that any emails we send or receive may not be protected in transit. I will also monitor any emails sent to me, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to me is within the bounds of the law.
Invoices/Letters/Reports/Session Notes
My electronic records are securely stored in a password-protected file on a password-protected computer. Back-ups are periodically made onto an external hard drive that is kept securely in a locked cabinet. My records are also stored securely on paper in a locked filing cabinet.
I may use your date of birth to help identify clients with the same name to avoid mistakes being made as to safe and appropriate treatment, for identification purposes if referring a client to another health practitioner, and for identification purposes if writing to a registered medical practitioner so that they correctly identify the client.
I use your GP’s name and address in the event that I need to contact your GP, including in an emergency.
I use your presenting issues and symptoms reported by you, any relevant medical and family history you have told me about, and use my clinical findings about your health and wellbeing, for the purposes of making an assessment, and planning your treatment.
I keep a record of and refer to that record of any treatment given and details of progress of your case, including reviews of treatment planning to enable me to: review the assessment, and treatment plan; and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.
I record and use any information and advice that I have been given, especially when referring patients to any other health professional, to help you to receive the most appropriate treatment and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.
I record any decisions made in conjunction with you to help you to receive the most appropriate treatment and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.
I keep accident records for any clients or visitors who are involved in accidents at my clinic in accordance with UK Health and Safety legislation including the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) to comply with the law and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.
In the event of an adverse incident occurring to any of my clients I report the matter to my registering body, the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), and my insurance company to enable the insurance company to deal with any potential claims and to help the UKCP to develop its safe practice guidelines
Where relevant I maintain records of my client’s consent to treatment in order to be able to prove that the client has given informed consent to treatment to secure evidence in the event of a civil claim, criminal prosecution, insurance claim or complaint.
Diary
I keep a diary to record all appointments of clients attending my clinic, workshops and events, for tax purposes, and to secure potential evidence in the event of a criminal prosecution, civil litigation, insurance claim or complaint to my regulatory body, the UKCP.
Contact via the Internet
I use Zoom (www.zoom.us) for conducting conversation and Internet sessions with clients. Zoom is GDPR compliant and my broadband service is password protected.
Website
My website is created using WordPress (WordPress.org/about/privacy)
I use a third party service called Squarespace to host my website. I use Google Analytics to collect anonymous information about users’ activity on my website to monitor and report on the effectiveness of the site and help improve it. Squarespace help maintain the security and performance of my website. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses of visitors to my website.
My website uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates to verify my identity to your browser and to encrypt any data you give me. Whenever information is transferred between us, you can check that it is done so using SSL by looking for a closed padlock symbol or other trust mark in your browser’s URL bar or toolbar.
My website uses cookies to improve user experience of my website by enabling my website to ‘remember’ users, either for the duration of their visit – using a ‘session cookie’ – or for repeat visits – using a ‘persistent cookie’. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser when you visit any website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience and the website owner with statistics about how you use the website so that it can be improved. Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely. Your web browser should allow you to delete any you choose. It should also allow you to prevent or limit their use.
For more information about how Squarespace processes data, please see: www.squarespace.com
Subscribers to my Newsletters and Marketing
Only with your explicit consent, I use your name, address, telephone number and email address to send you newsletters and marketing materials. I do not sell or market your details to any other individual or organization. I use a third party provider to deliver my e-newsletters. I gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standard technologies to help me monitor and improve my e-newsletter.
Complaints
If I receive a complaint from a person I make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint. I will only use the personal information I collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service I provide. I may need to provide personal information collected and processed in relation to complaints to the UKCP and my insurance company. I will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with my retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for three years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.
Sharing your personal data
Your personal data will be treated as strictly confidential, and will be shared:
with named third parties with your explicit consent; or
with the relevant authority such as the police or a court, if necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which I am subject e.g. a court order; or
with your doctor or the police if necessary to protect yours or another person’s life; or
with the police or a local authority for the purpose of safeguarding children or vulnerable adults; or
with my regulatory body, the UKCP, or my insurance company in the event of a complaint or insurance claim being brought against me; or
my solicitor in the event of any investigation or legal proceedings being brought against me.
For further details about the situations when information about you might be shared please see the Information Commissioner’s website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/personal-information/sharing-my-info/
How long do I keep your personal data?
I keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary; currently client data is retained for a period of 3 years from close of treatment. Client data is kept in case of any legal claims/complaints, or for safeguarding purposes. Your data is up dated electronically whilst you are in treatment, and then downloaded onto paper copy and stored securely in a locked filing cabinet once treatment is complete. At the end of three years your data is destroyed by shredding machine.
In the event of an emergency
I have written a Therapeutic Will. In the event of any unforeseen emergency an appointed trusted executor will communicate with you where I am unable to do so, and in the event of long term incapacity or the event of my death an appointed trusted executor will respectfully and confidentially process any client data I hold and close my practice.
Your rights and your personal data
At any time you may request that changes are made to your contact details.
Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have certain rights with respect to your personal data as set out below.
the right to request a copy of your personal data that I hold about you and to receive this within one calendar month.
the right to request that I correct any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date.
the right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for me to retain such data.
the right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time. This right does not apply where we are processing information using a lawful purpose other than consent.
the right to request that I provide you with your personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability), (where applicable) [This right only applies where the processing is based on consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract with you and in either case I am processing the data by automated means].
the right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing.
the right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable) [This right only applies where processing is based on legitimate interests (or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority); direct marketing and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics].
the right to be informed if your data is lost. I shall also inform the Information Commissioner’s Office in accordance with the time limits in the GDPR.
the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
For further details about these rights please see the Information Commissioner’s website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/
Further processing
If I wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then I will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, I will seek your prior consent to the new processing.
My contact details
To exercise all relevant rights, queries or complaints please in the first instance contact me via my website.
Further information
You can contact the Information Commissioners Office on 0303 123 1113 or via email https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/ or at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire. SK9 5AF.