Privacy Policy

Who I am

Treetops Speech and Language Therapy is the name of a business run by Charlotte Hartwell who is trading as a sole trader. Treetops Speech and Language Therapy delivers independent speech and language therapy to children at their school.

 

Charlotte Hartwell is a Speech and Language Therapist, who is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP).

 

Treetops Speech and Language Therapy operates a website at www.treetops-slt.co.uk

 

Treetops Speech and Language Therapy is committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by clients.

 

Collection of Personal Information

Information about your child is initially collected via spoken and written information from parents/carers and or school. With parental consent, information may also be collected from other professionals working with your child such as teachers, nursery staff, childminders and NHS Speech and Language Therapists. Information may be collected about family members where this relates to your child e.g. contact details for parents and relevant medical or developmental history.

 

My Use of Personal Information

Personal information collected by me via email, telephone or face to face, is stored and used by me for the purpose of delivering your child’s speech and language therapy.

 

Any sensitive personal details are stored in a secure and confidential system and processed in confidence by Treetops Speech and Language Therapy and shall only be used for the purposes of delivering appropriate speech and language therapy services to your child.

 

With your consent, information about your child’s speech and language needs will be shared with other professionals involved in your child’s care, when it is in your child’s best interests. A record of your consent is kept within your child’s case notes.

 

Unless I am required to do something by law, I will not disclose any personal information collected to any person other than as set out above.

 

I do not employ agents to process personal data, for example specialist mailing companies to set out communications.

 

I do not give or sell client details to any third parties.

 

How I Use Personal Information

I use information:

• To prepare, plan and provide speech and language therapy services appropriate to your child’s needs.

• To communicate with you via email, telephone, mobile messages and SMS in relation to:

  • General communication between appointments

  • Sending you reports and programmes for you child

  • Copying you into communication with other professionals involved with your child (your child’s initials rather than full name will be used in emails)

  • Sending you resources

• For clinical audit to assess and improve our service. Results of audits are always presented with all client identities removed.

• For management and administration, for example surnames of clients are included in our password protected accounting database.

Whenever personal identifiers are not needed for these tasks, if possible I remove them from the information I use.

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How I Store Personal Information

All information about you, your child and their speech and language therapy is stored securely in my systems to ensure that we have a complete record of my service to you.​

 

I use a secure electronic cloud-based system called “WriteUpp” which is compliant with general data protection regulations. Prior to being uploaded to this system documents are temporarily stored on a cloud-based system which is only accessible via a password held by Charlotte Hartwell.

 

​Documents which contain confidential information such as reports and programmes are also individually password protected from the outset. Any paper based confidential information such as assessments are stored securely in accordance with Data Protection Regulations.

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The minimum amount of confidential information will be taken out of my office base. When your child’s information is taken out of the office base it will be kept with me or will be locked in the boot of my car (whichever is deemed to be the most secure at that time).

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In accordance with law, all records will be kept securely until your child is 25 years old. After this time all records relating to your child will be destroyed.

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Our Lawful Basis for Processing Personal Information

I process and store personal information to comply with my legal obligations.

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It is a legal requirement for all Speech and Language Therapists to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). The HCPC has clear standards of conduct, performance and ethics that all registrants must adhere to.

 

​These standards affect the way in which we process and share information. Specifically:

 

Standard 2: Communicate appropriately and effectively

 

“You must share relevant information, where appropriate, with colleagues involved in the care, treatment or other services provided to a service user.”

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Standard 10: Keep records of your work

 

“You must keep full, clear, and accurate records for everyone you care for, treat, or provide other services to. You must complete all records promptly and as soon as possible after providing care, treatment or other services. You must keep records secure by protecting them from loss, damage or inappropriate access.”

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For further information the full document can be found at: http://www.hcpc-uk.org/assets/documents/10004EDFStandardsofconduct,performanceandethics.pdf

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The Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations 2018

The Data Protection Act 2018 and The General Data Protection Regulations 2018 lay down wide-ranging rules, backed up by criminal sanctions, for the processing of information about identifiable, living individuals. It also gives individuals certain rights in relation to personal data held about them by others.

 

Charlotte Hartwell is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a Data Controller. You can view her ICO registration by visiting: https://ico.org.uk/ESDWebPages/Entry/ZA829832.

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My Responsibilities

I am committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your child’s record. I actively implement security measures to ensure their information is safe, and audit these regularly.

 

I will not release your personal details to any third party without first seeking your consent, unless this is allowed for or required by law.

 

I am constantly working to ensure compliance with current data protection regulation.

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Your Rights

Data protection legislation gives you, the parent, various rights. The most important of these are as follows:

• You have the right to a copy of information we hold about your child.

• You have the right to ask for your record to be amended if you believe that it is wrong.

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How to Access Your Child’s Records

You can access the information I hold about you by writing to me at the address given below. Please apply in writing rather than by email, so that I receive an original signature to compare against the records I hold.

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A copy of your child’s records is provided free of charge.

 

I will provide access to your child’s records within 30 days of receipt of all necessary information.

 

Please make your request in writing to:

Subject Access Requests

Treetops Speech and Language Therapy

Oakwood

Cottles Lane

Woodbury

Devon

EX5 1EE

 

If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact

info@treetops-slt.co.uk.

 

Further information about data protection legislation and your rights is available from the Information Commissioner's Office or by calling 0303 123 1113, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.