Privacy Policy
Privacy Notice
The Company is committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by clients. Under the new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) it is necessary to have a lawful basis for processing data. In this privacy notice, we will explain to you our lawful bases, explain our purposes for processing the data and how we store and share
your data in accordance with:
- HCPC Standards of Conduct, Performance & Ethics
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Data Protection Act 2018
How do we collect data
Go Talking Ways Ltd may collect data via email, telephone or face-to-face. We only collect data which is necessary to provide a therapy service.
How do we store personal data:
We take the following measures to ensure personal data is stored securely:
- Any paper based confidential information such as assessments and notes are held within a locked filing cabinet.
- All electronic case notes will be written directly electronically and kept within a secure system. This will only be accessible to the therapist.
- If the therapist doesn’t have access to the internet, they will write case notes offline on their secure laptop and maybe uploaded to remote secure storage. This process will be the same for other information which is relevant to the individual’s case file e.g. electronic copies of emails, reports, target forms.
- Paper documents such as assessment forms and previous paper files will be scanned to a secure electronic folder where possible which is only accessible to the therapist.
- Paper files will then be securely shredded if appropriate.
- If assessment forms need to be kept for future assessments these will be securely locked away.
- Documents produced by the therapist are stored electronically on their personal password protected laptop.
- Two factor authentication is enabled on all office 365 accounts
- Videos or photos may be taken with consent. If taken on a mobile device, they will be transferred onto the secure laptop at the earliest opportunity and immediately deleted from the mobile device.
- The minimum amount of confidential information will be taken out of the office base. When information is taken out of the office base it will be kept in a locked portable storage container, either with the therapist or be locked in the boot of the therapist’s car (whichever is deemed to be the most secure at that time).
In accordance with law, all records will be kept securely until a child is 25 years old or 8 years from discharge from the service (whichever is appropriate). For people with a mental health condition this will be 20 years. After this time all records relating to the individual will be destroyed securely i.e., shredding, incineration or permanently deleted electronically.
How do we use personal data
We use this information:
- To plan and provide therapy services appropriate for the individual’s needs.
- To communicate with you via post, email, telephone, mobile messages and SMS in relation to:
- Confirming appointments
- General communication between appointments
- Sending reports and programmes for you/ service user
- Copying you into communications with other professionals involved (the individual’s initials rather than full name will be used in e ails)
- Sending you resources
- Sending you invoices and receipts
- 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.
- To obtain booking information for training purposes
- To communicate with others if this is required by the law (e.g. safeguarding concerns). This is the only time personal information will be shared with relevant professionals without permission from the signing parent/carer/guardian.
Whenever personal identifiers are not needed for these tasks, if possible, we remove them from the information we use.
How do we share data
We may share data about the individual in relation to the service being provided i.e. communication needs, other health needs relating to the service.
We may share this with other professionals involved in the person’s care e.g., other therapists, school staff, medical staff, parents, when it is in that person’s best interests.
Information sent electronically will be sent in a password protected document and the password will be sent in a separate email.
Unless we are required to do so by law, we will not disclose any personal information collected to any person other than as set out above.
We do not employ agents to process personal data, for example specialist mailing companies to send out communications.
We do not give or sell client details to any third parties.
The type of data we collect includes:
Here are some examples of personal information which may be collected via spoken or written (including email) sources from parents/carers. With parental consent this information may also be collected from other professionals working with your child (e.g. teachers, NHS Speech and Language Therapists, GPs):
- Child’s name, age, date of birth, home address, medical history, educational details, speech and language history, developmental milestones.
- Parent/carer/guardian names, phone numbers, email addresses, home address, family history of any communication/learning difficulties.
- Family set up e.g. who lives with your child and languages spoken.
- Information relevant to educational settings (e.g. recent test scores).
- Video recordings/photographs of parent and/or child for assessment and therapy purposes.
Lawful bases for processing
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) require data processors to have a
lawful basis for processing that data. If sensitive personal data is being processed,
further conditions must be met before you start processing this data.
Legitimate interest
We will be processing data in relation to the services we provide (as outlined above) i.e.
Speech and Language Therapy under this lawful basis.
Special category data: Condition for processing
To process special category data, we need to meet separate conditions, namely:
That processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems.
Information relating to an individual’s health is classified as ‘Special Category Data’ under section 9 of the GDPR. The regulations stipulate that health professionals who are “legally bound to professional secrecy” may have a lawful basis for processing this data. Speech and Language Therapists are legally bound to keep client information confidential, and it is under this condition that personal information is stored and processed.
Your rights
Data protection legislation gives you various rights with regards to your data as follows:
1. The right to be informed
2. The right of access
3. The right to rectification
4. The right to object
5. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
Consent
We will be processing some of our data under the lawful basis of consent, namely:
- The use of data for marketing purposes
- The use of audio/ video recording of the individual and how this will be used
Your rights
Your rights in relation to this specific data are as follows:
1. The right to be informed
2. The right of access
3. The right to rectification
4. The right to erasure
5. The right to restrict processing
6. The right to data portability
7. The right to object
8. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
How to access an individual’s records
You can access the information we hold about you by writing to us at the address given
below. Please apply in writing rather than by email, so that we receive an original
signature to compare against the records we hold.
A copy of an individual’s records is provided free of charge.
We will provide access to the individual’s records within 30 days of receipt of all necessary information.
Please make your request in writing to:
Go Talking Ways Ltd
83 Blackwood Road
Streetly
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
B74 3PW
If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact
Stephanie Collins info@talkingways.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. Go Talking Ways Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a Data Controller.
You can view this ICO registration here.
We regularly review, and where necessary, update our privacy information. We will communicate these changes to you when they occur.
This policy was last reviewed March 2025