Privacy Policy

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We understand how important your privacy is. We take care to maintain your confidentiality in accordance with current data protection laws (GDPR, 2018) and the ethical guidelines of our regulatory body: Accredited Counsellors Coaches Psychotherapists and Hypnotherapists (ACCPH).  These guidelines have been set up to protect your confidential material and ensure that your therapist always conducts themselves with professionalism and integrity.

In order to provide you with the best service possible, we will hold your personal contact details and records of your therapy sessions. Please find below important information about how this information will be held and used.

Your personal information

We use the secure, encrypted and password protected practice management platform, Kiku (wearekiku.com) to collect and store your personal data. At the point of booking your initial consultation with us, you will be asked for your personal contact information, for example your name, address, email address and telephone number and you may also choose to share details of the issues you are looking for help with. 

Your contact information is stored securely in Kiku and can only be accessed by your therapist.

In order to be able to fulfil our duty of care to you, in your initial assessment, your therapist will ask you for contact information for your GP and elected Emergency Contact person. We also ask for contact details of the person who has parental responsibility for clients under the age of 18. If necessary, we will take details of any other professionals involved such as an allocated social worker. These details will be stored securely in Kiku and will only be accessible to your therapist. 

This personal information will be held for the duration of your therapy after which it will be deleted from our Kiku database.

Please note that we will need to keep a record of your name and client reference number for seven years after the end of your therapy, so that we can respond effectively to any potential requests regarding your clinical notes and treatment. 

We will never pass on your contact details to any third party organisations for the purposes of sales, marketing or research and will never use your personal data for any purposes other than the administration of the service we are providing to you i.e. to arrange, cancel and rearrange appointments and collect payment for sessions.

Your payment details

When you make a payment via bank transfer to our business account, we will never store your bank details at any time. 

When you pay via Kiku, you can pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, and once you’ve added card details to your Kiku account you can send payment at the click of a button, simply using their phone. 

Card details are securely stored by Stripe. New Vision Nursing does not store your card details. 

Your sessions

During remote working we will ensure that we are conducting online and telephone sessions in a quiet, private and confidential setting. We have selected video calling platforms that offer end to end encryption to ensure maximum privacy. Please note however that we cannot be held responsible for any breaches that occur due to failures in this technology.

Your practitioner discusses their clinical work with a supervisor. This is to ensure that they are offering you the best service possible. These conversations are bound by confidentiality and you will only be referred to by your first name.

Your practitioner also keeps notes of each session. These are anonymised and are stored in a locked filing cabinet or within a password protected file within the secure Kiku system (wearekiku.com). These notes are for your therapist’s use only and help to keep a track of everything that is being discussed. In line with industry guidelines, these notes will be kept securely for up to seven years after your therapy comes to an end. After this time, they will be confidentially destroyed.

If your sessions are paid for or arranged via a third party, (e.g. your employer, a friend, or a family member), other than payment requests, invoices or receipts your counselling information will not be shared. 

Your communications with us

All our email accounts use the Outlook 365 server and are double password protected 

If you send an email to your therapist’s email address, only they will have access to it.

All phones, tablets and laptops used to respond to your emails are encrypted, fully protected with anti-virus software and password protected.

Data Usage

We will only use your email address and telephone number to contact you about your appointments. We may also contact you directly via email in order to share information with you that is pertinent to your therapeutic process.

Your phone number may also be used to issue appointment reminders via text message. 

Your rights

Any personal data retained by [me / our service or your therapist] is kept in accordance with the GDPR, 2018.

Under these guidelines you have the following rights

1. The right to request access to your data

You can request to view the information that we hold about you (contact details, appointment logs etc.) at any time. If during therapy you would like to see your session notes, please ask us. Should you require a copy of your notes after your therapy has come to an end you can make this request by emailing info@newvisionnursing.co.uk

1. The right of rectification

At any point during your time using our or during the seven years thereafter, while we retain your records, you have the right to request amendments to your contact details or session notes. This right can be exercised either by speaking directly us.

1. The right to be forgotten

You can request that we delete and confidentially destroy the information that we hold about you and your sessions at any time. This request can be made by contacting me / our admin office at info@newvisionnursing.co.uk

Instances where we would not be able to comply with your request are as follows:

1. a) It is necessary for us to retain these records in order to continue providing an effective service
2. b) We are compelled to retain these records by a Court of Law
3. c) We require these records in order to establish, exercise or defend legal claims

Consent

If you book your first session with us via Kiku, you will be asked to provide a digital signature and tick a checkbox to confirm that you consent to the storage and processing of your personal data for the purposes of providing therapeutic services.

You are entitled to withdraw this consent at any time and can do so by emailing info@newvisionnursing.co.uk

Breaches of data protection

In the event of any breach of our data protection policies, we will notify you and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) within 72 hours and will seek to rectify this immediately.

Raising concerns

Should you have any concerns about our data protection practices, you can raise these directly with your us. You can also notify the ICO. Our ICO reference is ZB265948