Privacy Policy

Who we are

SLT Leeds delivers independent speech, language and communication assessment and therapy to children in the home and/or educational setting. It is owned by Sarah Hastilow, Speech and Language Therapist, who is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT).  SLT Leeds operates a website at www.sltleeds.co.uk. SLT Leeds is committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by its clients.

Our lawful purpose for processing personal information

Our lawful basis for processing and storing personal information is one of ‘legitimate interest’ under section 6 of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). We cannot adequately deliver a service to you or your child without processing personal information. As it is both a necessity for our service delivery and of benefit to you or your child, we have a legitimate interest to process and store this data.

Data relating to an individual’s health is classified as ‘Special Category Data’ under section 9 of the GDPR. The regulations specify 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 we process and store personal information.

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.”
  • 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.”

How we collect personal information

Information about you or your child may be collected in spoken or written form from parents/legal guardians. With parental consent, information may also be collected from other professionals working with you or your child (such as teaching staff, childminders, health professionals and NHS Speech and Language Therapists). Where relevant to you or your child’s care we may also collect information about family members e.g. contact details for parents, next of kin and relevant medical history.

You may use the SLT Leeds website without providing any personal information. However, if you wish to make an enquiry via the website’s online submission form, you are requested to provide your name, e-mail address and contact telephone number to enable us to respond to your enquiry. You may add comments or queries which might also contain personal information.

If your enquiry does not result in you or your child being seen by SLT Leeds then this personal information will be deleted once your enquiry has been dealt with. If your child is subsequently seen by SLT Leeds these details will be added to their record.

The SLT Leeds website contains links to other internet sites which are outside our control and are not covered by this privacy policy. We are not responsible for data which you provide through any such linked websites.

How we use personal information

Personal information collected by us via the SLT Leeds website, email, telephone or face-to-face, is stored and used by us for the purpose of delivering you or your child’s speech and language intervention.

We use this information:

  • To prepare, plan and provide speech and language therapy services appropriate for you or your child’s needs
  • To communicate with you via post, email, telephone or text message in relation to:
    • arranging / confirming and planning for appointments
    • general communication in between appointments
    • sending you reports and programmes for you or your child
    • copying you in to communications with other professionals involved with you or your child
    • sending you resources necessary for you or your child’s speech and language intervention
    • sending you invoices
  • For management and administration, for example names and addresses of clients are included in our secure accounting database

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

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

Unless we are required to do so by law, or for safeguarding purposes, we will not disclose any personal information collected to any person other than as set out above.

With your consent we may share information such as appointment dates and times and reports via email. Any email containing sensitive personal data, either in the body of the email will be password protected.

We do not employ agents to process personal data.

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

How we store personal information

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

We use a secure electronic encrypted memory stick, which is only accessible via a password held by the speech and language therapist involved in the care of you or your child; or on an encrypted and password protected cloud based One drive.

Any paper based confidential information such as assessment record forms are stored securely in accordance with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) data protection regulations before being scanned and uploaded to your or your child’s folders on One drive.

Voice recordings and videos may be taken of clients with parental consent. These are temporarily stored on a password protected tablet or encrypted cloud based One drive.

These may then be viewed by the SLT in order to make notes in a client record within 48 hours of your or your child’s appointment. The video is then permanently deleted. With parental consent videos of clients’ speech and language intervention may be used for training purposes. These videos are temporarily stored on a password protected tablet or encrypted cloud based One drive and deleted immediately after completion of the training for which they were used.

The minimum amount of confidential information will be taken out of the Speech and Language Therapist’s office base. When your child’s information is taken out of the office base it will be kept with the Speech and Language Therapist or will be locked in the boot of the Speech and Language 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 your child is 25 years old or if still receiving treatment at the age of 17, until they are 26 years old. After this time all records relating to your child will be destroyed.

Data Protection Regulations 2018

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018 govern protection, processing and movement of data and the legal rights of individuals to control information about themselves.

GDPR seeks to give people more control over how organisations use their data. It enforces significant penalties for organisations that fail to comply. All speech and language therapists working for SLT Leeds are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as Data Controllers.

Our responsibilities

We are committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of you or your child’s personal information. We actively implement security measures to ensure their information is safe, and review these measures annually.

We are constantly working to ensure compliance with current data protection regulation.

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

Your rights

GDPR gives parents the following rights:

  • The right to a copy of the information we hold about you or your child
  • The right to ask for you or your child’s record to be amended if you believe that it is wrong.

How to access you or your child’s records

You can access the information we hold about you or your child by writing to us at the address below.

We will provide access to your child’s records within 30 days of receipt of all necessary information. Please make your request via email to sltleeds@outlook.com.

If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact Sarah Hastilow (Data Protection Officer) sltleeds@outlook.com or 07510 527 233.

Further information about data protection legislation is available through the Information Commissioner’s Office www.ico.org.uk.

Cookies

Along with most other websites our website uses cookies.

Cookies are very small text files that are stored on your computer when you visit some websites. We use cookies to help identify your computer so we can tailor your user experience. 

You can disable any cookies at any time, but this may stop our website from functioning properly. This website will not share any personal information with third parties.