Privacy Notice:

Sumera Khan
Unlocking Communication Ltd
Independent Speech & Language Therapist
(BSc (Hons), Cert MRCSLT, HCPC Reg, MASLTIP)
tel: 07960862486, email: info@speechtherapyinlondon.uk
web: www.speechtherapyinlondon.uk

Who we are:

Unlocking communication Ltd (Speech & Language Therapy Services) is registered with Companies House no 14734667. Unlocking delivers independent speech and language therapy to children in the home and/or educational setting. It is owned and directed by Sumera Khan, Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), who is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Unlocking Communication Ltd operates a website at:

www.speechtherapyinlondon.uk

Unlocking Communication is committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by clients.

Collection of personal information:

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

You may use the Unlocking Communication Ltd website without providing any personal information. However, if you wish to make an enquiry via the website, you are requested to provide relevant contact details, such as 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 your child being seen by Unlocking Communication Ltd, then
this personal information will be deleted once your enquiry has been dealt with.

If your child is subsequently seen by Unlocking Communication Ltd, these details may be added to their personal record.
The 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.

Our use of personal information:

Personal information collected by us via the www.speechtherapyinlondon.uk website, email, telephone, or face to face is stored and used by us 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 Unlocking Communication Ltd 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 electronic file as part of the case history form completed by yourself.

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. Information on client location may be shared with a trusted person to ensure the SLT’s personal safety when attending appointments.

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.

How we use personal information:

We use this information:

• To prepare, plan and provide speech and language therapy services appropriate for your child’s needs.
• To communicate with you via post, email, telephone, mobile messages, and SMS in relation to:
  - Confirming and preparing for appointments.
  - General communication in between appointments.
  - Sending you reports and programmes for your child (always password protected).
  - Copying you into communications with other professionals involved with your child (your child’s initials rather than full name will be used in emails).
  - 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.

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

How we store 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 PC based system on the encrypted hard drive which is compliant with general data protection regulations. Electronic file for your child is stored on the PC device using a secured system with password encryption on the PC and on the individual files. The password is only held by Sumera Khan, Unlocking Communication Ltd.

Documents which contain confidential information such as reports and programmes are also individually password protected from the outset.

No paper based confidential information such as assessments score sheets are held. Instead, such paperwork is stored in scanned format only, securely in accordance with Data Protection Regulations using the PC based encrypted secure system.

Videos are never taken of clients on devices belonging to Unlocking Communication Ltd. These are only recorded on the clients’ own devices and never shared with Unlocking Communication Ltd. These remain the property of the clients and are never transferred to the Unlocking Communication Ltd devices directly or via email transfer. If clients send videos of their children without being requested to, these are viewed by the SLT to advise the client regarding the query and make notes in a client record. Any such videos sent by the clients are deleted from the Unlocking Communication Ltd email system.

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 the 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 through a secure process.

Our lawful basis for processing personal information:

We process and store personal information to comply with our legal obligations. 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 9: Maintain records appropriately.

“9.1: keep full, clear, and accurate records in accordance with applicable legislation, protocols and
guidelines”.

For further information the full document can be found at:

hcpcuk.org - Speech and Language Therapists

Health organisations must adhere to the 8 Caldicott Principles which ensure that people’s information is kept confidential and used appropriately.

Principle 7: “The duty to share information for individual care is as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality”.

More information is available at: gov.uk - The Caldicott Principles.

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.

Unlocking Communication is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a Data Controller.
You can view their ICO registration by visiting: ico.org.uk - Registration

Our responsibilities:

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

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

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

In the event of Sumera Khan, the Owner and Director of Unlocking Communication Ltd going unexpectedly missing during a working day, her next of kin would gain access to her diary including client names and addresses in order to locate her and be reassured of her safety.

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.

How to access your child’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 your child’s records is provided free of charge.

We 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
Unlocking Communication Ltd
84 Sydenham Park Road
Sydenham, London
SE26 4LH

If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact:
info@speechtherapyinlondon.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.