Why SCCPP collects and processes data about you and your family (the lawful basis):
SCCPP has a legitimate interest in using personal and sensitive data in order to provide therapeutic assessment and treatment and to help us give you the best possible care. We aim to maintain full and accurate records of the care we provide and to keep this information confidential and secure. We only use your data to provide the services you have requested from us.
We collect personal data to allow us to contact you to make appointments, send reports, invoices, information etc, and to fulfil our statutory safeguarding duties.
We also make notes of our discussions during appointments, any phone calls, emails and texts. We keep these records in order to help us remember details about your family and the particular issues you are facing. We may also use these notes to compile reports or write letters about your child, that you request, or as part of our routine service to you. We also keep reports sent to us by other professionals, about your child, and copies of any assessments we undertake with your child. This information makes up your child’s “Clinical notes/records”.
SCCPP is not able to provide a service if you do not allow us to collect and process data about you and your family.
What data does SCCPP collect about you and your family?
SCCPP collects and processes the following data:
- Personal data: names and addresses of children and parents, email addresses and phone numbers for parents, the child/young person’s date of birth, school and GP details.
- Sensitive data: clinical records (session notes, letters, reports, emails and standardised measures) and therapy contracts.
All the details we hold about your child and family are provided by you, or the people you give us your explicit permission to speak to (for example your child’s teacher); with the exception of concerns over safeguarding.
How do we store Clinical Notes?
Paper notes are kept in a locked filing cabinet in our home office. Electronic notes and records are stored online in OneDrive Office 365 (see https://support.office.com/en-us/article/office-365-advanced-protection-82e72640-39be-4dc7-8efd-740fb289123a for details of OneDrive security). Electronic notes are added via our work computers/laptops/mobile devices and deleted from these devices once moved. All computers and mobile devices are fingerprint or passcode protected.
Once work is completed, clinical records will be kept for 5 years. Files are closed annually in January. At this point, all records will be reduced to clinically relevant content (for example, email trails regarding appointment times etc will be deleted). Paper records will be scanned and stored electronically before being destroyed.
Who can access your information?
SCCPP currently consists of Dr Catherine Field and associate clinicians working on behalf of SCCPP. Dr Catherine Field can access all information, while associates can only access the full clinical record relating to families they are doing direct clinical work with. In the event that SCCPP employs the services of other individuals, for example, admin support, or an accountant, these individuals will have access to your information, in accordance with the requirements of their role.
All client work is supervised by external supervisors, and children’s first names will be used during these sessions, but other details, such as your address and child’s school, will not be shared. Supervision sessions are bound by the same rules of confidentiality as clinical work – see Confidentiality and Safeguarding Policy/Section.
Where assessment and/or treatment is being paid for by an insurance company, the company will almost always request details of the work being provided and this is given according to what each insurer requests. This usually includes a summary of the assessment information, details of any standardised measures taken, a treatment plan, session attendance and outcome.
From time to time, we need to seek advice from other professional fields, for example, IT, legal or financial services. It is possible that in very rare circumstances individuals from these professions may see your personal details (Name, address etc). For example, if we were to be audited by HMRC, they may wish to see our client invoices, or in the event of IT malfunction, the IT expert may view our client database during their recovery work. Lawyers can also access clinical notes if they are subpoenaed by a court.
Transfer of information:
SCCPP currently transfers information using a number of methods.
SCCPP provides secure and encrypted email communication via Egress (https://www.egress.com/what-we-offer/egress_gdpr_in_a_box_datasheet_2019-pdf/download). Egress can be signed up to for free for SCCPP families and the process takes just a few minutes. This gives full end-to-end encryption for emails which are then retrieved and stored on the Egress platform. All emails containing personal details or confidential information sent from SCCPP will be via Egress, via the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. email address. All other emails, for example, from Associate email addresses, will be anonymised.
It is recommended that all families use Egress when communicating any personal or sensitive information. Where families opt to use routine email, it is strongly advised that the content of any email is anonymised, for example using the child’s initials, and limiting the amount of identifiable and confidential information given, to what is strictly necessary. Email communication outside of a secure server can be intercepted and read. Email enquiries that come via the website are fully encrypted.
SCCPP also communicates via text messaging (SMS) for issues such as appointment times or rescheduling. SMS messages are sent and stored via servers that can be intercepted during transit and families are recommended to carefully consider the content of SMS messages when communicating with SCCPP.
SCCPP also uses Whatsapp, which provides end-to-end encryption on all messages. https://www.whatsapp.com/security/
Where families request it, paper copies of reports can be sent via Royal Mail. This is always sent using the Recorded Delivery service, for which families will be invoiced.
How to access your child’s clinical notes:
If you would like to see your child’s clinical notes, you should put this request in writing to Dr Catherine Field. These can be e-mailed to us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Notes will usually be made available within one month of the request being received and will incur an admin fee of £30.
