Privacy Policy
Dr Laura Williams
Privacy Policy
Updated May 2023
When working with a Psychologist, it is essential that clients can have confidence that any information shared is handled securely, safely and in compliance with legislation.
Dr Laura Williams is committed to protecting information through safe and responsible data handling. Information gathered by Dr Laura Williams is handled in accordance with laws concerning the protection of personal data (UK Data Protection Bill 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation 2018). Dr Laura Williams is the data controller, and is registered with the Information Commissioners Office.
This policy covers the procedures followed by Dr Laura Williams to protect the information of therapy and supervision clients and any other clients contracting with Dr Laura Williams for professional psychological services. For the purposes of this policy, the term “client” covers each and all of these client groups.
1. What information is collected?
In order to make an enquiry about services, the client’s name, e-mail address and a brief summary of the client’s query are required. This is to enable a response to initial enquiries. Dr Laura Williams recommends that prospective clients provide only minimal information about their mental health and personal circumstances when making an initial website or email enquiry. The purpose of the initial enquiry is to set up a phone consultation, where there will an opportunity to describe your difficulties annd needs in more detail.
Further information is collected and stored at the assessment appointment. This includes a full name, residential address, date of birth, phone number, e-mail address, emergency contact details, GP information and details of any other professional involved in the client’s mental health care.
Written notes are taken during therapy and supervision sessions. These are transferred to an encrypted system. Professional Psychology clinical practice requires clinical note taking. Clinical notes contain sensitive information relevant to therapy.
Additional therapy or supervision documents such as psychological outcome measures, or formulation information completed between the client and Dr Laura Williams are handled in the same way.
Clients are given the opportunity to complete a feedback form at the end of therapy, supervision and training. These are anonymised and stored securely. Clients are not obliged to complete feedback.
Dr Laura Williams strongly advises that clients do not include sensitive information in emails, text messages or any other method of written communication.
2. Why is this information collected?
Information is collected by Dr Laura Williams in order to provide professional services.
Contact details are kept so that clients can be contacted about appointment scheduling or other arrangements pertaining to organising service delivery. Dr Laura Williams will use the client’s e-mail address as the primary mode of contact for matters relating to appointments. E-mail is vulnerable to viruses and human error. For this reason, Dr Laura Williams advises clients to be thoughtful about what is included in e-mails to Dr Laura Williams and to consider which e-mail you choose to use to make contact. If you would prefer that another primary mode of contact is used, please notify Dr Laura Williams.
E-mail is used to provide clients with an online invitation to join sessions via Zoom. E-mail may be used to share documents pertaining to therapy, pending mutual agreement. E-mail is also used to provide a record of payment for services, which is sent via an encrypted link.
Dr Laura Williams may contact clients by text message to advise of a last minute change to an appointment. Dr Laura Williams requests that text message is used for the sole purpose of appointment scheduling. Dr Laura Williams strongly advises that clients do not use text message for the communication of sensitive information.
Dr Laura Williams may use a client’s mobile phone number to reach the client via Whatsapp when using this back-up method of video call for online sessions. This will be done by mutual agreement between the client and Dr Laura Williams.
GP details are required to allow Dr Laura Williams to share information with a client’s GP should Dr Laura Williams assess that this is required to safeguard physical and/or emotional health.
Emergency contact details are stored should an emergency situation related to a client’s health and wellbeing arise during an appointment, and notification it is deemed essential to the client’s wellbeing and safety.
Information, including any sensitive information provided by the client, deemed relevant to clinical work is stored in order to support the delivery of safe and effective psychological therapy. As a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) registered Psychologist, Dr Laura Williams is required to keep records of clinical practice.
Feedback is collected to improve and refine existing services. Anonymised client feedback may be used for marketing and promotional purposes. Permission is sought from the client prior to feedback being shared in this way. Permission for the anonymous sharing of client feedback can be withdrawn by the client at any point. Client feedback will not be shared without their permission. Clients are under no obligation to provide feedback.
3. Data storage
All client information is held on encrypted systems which only Dr Laura Williams has access to. Digital notes made during sessions are stored on these systems.
Client mobile numbers may be stored in a device which is the property of Dr Laura Williams. This device is passcode protected. Client numbers will be saved under initials only, and will be deleted at the end of therapy.
When the information concerns risk of harm to the client, risk of harm to Dr Laura Williams, another adult, or a child.
When information is pertinent to treatment being delivered by another health provider, such as the client’s GP. In the event of a court order to share information. In the event of information relating to a client being provided by a third party (e.g. if referred by another professional) only information pertinent to assessment and therapy will be kept. This information will be password protected and stored on an encrypted system.
Clients are made aware that this information is held, and that they have the right to access it. During the first session, clients are informed about how their personal information is handled. Details about the handling and storage of personal information are included in the client contract. Clients are advised to refer to this document to access the full and detailed Privacy Policy for Dr Laura Williams.
Clients are advised that they may request to access their personal information at any time.
Clients requesting to access the information held about them will be provided access within one month of the request being made in writing. There is no charge for information access. GDRP legislation states that individuals have the right to be ‘forgotten’ i.e. for their information to be erased should they request that. However, Dr Laura Williams is a Practitioner Psychologist and registrant of the HCPC , and information gathered for the purposes of psychological assessment and treatment form part of a client’s health record. HCPC guidelines require practitioners to store health records for 7 years.
4. Information Sharing
The information provided by clients to Dr Laura Williams is confidential, however there are limits to confidentiality. This is in keeping with HCPC Professional Practice Guidelines.
Some client personal information may be shared in exceptional circumstances:
If therapy costs are covered by a third party individual or organisation, dates of sessions may need to be provided by Dr Laura Williams for invoicing purposes.
Client requests for written reports or other evidence of therapy will be considered on a case-by-case basis. In the event of such documentation being provided, it will be sent by email.
5. Other Websites
The website of Dr Laura Williams may contain links to other websites. Dr Laura Williams has no control over destination websites and is not responsible for the protection and privacy of information provided to destination websites by website users. Dr Laura Williams advises that website users consult the privacy policies applicable prior to providing information to any linked website.
6. Social Media Accounts
Dr Laura Williams maintains a public profile on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. The purpose and nature of use of social media by Dr Laura Williams is detailed in a separate Media Policy available here.
Dr Laura Williams strongly recommends that those wishing to enquire about or engage professional psychology services provided by Dr Laura Williams do not make an enquiry through the social media accounts of Dr Laura Williams, as privacy cannot be guaranteed and social media inboxes are not routinely checked.
Dr Laura Williams requests that all enquiries and contact pertaining to professional services is done through the contact form at www.drlaurawilliams.com or via e-mail at [email protected]
Dr Laura Williams welcomes any queries, comments or requests about this policy, which can be sent to [email protected].
