Privacy Policy

Who we are

Sunny Speech and Language Therapy Ltd (Sunny SLT Ltd) is an independent therapy service founded by Catherine Heaton-Tabard, a qualified speech and language therapist and experienced English teacher, who is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT). All employees are insured and have an enhanced DBS certificate.

Sunny SLT Ltd delivers an independent speech and language therapy service to children in home and/or educational settings.

Sunny SLT Ltd operates at www.sunnyspeechtherapy.co.uk

Sunny SLT Ltd is committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by clients.

Collection of Personal Information

Information about your child may be collected through written or spoken communication from parents/carers.

With parental consent, information may also be gathered from other professionals working with your child, such as pre-school educators, teaching staff, and NHS speech and language therapists. We may also collect information about family members related to your child, including contact details and relevant medical and developmental history.

You may use the Sunny SLT Ltd website without providing any personal information. However, if you wish to enquire via the website, you are requested to provide relevant contact information, such as your name, email address and 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 Sunny SLT Ltd, then this personal information will be deleted once your enquiry has been dealt with. If your child is seen by Sunny SLT Ltd their details may be added to their personal record, which you can request information about.

Our Use of Personal Information

Personal information collected via Sunny SLT Ltd 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 electronic-based system and processed in confidence by Sunny SLT 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 records. Unless we are required to do so by law, we will not disclose any personal information collected to any person other than those set out above. We do not employ agents to process personal data, such as specialist mailing companies, to send out communications. We do not give or sell client details to any third party.

How We Use 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 utilise a secure, cloud-based system called “WriteUpp,” which is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Before being uploaded to this system, documents are temporarily stored on a OneDrive cloud-based system, which is only accessible via a password held by the individual therapist. Documents which contain confidential information, such as reports and programmes, are also individually protected from the outset. Any paper-based confidential information, such as assessments, is stored securely in accordance with the Data Protection Regulations. Videos may be taken of clients with parental consent. These are temporarily stored on an encrypted and password-protected tablet. The therapist may then view these to make notes in the client's record. The video is deleted as soon as it has been processed and is no longer required. The minimum amount of confidential information will be taken out of the speech and language therapist’s office. When your child’s information is taken out of the office, it will be kept with the therapist. In accordance with the law, all records will be kept securely until your child is 25 years old. After this time the records relating to your child will be destroyed.

Meeting Our Professional Obligations

It is a legal requirement for all speech and language therapists to be registered with the Health Care Professionals Council (HCPC). The HCPC has clear standards of conduct, performance and ethics that all registrants must adhere to. These standards impact the way we process and share information.

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.”

For further information, the full document can be found: https:/www.hcpc-uk.org/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/

UK Data Protection Law and EU General Data Protection Regulations

Data Protection Law lays down wide-ranging rules, backed up by criminal sanctions, for the processing of information about identifiable, living individuals. It also grants individuals specific rights regarding personal data held about them by others. Catherine Heaton-Tabard is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a Data Controller. You can view her ICO registrations by visiting www.ico.org.uk

Our Lawful Basis for Processing Personal Information

Our lawful basis for processing and storing personal information is one of “legitimate interest” (under Article 6 of GDPR). We cannot provide an adequate service to your child without processing their personal information. As it is both a necessity for our service delivery and beneficial to your child, we have a legitimate interest in processing and storing their 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 the 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.

Our Responsibilities

We are committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your child’s record. We actively implement security measures to ensure that their information is safe and regularly audit these measures to ensure their effectiveness. We will not release your personal details to any third party without seeking your consent, unless this is allowed for or required by law. We continually work to ensure compliance with current data protection regulations.

Your Rights

Data protection legislation gives you, as a parent/ guardian, various rights. The most important of these are as follows:

You have the right to a copy of the 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 (address will be supplied at the point of contact). Please contact us by telephone or email to request the address. Once provided, please submit your application in writing rather than by email, so we can verify the original signature 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 working days of receipt of all the necessary information.

If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please get in touch with catherine@sunnyspeechtherapy.co.uk