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Privacy Policy

1) Who We Are
Lorna Muir Therapies Ltd (T/A The Muir Practice) is registered with Companies House (no. SC709641). The Muir Practice delivers independent speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and autism assessments to children and adults.
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2) Our Contact Details
The Muir Practice
Clinic Address: Burnfield House Business Centre, 4 Burnfield Avenue, Giffnock, G46 7TL
Phone Number: 07311 280 831
Email: info@themuirpractice.co.uk
Website: www.themuirpractice.co.uk
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3) Our Responsibilities
The Muir Practice works in accordance with professional guidelines from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, The Health and Care Professionals Council and the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice. We are committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by clients.

Legally all Therapists must be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council which has standards of conduct, performance and ethics. All members must adhere to these standards which include safe and effective practice in relation to confidentiality and record keeping.
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Personal information is processed strictly for the purpose of providing a quality service to you. With your written consent, this includes communicating appropriately and effectively with others as part of our duty of care to you (a client aged 16 and over) or you and your child (if a parent or person with parental responsibility referring a child under 16).
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Lorna Muir Therapies Ltd. is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a Data Controller. The registration number is ZB219530 and you can view the registration by visiting: https://ico.org.uk/ESDWebPages/Entry/ZB219530
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4) The type of personal information we collect
We currently collect and process the following information

  1. At the point of enquiry:
    Basic information, provided by you (via email, website contact form, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, telephone discussion) which identifies you individually such as name(s), date of birth, email address and/or phone number as well as the reason for your enquiry.
  2. If you or your child becomes a regular client we may need to collect further information such as:
  1. Information about health (‘Special Category Data’) and educational history
  2. Completed questionnaires, assessment forms and checklists, session notes, therapy programmes, evaluations and response.
  3. Correspondence during therapy
  4. Videos may be taken of clients with parental consent in the course of therapy sessions. These are temporarily stored on an encrypted and password protected tablet. Videos are also shared with parents upon request via SeeSaw.

Information provided by a third party, with your consent, such as NHS Speech and Language Therapist, teachers or nursery staff or another professional.
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5) How we use personal information

  1. We use the information that you have given us for one of the following reasons:
  1. To prepare, plan and provide speech and language therapy services appropriate for your/your child’s needs
  2. Communication (via email, phone, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or post) to provide you with information and services you request, to fulfil the contracts we have agreed together or to notify you of any changes to the service
  3. Internal record keeping to plan and provide services which meet professional standards
  4. Clinical audit to assess and improve our service.
  5. Management and administration to operate the business efficiently, including financial records, accounting, and marketing.
  6. Unless required to do so by law, we will not disclose any personal information collected to any person other than as set out above.

6) Our Lawful Basis for Processing Information

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

  1. Your consent and
  2. We have a legitimate interest

As it is both a necessity for service delivery and of benefit to you, our lawful basis for processing your personal data is one of ‘legitimate interest’. For specific data, it is one of ‘consent’.
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Information relating to an individual’s health, including any medical diagnosis, is classified as ‘Special Category Data’. The GDPR specifies that health professionals who are ‘legally bound to professional secrecy’ may have a lawful basis for processing such 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.
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Where we rely on consent, rather than ‘legitimate interest’, to process specific data, you can withdraw consent at any time. This, for example, applies to the images, video or audio recordings used for assessment or therapy.

Please be aware that when a child reaches a certain age or level of maturity, they may be required to give consent for their own personal data to be used.
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In most circumstances, it is assumed that a child’s consent is not required for sharing their personal data with their parents or a person with parental responsibility. However, if a child expressly withholds this consent, we may be bound to confidentiality unless there is a professional or legal requirement to disclose.

7) How we store your personal information

  1. Transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we endeavour to protect your privacy, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
    Personal information is stored electronically in a double password-protected format. Any paper-based information is scanned and stored along with electronic notes. The original paper documentation is destroyed. Case notes are archived when your case is closed. Case notes are purged when archived so that no information is retained any longer than is necessary.

Personal data is retained securely and only for as long as necessary for a legitimate and lawful reason. After this time, all data is securely destroyed unless there is a legal reason for it to be kept longer.
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8) Information Retention Times

Case notes - If 16 or under at the time of the final contact, until the age of 25. If 17, when last seen, until the age of 26. If 18 or older, for 8 years after the final contact.
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9) Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

  1. Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
  2. Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
  3. Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
  4. Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  5. Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  6. Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances. 

If you believe that any information we are holding about you is incorrect or incomplete or you want us to delete or stop processing your data please contact us as soon as possible. Requests will be considered on an individual basis as there may be a compelling reason to refuse if the data falls within a ‘legitimate interest’. Please also be aware that the health data is a ‘special category’ in which the right to erasure does not apply.
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You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
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Please contact us by email info@themuirpractice.co.uk, by phone: 07311 280 831 or by post: The Muir Practice, Burnfield House Business Centre, 4 Burnfield Avenue, Giffnock, G46 7TL  if you wish to make a request.
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10) How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at info@themuirpractice.co.uk, 07311 280 831 or by post to The Muir Practice, Burnfield House Business Centre, 4 Burnfield Avenue, Giffnock, G46 7TL.
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You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
 
We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the website. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it.