The GDPR replaces the 1998 Data Protection Act to ensure that your personal and sensitive, confidential data is kept private and held securely, being processed in the way that we have agreed. It is there to protect your rights as a consumer of a service that might involve your identifiable data, e.g. your name and address or whether you have a specific condition. It also covers any session records, text messages or emails we might exchange.
I am regulated by the CNHC, an organisation that stipulates I must hold your data for 8 years after your final session, unless you are a child, in which case I must hold your data until your 25th birthday, or unless you are 17 when treatment ends and then I must keep it until your 26th birthday. Therefore, all records will be deleted in the January after the above retention scales. This is in line with NHS regulations for holding data.
I collect information about why you are using the service, a small amount of medical information and a small amount of information about your lifestyle and significant others, (family, friends etc.) alongside brief session notes. This information enables me to provide a high quality service to you, ensuring I am equipped with the knowledge of our previous discussions prior to each session. Your contact details / address and Doctors details will only be used with your explicit consent or under extreme circumstances threatening your safety or the safety of others.
Under the GDPR you can make a request in writing to me, for all your records to be deleted. In this case I would contact my insurance company and if they agreed to it, all your paper records would be shredded with a cross shredding machine and any electronic data such as emails or text messages would be permanently deleted from the devices they are stored on. I would have to save the request for deletion that you made but would not save any other data.
Hardcopy documents - All hardcopies are stored in a locked cabinet in a locked.
Text messages - My mobile phone is secured with both a pin code and fingerprint lock. I also use a separate mobile phone for work and personal aspects.
E-mails - My email account requires a user name and password. All emails held by me will be deleted when the content is no longer needed, i.e. has been acted upon or therapy has ended.
Email attachments - Any attachments sent by email to you containing personal or sensitive information would be password protected and the password would be sent to you via text message.
Electronic documents - Any electronic documents e.g. A letter to your GP, or an invoice, are password protected and stored on a password protected computer if they contain personal or sensitive information.
Everything we talk about during our sessions is strictly confidential between you and me. To ensure I am doing my job effectively and that I have the right support, I may discuss elements of our sessions with my supervisor*. During these discussions I do not disclose any details that may identify you to my supervisor, and my supervisor also adheres to the GDPR.
To ensure your confidentiality, if we see each other socially, or outside of our sessions I will not engage in any conversation regarding your therapy. You are welcome to talk with other people about the therapy you are receiving, but I am obligated by GDPR law to ensure that your confidentiality is protected.
As I adhere to the GDPR, any contact, relating to you, with other health care professionals would only be made with your signed consent, e.g. If I were to write to your GP to notify them of your treatment with me, and to notify them of the treatment ending. This would only happen if it seemed that it would be particularly beneficial to you or if I need verification that Hypnotherapy is suitable for you. I would only do this if you were to sign the specific consent for this at the time, if such a decision is made.