Privacy Policy

This document provides information on how Harmony Minds handles your personal information. The information we hold is confidential and often sensitive in nature. Any personal information we hold about you is stored and processed under our data protection policy, in line with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

Information is retained in line with Department of Health recommendations. Information on child and adult patients are retained for a period of seven years.

This document also provides additional details to accompany specific statements about privacy that you may see when you use our website (such as cookies).

Data Controller

Harmony Minds is the data controller. Additional staff working within Harmony Minds are data controllers for the patients they work with directly. All associates are required to sign a contract agreeing to comply with GDPR.

Important: By submitting personal data to us and/or by using our website, you consent to the processing of all personal data you submit in the manner and for the purposes described below.

This privacy policy was last updated on 30th May 2024.

Information We Collect About You

At initial contact, we will ask for some personal information about you/your child. This may include:

  • Full name
  • Postal address
  • Email address
  • Telephone number
  • Date of birth
  • Demographics (e.g., sex, gender, ethnicity)
  • School details
  • Relationships and children
  • GP details
  • Health insurance details (where applicable)
  • NHS number (if available)

We may also ask for additional information, such as the difficulties experienced by you/your child, your family, and details about your/your child’s past medical history, current difficulties, and any concerns and risks – this is classed as sensitive information and is necessary to enable us to offer the service you have sought from us.

We collect information about you when you complete the contact form on our webpage. The contact form asks for your name, email address, and the reason for your enquiry. We need this information to respond appropriately to your enquiry. We currently only accept referrals via emails sent directly or forwarded from our website.

If our services are commissioned for you by third parties (your GP, local authorities, clinical commissioning groups, etc.), they will provide us with a variety of information, including your name, postal address, telephone number, email address, and medical/educational history.

We will ask only for data that is adequate, relevant, and not excessive for those purposes. We also collect rating scales, past professional reports, and school reports when relevant.

How We Use the Information We Collect About You

We will use your personal information to provide the services you have requested from us. Collecting this data helps us to:

  • Communicate with you so that we can inform you or remind you about your appointments with us (including by email, in writing, or by text message)
  • Deliver the correct service to you/your child
  • Conduct a thorough and appropriate assessment
  • Invoice you/your insurance company for the services we provide (the electronic accounts package we use keeps financial data/invoices indefinitely. We will manually delete the records after the period of 7 years required by HMRC)
  • Communicate (when necessary and agreed with you) with relevant third parties to support your treatment and manage risk

Your information is shared with appropriate staff members working with Harmony Minds and involved in your care. These professionals understand their legal responsibility to maintain confidentiality and follow practice procedures to ensure this. We may also share your information with your/your child’s GP, school, CAMHS/PCAMHS, social services, or other professionals such as a psychiatrist. We will ask for your consent to do this.

There may be instances when we need to share information, such as when there is a legal obligation for us to do so or when the information concerns risk of harm to the patient, or risk of harm to another child or adult. We will discuss such a proposed disclosure with you unless we believe that doing so could increase the level of risk to you or someone else.

We will not share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.

Where We Keep the Information

Paper-based patient records and notes are kept to a minimum and stored in a locked filing cabinet by the lead clinician involved in your care.

Access to your personal information is restricted on a ‘need-to-know’ basis only, i.e., for those concerned directly with your care and your account.

Sensitive personal information will only be sent to patients/parents by email if they have given prior consent for us to do so. Any computers or mobile devices containing personal information are password protected or protected with a passcode/thumbprint scanner.

Data is backed up regularly.

If you contact us via the website contact form or directly by email, we will keep the information in an online filing system that is compliant with General Data Protection Regulations.

How Can I See All the Information You Have About Me?

You have a right to access the information that we hold about you/your child and to receive a copy. You should submit your request to the Data Protection lead in writing or by email. We will aim to provide the relevant data within 30 days and this may be subject to a small admin fee.

You can also request us to:

  • Correct any information that you believe is inaccurate or incomplete. If we have disclosed that information to a third party, we will let them know about the change
  • Erase information we hold, although you should be aware that, for legal reasons, we may be unable to erase certain information, for example, information about your medical treatment
  • Stop using your information – for example, sending you reminders for appointments
  • Supply your information electronically to another health professional

What Happens in the Event of a Data Breach?

To prevent unauthorized disclosure or access to your information, we have implemented strong physical and electronic security safeguards. In the unlikely event of a data protection breach, the Data Protection lead will notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) so that their procedures can be followed. Breaches that carry any risk to data subjects must be reported to the ICO within 72 hours, together with a summary of the nature of the breach, the steps taken to reduce the risk to data subjects, and measures to prevent the breach from happening again. We will also notify all individuals whose data may have been accessed to alert them to the breach and any potential risks.

Right to Withdraw Your Consent

Some of Harmony Minds’ processing activities may be based on your consent. In these situations, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawal of your consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing conducted prior to the withdrawal.

If you withdraw your consent, Harmony Minds and third parties involved in personal data processing will cease to process your personal data, unless and to the extent the continued processing or storage is permitted or required according to applicable personal data legislation or other applicable laws and regulations. Please note that as a consequence of your withdrawal of consent, Harmony Minds may not be able to meet your requests or provide you with our services.

Complaints or Queries If you have any concerns about how we use your information and you do not feel able to discuss it with anyone within the service itself, you should contact The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745, casework@ico.org.uk).

Cookies

What is a Cookie?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites you visit. They are widely used to ensure websites work efficiently and provide insight about the volume of visitors to the website and how visitors move around the website. Cookies are sent automatically by websites as they are viewed, but to protect a user’s privacy, a computer will only permit a website to access the cookies it has sent, not the cookies sent by other sites. Users can also adjust the settings on their computer to restrict the number of cookies it accepts or notify them each time a cookie is sent. For further information about cookies, please visit AboutCookies.org.

What Sort of Cookies Do We Use on Our Website?

There are several cookies that are stored when you visit our website. These are used by us to monitor the performance of the website.

We use Google Analytics, a popular web analytic service, to analyse how users use the site. It counts the number of visitors and tells us things about their behaviour overall, such as the typical length of stay on the site or the average number of pages a user views. We do not directly control these cookies. You can check Google Analytics’ privacy policy for more information.

Can I Browse Your Website Without Receiving Any Cookies?

Cookies do not stay around forever, and your web browser will eventually delete them. When a website stores a cookie, it states how long the cookie should stay on the computer – this can be for the current visit only or for a period of time, for example, one week.

You can choose to delete our, or any website’s, cookies from your web browser at any time. For help on how to do this, go to AboutCookies.org. You can also set your web browser to not accept any cookies if you wish.

Please note that we only use cookies to enhance your online experience, and no personal data is collected from you through this process.

Harmony Minds – Terms and Conditions

Welcome to Harmony Minds. If you continue to browse and use this website, you agree to comply with and be bound by the following terms and conditions of use, which (together with our Privacy Policy) govern Harmony Minds’ relationship with you regarding this website. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our site.

The content of the pages of this website is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice. Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we make, as they are binding on you.

Our Liability

Harmony Minds manages self-employed practitioners only and is not the provider of services to clients. The service provider shall always be the practitioner. All of our practitioners are self-employed and are regulated by their respective regulatory bodies. Each practitioner has their own set of terms and conditions, and any therapeutic contract will be formed between you and your chosen practitioner.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data, or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it.

Site Content

Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness, or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this website for any particular purpose. We acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors, and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent of the law. Your use of any information or materials on this website is entirely at your own risk, for which we shall not be liable. It shall be your own responsibility to ensure that any products, services, or information available through this website meet your specific requirements.

The site content is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely or a tool for diagnosis. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking or refraining from any action based on the free content on our site.

We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on our site. Such links should not be interpreted as an endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

This site contains material that is owned by or licensed to us. This material includes, but is not limited to, the design, layout, look, appearance, and graphics. Reproduction is prohibited.

Harmony Minds Services

Personal Information We Collect and How We Use It

We will only collect, use, and share your personal information where we are satisfied that we have an appropriate legal basis to do so. Subject to your consent if required by law, we may collect the following types of personal information about you:

  • Identifiers such as your name or account name
  • Contact information including telephone number, email address, or postal address
  • Username and password
  • Financial account information
  • Your user activity including access and purchase history
  • Information about the products and services we provide to you
  • Information about your preferences including marketing preferences
  • Information collected through your internet-based activity (see “Cookies” for additional information)
  • Information you provide in any communication with us including correspondence transcripts and call recordings
  • Information you provide when you participate in any blog, community, or forum on our site
  • Geolocation

How We Use Your Personal Information

We use your personal information to provide our services. In providing our services, we may use your personal information to:

  • Create, maintain, or provide service for your account
  • Process or fulfill requests from you
  • Respond to customer service requests from you
  • Verify your information
  • Process payments
  • Undertake activities to maintain the quality, safety, or integrity of our services
  • Maintain data security including detecting and responding to security incidents and protecting you and us from fraud
  • Monitor our site including gathering usage data and other analytic information that enables us to maintain and improve our services
  • Other uses that are required for us to meet our legal, contractual, or regulatory requirements

Sources of Personal Information

We collect information from various sources to provide our services to you, to analyse and improve our services, and to communicate with you (e.g., to send you updates or notices about our organization, or emails about products or services that we believe may be of interest to you). The personal information that we collect and the purpose of our collecting such information is as follows:

Information That You Provide to Us

We collect personal information that you provide to us when you set up an account with us, use our services, or communicate with us. For example, if you register for an online account with us, we may request your name, contact information, and payment information. Providing us with personal information about yourself is voluntary, and you can always choose not to provide certain information, but then you may not be able to take advantage of or participate in some of our service features. Results from our services will be stored by Harmony Minds to develop the service and for research purposes.

The Business Purpose for Our Processing Your Personal Information

We may use your personal information to enable the following business purposes:

  • Detecting and managing security incidents or fraudulent activity
  • Providing customer service, fulfilling requests, and other functions directly related to our services
  • Maintaining our software including debugging and repairing errors
  • Maintaining the quality of our services and developing enhancements and improvements to meet our customer needs

Applicable Law

Your use of this website and any dispute arising out of such use of the website is subject to the laws of England.

© 2024 Harmony Minds