Privacy policy.

Data Protection & Cookies

Cookies are small data files transferred to your computer’s hard drive, through your web browser, to enable our systems to recognise your browser and to provide us with details of how our website is being used. In no way or form will a cookie give us access to your computer or any personal information about you, other than the data that you subsequently choose to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. However, doing this may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website’s functionality.

Please note that we do not directly harvest or take the data from this website.

We do not buy and sell information from third parties and we won’t pass on any details to third parties or our specialists without your express consent, unless we need to take action to protect you in an emergency situation.

Data Portability/Information Sharing

Upon registration with RYL, we will keep a record of any non-medical details, such as: your name; address; date of birth; contact telephone(s); your email address. This information will be stored on our secure data base. These details will be stored uniquely for administrative and accounting purposes only. Any clinical data stored on our secure data base is accessible only to Psychological Services Director, Jenny Dew.

In some cases, patients may be seeing more than one specialist and may want to share details of their sessions with other therapists also involved with their care. Under data protection laws, every client has the right to request that we share your details with them or transfer it to another specialist. We follow strict legal guidelines when sharing information and will only fulfil this request on receiving written and signed confirmation from the client themselves, or their next of kin or legal power of attorney (in case of mental incapacity) clearly stating the patient’s consent.

The Right To Be Forgotten

Under UK law and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) made under the Data Protection Act 1998, it is an individual’s right to have their personal data erased from any database. The right to erasure is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’. Please be aware that this right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances. One of these circumstances covers medical records, which will be archived rather than entirely deleted. In order to gain an understanding of your rights in more depth you can visit: https://www.ico.gov.uk

Information Requests

Under UK law individuals have the right to obtain access to their personal clinical information. Each specialist holds their own electronic database of records and on request will organise to provide copies of all documents held. In line with practice, copies will be provided free charge and sent to the requested medical person or the patient only.

Correspondence via email is not secure

We do understand that for a vast number of patients, emailing may be the most convenient method of communication to use in order to contact RYL.

The General Medical Council has advised us about the use of emails and their security. Although we have taken internal measurements to protect the confidentiality of our clients, please be aware that emails are not a completely secure method of communication and we recommend that you refrain from disclosing any sensitive or confidential information through email. The get in touch facility on this website is encrypted.

Should you choose to email the RYL or any of the specialists working here, we cannot be held responsible for what you choose to include in your email or any subsequent problems with interception of your email.

Disclaimer

Once a relationship has been established between any specialist and client, from the point of your initial consultation, it will remain up to the specialist to endeavour to meet and provide an exceptional level of psychological care for you. The specialists you see will provide you with the most appropriate treatment for your individual needs, however you may need to see more than one specialist. Please note that all specialists are not employed by RYL, so are personally professionally liable for the treatment services they provide as part of a program put together by us. We may decide to adjust your plan where necessary, to reflect your changing needs as you progress on the program that we build for you. This will ensure that you are receiving the best quality of care possible for your needs.

Please be aware that if you have not attended or communicated with any specialist, for over 12 months, it will be assumed that you have self-discharged from our services. Although we are unable to delete any clinical records, (see above) patients that have not been seen for over this timescale will have their files archived. This means that, should you wish to resume your treatment at any time, we are still able to obtain and have access to your old records, such as any treatment notes recorded and your medical history from earlier occasions that you have been treated with us.