Your privacy is important to me

About the General Data Protection Regulations, 2018 (GDPR)
The GDPR replaces the 1998 Data Protection Act to ensure your personal and sensitive, confidential data is kept private and held securely, being processed in the way that you have agreed to. It is there to protect your rights as a consumer of a service or product 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 may exchange during or after your treatment.

Length of time your information is held for
I am regulated by the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council which stipulates I am bound to hold your data for 8 years after your final session. Unless you are a child, in which case I am bound to hold your data until your 25th birthday, unless you are 17 when treatment ends and then I must keep it until your 26th birthday. Therefore, all your records will be deleted in the January after the above retention scales. This is in line with NHS regulations for holding data.

Reducing this length of time
Under the GDPR you can make a request in writing to me, for all your records to be deleted. In this case 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 you made but would not save any other data. This may not happen immediately if the CNHC or my insurance insist that I have a legal basis in which to hold your data. In some circumstances my insurance companies legal team may want to verify information I send out.
​If you would like to exercise any of these rights please contact me on the details below:
Beau Honey Hypnotherapy, Ferndale, Wonersh Common, Guildford  GU5 0PH
Telephone: 01483 894 153
Email [email protected]

Why I keep a record of your information
During your treatment I may collect information about; why you are using the service, a small amount of medical information and a small amount of information about your important others, 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 doctor's details will only be used with your explicit consent.

Ensuring your information is held securely

• Hardcopy documents: these are stored in a locked cabinet in a locked room
• Text messages: my work phone is secured with a pin code
• Emails: my email account requires a username and password
  
  

Confidentiality 
Everything we talk about during our sessions is strictly confidential between you and me.
If we come across each other outside of a session I may smile but to ensure your confidentiality I will not engage in any conversation. You are of course welcome to share details about the therapy you are receiving with other people if you wish.
Adhering to the GDPR any contact I may have, 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 then notify them of the treatment ending, I would only do this if you were to sign the specific consent for this.

Exceptions
In order to safeguard you and the people around you, if you were to disclose that you were aiming to carry out harm to yourself or someone else, then under my “Duty of Care” I am obligated by law to inform the relevant authorities. This is to support you to live well, and I would always aim to discuss this with you prior to contacting anyone.
If I was issued with a police warrant or court order for your information, by law I would also have to provide them with your information.