PRIVACY POLICY
Information collected
-
Title
-
Name
-
Address
-
DOB
-
Gender
-
Contact details
-
Next of kin details
-
Medical and clinical information
Agencies we might share your information with (only in extremis)
-
Police
-
Other emergency services
Purpose for processing
OCD Excellence requires the above information in order to provide a service to you. We only
request the minimum amount of information and ensure that is it stored securely by ourselves.
Length of time we keep your information
Your information will be kept on file for 5 years from your last interaction with us. However, you do have the right to contact us and ask for your information to be removed prior to that where there is no obligation or statutory requirement for it to be kept. You can exercise this right by contacting info@ocdexcellence.com
Updates to this privacy notice
We will continually review and update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our processes and
procedures, as well as to comply with changes in the law. When such changes occur, we will revise the
"last updated" date at the bottom of this notice. We encourage you to periodically review this notice and
to be informed of how OCD Excellence is protecting your information.
Website privacy and cookies notice
​
OCD Excellence collects holds and processes information, including personal information to allow it to provide services effectively. OCD Excellence recognises that this information is important to its customers and that it is responsible to the customers for the information it holds about them. As such, it takes seriously its responsibilities under Data Protection legislation to ensure that any personal information it collects and uses is done so proportionately, correctly and safely. The privacy notice below explains how OCD Excellence uses information about you and the ways in which we protect your privacy.
​
What is personal data?
Personal data means any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified, in particular by reference to an identifier.
This definition provides for a wide range of personal identifiers to constitute personal data, including name, identification number, location data or online identifier, reflecting changes in technology and the way organisations collect information about people.
What level of personal data is used?
OCD Excellence collects, holds and uses personal data to allow it to provide services on behalf of its clients. These services include, amongst others, counselling individual sessions, assessments and individual and group intensive treatments.
Why we use personal information?
OCD Excellence will use your personal data for a limited number of purposes, and at all times within the rules set out in Data Protection legislation.
We will process personal data for the following purposes:
-
For the purpose for which you provided the information. e.g. processing information to tailor counselling to yourself and your specific conditions (both environmental and personal).
-
To allow OCD Excellence to be able to communicate and provide services appropriate to your needs.
-
To ensure that OCD Excellence meets its legal requirements, including obligations imposed under the Race Relations Act and Health and Safety Acts.
-
To process financial transactions including finance agreements and payments
-
Where you have consented to the processing.
-
Where necessary to protect individuals from harm or injury.
-
OCD Excellence will use your personal data, after it has been anonymised, to allow the statistical analysis of data to allow OCD Excellence to effective target and plan the provision of services.
-
To deliver services and support to you, to manage those services, to monitor the quality of services provided and to plan new and updated services.
-
To train staff once anonymised
-
Where we need to investigate any worries or complaints you have about your services.
Customer record
OCD Excellence is working on improving how it provides services. OCD Excellence holds a confidential customer record, comprising of those details provided by you (which may include name, email, contact number and address).
The customer record will allow OCD Excellence to respond to any queries you may have in respect of the provision of services more quickly and efficiently. However, access to this record will only take place in response to any query or instruction received by yourself, and only where such access is necessary to answer or respond to the query or issue raised by yourself. Access to this is restricted and staff are required to operate within the guidelines set out in our Data Protection Policy.
Only your individual therapist has access to your clinical information.
Telephone calls
Due to confidentiality restrictions, no telephone calls or video sessions are recorded. Sometimes workshops, training sessions or conference calls may be recorded with notice by prior written arrangement.
Subscriptions
If you subscribe to any of our online information distribution methods (Blog, Newsletters etc) via our website or at any events, we will not pass your details onto any third parties, and they will be stored confidentially, in accordance with the Data Protection legislation. In order for us to provide this service to you we will need to collect and store an email address. You can unsubscribe at any time by sending an email to info@ocdexcellence.com stating that you do not wish to receive any further information.
Your rights
You have the right to request that OCD Excellence cease processing your personal data in relation to any service. Where possible, OCD Excellence will seek to comply with your request but there may be some situations where it will not be able to do this, e.g. where OCD Excellence is required to hold or process information to comply with a legal requirement.
How can you access the information we hold about you?
You are also legally entitled to request access to any records held by OCD Excellence about yourself. When we receive a request from you in writing, we must normally give you access to everything we have recorded about you. However, we will not let you see any parts of your record which contain:
-
confidential information about other people; or
-
information a that may cause serious harm to yours or someone else's physical or mental wellbeing; or
-
This applies to paper and electronic records. If you ask us, we will also let others see your care record (except if one of the points above applies), provided you give written consent detailing who, and for how long they may have access.
How can you request correction of inaccurate information?
Whilst OCD Excellence tries to ensure that any personal data it holds about you is correct, there may be situations where the information it holds is no longer accurate. If this is the case, please contact us so that any errors can be investigated and corrected. You should let us know if you disagree with something written on your file. You may not always be able to change or remove the information. However, we will correct factual inaccuracies and may include your comments in the records.
How do we keep information secure?
We will take appropriate steps to make sure we hold records about you (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and we will only make them available to those who have a right to see them. Our security includes:
-
encryption
-
access controls on systems
-
security training for all staff
How long do we keep your personal information?
We will only store your personal information for as long as is necessary. You have the right to request that OCD Excellence stop processing your personal data in relation to any service. However, if this request is approved this may cause delays or prevent us delivering a service to you and may affect our ability to review services from that date. Records will be kept in accordance with our retention policy.
Who will we share your personal information with?
We do not share your personal information with any organisation or person not employed by OCD Excellence.
We may also be legally required to share your personal information when we feel there is a good reason that is more important than protecting your confidentiality. This does not happen often, but we may share your information:
-
for the detection and prevention of crime/fraudulent activity; or
-
if there are serious risks to the public, our staff or to other professionals;
-
to protect a child; or
-
to protect adults who are thought to be at risk, for example if they are frail, confused or cannot understand what is happening to them.
The law does not allow us to share your information without your permission, unless there is proof that someone is at risk. This risk must be identified as being serious before we can go against your right to confidentiality. When we are worried about your physical safety or we feel that we need to take action to protect you from being harmed in other ways, we will discuss this with you and, if possible, get your permission to tell others about your situation. We may still be legally required to share your information if we believe the risk to others is serious enough to do so. There may also be rare occasions when the risk to others is so great that we need to share the information straight away. If this is the case, we will make sure that we record the information we share and our reasons for doing so.
Wherever possible we will only use anonymised, pseudonymised or de-personalised information.
We do not sell personal information to any other organisation for the purposes of direct marketing.
Where can I get advice?
If you would like further information or if you have any concerns about how OCD Excellence is handling your personal data, these can be raised at email: info@ocdexcellence.com
For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number. Alternatively, visit www.ico.org.uk or email casework@ico.org.uk
Website cookies
To make this site simpler, we sometimes place small data files on your computer. These are known as cookies. Most big websites do this too. They improve things by:
-
remembering settings, so you don't have to keep re-entering them whenever you visit a new page
-
remembering information you've given (eg your postcode) so you don't need to keep entering it
-
measuring how you use the website so we can make sure it meets your needs.
By using our website, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device. We do not use cookies on our main website that collect information about your browsing habits in order to make advertising relevant to you and your interests.
Our cookies aren't used to identify you personally. They're just here to make the site work better for you. Indeed, you can manage and/or delete these small files as you wish.
Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)
We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use this site. We do this to make sure it's meeting its users' needs and to understand how we could do it better.
Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here and what you click on. We do not collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify who you are.
We also collect information on the number of times particular search terms are used and the number of failed searches. We use this information to improve access to the site and to identify gaps in the information content so we can plan appropriate expansion of the system. Unless the law allows us to, we do not:
-
share any of the information we collect about you with others
-
use this information to identify individuals.
Third party cookies
We have links to our videos from YouTube and feeds from other websites such as Facebook and Twitter. These third party websites place cookies on your device when watching or viewing these pages.
Disabling cookies
You can stop cookies being downloaded on to your computer or other device by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. If you do this, however, you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.
There is more information about how to delete or stop using cookies at www.aboutcookies.org. If you wish, you can also opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics.
Further information on the use of personal information can be found at www.ico.org.uk
Updates to this privacy notice
OCD Excellence will continually review and update this privacy notice to reflect changes in our services and feedback from service users, as well as to comply with changes in the law. When such changes occur, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of this notice. We encourage you to periodically visit the Council's web site to review this notice and to be informed of how OCD Excellence is protecting your information.
The privacy notice was last updated on 25th March 2020.