Hummingbird SLT Privacy Policy & Cookie Policy

Who we are

Hummingbird SLT delivers independent speech, language and communication assessment and therapy to children in early years and mainstream educational settings. It is owned and directed by Caroline Mpiana, Speech and Language Therapist, who is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), a member of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) and a member of the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP). Hummingbird SLT operates a website at www.hummingbirdslt.co.uk. Hummingbird SLT is committed to protecting the privacy of information provided by its clients.

Our lawful purpose for processing personal information

Our lawful basis for processing and storing personal information is one of 'legitimate interest' under section 6 of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). We cannot adequately deliver a service to your child without processing their personal information. As it is both a necessity for our service delivery and of benefit to your child, we have a legitimate interest to process and store their data.

Data relating to an individual's health is classified as 'Special Category Data' under section 9 of the GDPR. The regulations specify that health professionals who are 'legally bound to professional secrecy' may have a lawful basis for processing this data. Speech and Language Therapists are legally bound to keep client information confidential and it is under this condition that we process and store personal information. Confidential records are kept on all clients for 10 years after the last entry. 

It is a legal requirement for all Speech and Language Therapists to be registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). The HCPC has clear standards of conduct, performance and ethics that all registrants must adhere to.

These standards affect the way in which we process and share information, specifically:

  • Standard 2: Communicate appropriately and effectively
    "You must share relevant information, where appropriate, with colleagues involved in the care, treatment or other services provided to a service user."

  • Standard 10: Keep records of your work
    "You must keep full, clear, and accurate records for everyone you care for, treat, or provide other services to. You must complete all records promptly and as soon as possible after providing care, treatment or other services. You must keep records secure by protecting them from loss, damage or inappropriate access."

What personal information we collect about you

The types of personal information we may collect from you might include: 

In relation to children and young people (and parents/carers): 

  • Name and date of birth of child/young person in your school

  • Contact details such as email address; home address; phone numbers (of parents/carers).

  • Information relating to child/young person’s needs, including any registered disabilities.

  • Whether or not the child/young person is ‘Looked After’ or under any special guardianship arrangements. 

  • For children/young people, any other information relevant to our role such as school assessment information; our own observations and assessments, etc…

 In relation to professionals (e.g. who have attended our training courses): 

  • Email addresses and address of school where employed In relation to associates: 

  • Contact details 

How we collect personal information

Information about children in your school may be collected in spoken or written form from parents/carers. With parental consent, information may also be collected from other professionals working with children in your school (such as teaching staff, childminders and NHS Speech and Language Therapists). Where relevant to children's care we may also collect information about family members e.g. contact details for parents and relevant medical history.

You may use the Hummingbird SLT website without providing any personal information. However, if you wish to make an enquiry via the website's online submission form, you are requested to provide your name, e-mail address and contact telephone number to enable us to respond to your enquiry. You may add comments or queries which might also contain personal information.

How we use personal information

Personal information collected by us via the Hummingbird SLT website, email, telephone or face to face, is stored and used by us for the purpose of delivering speech and language intervention.

We use this information:

  • To prepare, plan and provide speech and language therapy services as appropriate 

  • To communicate with you via post, email, telephone or text message in relation to:

    • arranging / confirming and planning for appointments

    • general communication in between appointments

    • sending you reports and programmes for children in your school

    • copying you and parents into communications with other professionals involved with children in your school

    • sending you resources necessary for speech and language intervention

    • sending you invoices

  • For management and administration, for example names and addresses of clients are included in our secure accounting database

  • In relation to schools that have commissioned our services, holding information allows for effective communication about our services and support.

Any sensitive personal details are stored in a secure and confidential system and processed in confidence by Hummingbird SLT and shall only be used for the purposes of delivering appropriate speech and language therapy services.

With parental consent, information about their child's speech and language needs will be shared with other professionals involved in their child's care, when it is in the child's best interests. A record of consent is kept within the child's record.

Unless we are required to do so by law, or for child safeguarding purposes, we will not disclose any personal information collected to any person outside our organization other than as set out above.

With parental consent we may share information such as appointment dates and times and reports via email. Any email containing sensitive personal data, either in the body of the email or as an unencrypted attachment, will be sent via a HTTPS encrypted email provider.

We do not employ agents to process personal data.

We do not give or sell client details to any third parties.

How we store personal information

All information about your school, children we see in your school and their speech and language therapy is stored securely in our systems to ensure that we have a complete record of our service to them.

We use a secure electronic cloud-based system which is compliant with general data protection regulations. Prior to being uploaded to this system documents may be temporarily stored on an encrypted memory stick, which is only accessible via a password held by the speech and language therapist involved in the care of your child; or on an encrypted and password protected cloud based Google drive.

Any paper-based confidential information such as assessment record forms are stored securely in accordance with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) data protection regulations before being scanned and uploaded to your child's online record.

Once a paper document has been uploaded the original copy is shredded and disposed of. Voice recordings and videos may be taken of clients with parental consent. These are temporarily stored on a password protected tablet or encrypted cloud based Google drive.

These may then be viewed by the SLT in order to make notes in a client record within 48 hours of the child's appointment. The video is then permanently deleted. With parental consent videos of clients' speech and language intervention may be used for training purposes. These videos are temporarily stored on a password protected tablet or encrypted cloud based Google drive and deleted immediately after completion of the training for which they were used.

The minimum amount of confidential information will be taken out of the Speech and Language Therapist's office base. When your child's information is taken out of the office base it will be kept with the Speech and Language Therapist or will be locked in the boot of the Speech and Language Therapist's car (whichever is deemed to be the most secure at that time).

In accordance with law, all records will be kept securely for 10 years after the last entry. After this time all records relating to children will be destroyed.

Data Protection Regulations 2018

The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018 govern protection, processing and movement of data and the legal rights of individuals to control information about themselves.

GDPR seeks to give people more control over how organisations use their data. It enforces significant penalties for organisations that fail to comply. All speech and language therapists working for Hummingbird SLT are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as Data Controllers. You can view their ICO registrations by visiting: https://ico.org.uk/esdwebpages/search.

Our responsibilities

We are committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your child's personal information. We actively implement security measures to ensure their information is safe, and review these measures annually.

We are constantly working to ensure compliance with current data protection regulation.

We will not release your personal details to any third party without first seeking your consent, unless this is required by law.

Your rights

GDPR gives parents the following rights:

  • The right to a copy of the information we hold about their child.

  • The right to ask for their child's record to be amended if you believe that it is wrong.

  • Requests to access or to change records must be made in writing.

If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact Caroline Mpiana (Data Protection Officer) caroline@hummingbirdslt.co.uk 

Further information about data protection legislation is available through the Information Commissioner's Office www.ico.org.uk.