I treat my clients personal information with great discretion Privacy Statement
To give a good treatment , as a therapist I need to take notes and keep a file on my clients when they enter therapy. I am even legally obligated to do so by the WGBO. Your file contains my notes about your health situation and the course of the treatment and evaluations.
Sometimes I include information about a client that I have requested from another health care professional, for example, your doctor. I will only do this with the express permission of my client.
- I do my utmost to protect your privacy and in practice this means that I:
- Deal with your medical and personal information with great discretion,
- Ensure that no unauthorised persons have access to your personal details.
- As your therapist, I am the only person who has access to the information in your file and I have a legal obligation to keep professional secrecy.
However, the information in your file can be used for the following purposes:
- To inform other healthcare professionals, for example if the therapy is completed or if a client is referred from me to another therapist or healthcare professional. This will only occur with my client’s express permission.
- In case someone takes over my cases due to my absence.
- To be used during intercollegial consultations, once the client has been rendered anonymous.
- A few details from your file will be used for the financial administration, so that I can compose an invoice.
- If I want to use your personal details for any other purposes, I wil lfirst inform you of my intentions and explicitly ask for your permission to do so.
The file I keep of our therapy sessions will be kept for 20 years in accordance with the law on the treatment contract.
PRIVACY ON THE INVOICE
On the invoice I will put the following information as required by the health insurance companies, so you can declare the invoice to your health insurer.
- Your name and address
- The date of the treatment
- The barest of descriptions of the treatment such as ‘ hypnotherapy consultation’.
- The cost of the consultation