Alison Calow Children's Speech & Language Therapist               

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Terms and Conditions of Service

Terms and conditions set out the expectations for the service user and the therapist. They govern the contract between us and ensure that both parties are protected in the unlikely event that a disagreement occurs. Please read my terms and conditions and contact me if you have any questions. You will need to sign a consent form to say you have read and agree to these terms and conditions as well as to the privacy policy.  If your child is to be seen in school and you are not going to be present, please email me the form before your child's initial appointment.  I will not be able to start work with your child until I have a signed declaration from you.

1. Initial Appointment (Assessment)

1.1. The date, time, location and fee for the initial appointment will be confirmed with you by phone and/or email.  You will also be sent a privacy policy statement, a copy of the terms and conditions of service, a consent form to be signed, and a parent questionnaire to complete.  The consent form and questionnaire must be returned to me at the first appointment, or prior to the first appointment if you are not going to be present.

1.2. An initial appointment usually lasts approximately 1 hour and may involve further discussion of relevant information stated in the initial questionnaire, discussion with nursery/school staff if assessment done in an educational setting, observations of your child at play or in class, and informal and/or formal assessments. 
1.3. At the end of the initial appointment, I will feedback my findings to you and explain whether your child requires further speech and language therapy support. This may be further assessment, or therapy.

1.4. I will let you know whether I have the correct skills and experience to meet their needs.

1.5. I will signpost you to other professionals if necessary.

1.6. A written report will only be provided if agreed at the point of booking the initial assessment.

2. Further Appointments

2.1. Your child must have attended an initial assessment appointment with me before commencing therapy. This enables me to plan appropriate therapy.

2.2. Following assessment, a block of five therapy sessions is usually offered, and the need for further input will be reviewed at the end of this block.  If further input is required, subsequent blocks of five sessions may be booked, and progress reviewed at the end of each block.

2.3. Therapy sessions can be arranged in your home and/or your child’s educational setting.

2.4. Therapy sessions usually last an hour unless otherwise agreed.  This hour may include discussion of progress, direct work with your child, observations (if appropriate), demonstration/explanation of follow up activities with parents and/or education staff.  Where needed, further assessment may be undertaken.

2.5. The fee also includes time spent preparing resources prior to the session, planning, and writing up case notes.

2.6. Therapy sessions will be agreed and booked in advance where possible.

3. Fees

3.1. Fees for therapy sessions can be paid on completion of each session, or a 10% discount is offered for advance payment of a block of five sessions.

3.2. Additional reports, meetings or visits will be invoiced once completed.

3.3. I will seek your agreement prior to undertaking any additional work that will incur further fees.

3.4. Please refer to ‘Services & Fees’ on www.salt4kids.co.uk for current fees.

4. Fee Changes

4.1. Fees are subject to an annual review.

4.2. Existing clients will be given 8 weeks’ notice of any changes in fees

4.3. Fee increases will not apply to therapy blocks which have already started or sessions which have already been booked or invoiced

5. Payment terms

5.1. Invoices must be paid within 14 days of the invoice date.

5.2. My preferred method of payment is via bank transfer.

5.3. Cash or cheque payments are also accepted.

6. Non-Payment

The following process will apply in the event of non-payment:

6.1. I will contact you to remind you that payment is overdue.

6.2. If an invoice is not paid within 7 days thereafter, you will receive written notice that therapy is suspended pending payment in full

6.3. If payment is not received in full within 7 days of therapy being suspended, I reserve the right to refer the matter to a solicitor and to commence legal action.

7. Health Insurance

7.1. If you are claiming fees through private health insurance, you will need to pay my fees in full in accordance with the payment terms above and then claim this back through your insurance. A receipt can be issued to you in this instance.

7.2. It is recommended that you check with your insurance company prior to booking appointments to ensure that you are covered.

8. Travel

8.1. No fee will be charged for travel within 5 miles of my base at SK7 3BW.  For distances over 5 miles, travel will be charged at 35p a mile.

8.2. Travel time is charged at £30 per hour, pro-rata.

8.3. Travel times are calculated using TomTom My Drive Route Planner.

8.4. All journeys are calculated from my base at SK7 3BW.

9. Cancellations

9.1.  If I need to cancel an appointment I will let you know as soon as possible and reschedule the appointment.

9.2.  I understand that there may be certain situations (such as illness or family circumstances) which mean that you need to cancel an appointment at short notice. If you do need to cancel an appointment, please contact me as soon as possible.

9.3. The session will be refunded in full if you contact me before 9am on the day of the appointment.

9.4. Appointments cancelled after 9am on the day, may incur a cancellation fee of £35.

10. Non-Attendance

10.1. The travel time and mileage costs will apply in the event of non-attendance. Non-attendance includes:

  • If you are not in when I come to an appointment at your home.
  • If your child is not at school or pre-school when I attend an arranged visit.

10.2.  In the event of repeated non-attendance, then the full session fee will apply.

10.2. It is your responsibility to inform me if your child is not going to be at school or preschool for an appointment.

11. Reports and Programmes

11.1. Once therapy has started, a programme of your child's targets will be written by the end of the first block of therapy (if further input is to continue).

11.2. Reports will be supplied to you on request.

11.3. An additional fee calculated by reference to hourly rates will be charged for writing reports.

11.4. Reports and/or programmes can be shared by you with other professionals as you choose.

11.5. Reports and/or programmes will be given to you directly at a session or sent to you, password protected, via email.

12. Resources

12.1. Unless otherwise agreed the cost of any resources provided to you are included in the session fees.

12.2. A copy of resources for school or pre-school can also be provided at no extra charge.

13. Data Protection  Refer to privacy policy

13.1. I am registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a Data Controller. You can view the ICO registration by visiting: www.ico.org.uk/ESDWebPages/Entry/ZA009437

13.2. All client details, case notes and correspondence will be stored securely and treated confidentially according to General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018.

13.3. Documentation is stored using the enterprise grade Microsoft Office 365 Cloud Platform secured using Multi Factor Authentication.  Where documentation is stored locally, this is on hardware running Windows 10 operating system featuring full disk encryption safeguarding data in the event of loss or theft.  Documents which contain confidential information such as initial questionnaires, therapy casenotes, reports and programmes are also individually password protected from the outset.

13.4. Any paper based confidential information such as assessments, letters, reports from other agencies are stored securely in accordance with Data Protection Regulations.

13.5. Client phone numbers may be stored on a mobile telephone and text messages sent to Alison Calow SLT may remain on the telephone.  Alison Calow SLT will only refer to the client by their initials or first name in a text.  The mobile phone is passcode protected.
13.6. In accordance with law, all records will be kept securely until your child is 25 years old. After this time all records relating to your child will be destroyed.

13.7. You may apply in writing to access a copy of your child’s notes or to request modifications of any inaccuracies. These requests will be dealt with within 30 days.

13.7. For further information please refer to the Alison Calow SLT privacy Policy at www.salt4kids.co.uk

14. Safeguarding

14.1. For your peace of mind, I renew my DBS check annually. Service users may see my DBS enhanced disclosure at any time.

14.2. In the event of a safeguarding concern, where your child or another person is at risk of harm, I have a legal obligation to share that information with relevant professionals in line with the Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 and Children Act 2004.

15. Liaison with other professionals

15.1. To offer the best service to your child it is often important for me to liaise with other professionals involved in their care.

15.2. This includes people such as NHS Speech and Language Therapists, school/pre-school staff, your GP or other medical/educational staff.

16. Working hours and availability

16.1. I work Monday to Thursday (usually within school hours 9-3 30).

16.2. I can be contacted by email or phone and I aim to respond by my next working day, wherever possible.

17. Electronic communication

17.1. Email is not a 100% secure method of communication. With your consent, it will be used for correspondence and to send letters, reports and other documents.

17.2. Documents will be password protected and saved in Printed Document Format (PDF).

17.3. Correspondence via email to other professionals will be copied to you as necessary.

17.4. I will refer to your child in emails by their initials only.

18. Complaints

18.1. In the unlikely event that you are not satisfied with my service please contact me. I will make every attempt to resolve this through discussion.

18.2. If it is not possible for us to resolve matters, and you wish to complain formally, please contact the Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice at www.helpwithtalking.com

 

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