Terms and Conditions for Services with Dianne Everitt and Associates
When working with any of the Psychologists at Dianne Everitt and Associates, the following terms and conditions will apply:
1. Please read these terms carefully before you book an appointment for the Services with us. These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide Services to you, how you and we may change or end the contract, what to do if there is a problem and other important information. If you think that there is a mistake in these terms, please contact us to discuss.
2. Information about us and how to contact us
2.1. Dianne Everitt & Associates is not a service for people in crisis. If you are contemplating suicide or believe you are at risk of harming yourself or others, please go to Accident & Emergency or contact your local emergency services.
2.2. If you are under the age of 18, you must ask a parent or guardian to register with us and both you and your parent/guardian must sign our registration form to state that you have read and agree to these Terms.
2.3. You can contact us by writing to us on email at info@dianneeveritt.com
2.4. If we have to contact you, we will do so by telephone or by writing to you at the email address or postal address you provided to us.
3. Our contract with you
3.1. Our acceptance of your order will take place when we agree to work with you, either verbally or in writing, at which point this contract will come into existence between you and us.
3.2. If we are unable to accept your order, we will inform you of this in writing and will not charge you for the Service. This might be because we have not got capacity to take on more patients at this time or because of other restrictions on our ability to perform the Services.
4. Who we are and the standards we hold
4.1. Dianne Everitt & Associates are a group of Clinical and Counseling Psychologists who have experience working with people with physical or mental health difficulties in NHS mental health services, hospitals and private clinics. Please see Dianne Everitt & Associates’ approach in our ‘About Us’ section on our website www.dianneeveritt.com for more information.
4.2. All of the Psychologists at Dianne Everitt and Associates are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (http://www.hpc-uk.org) and must comply with a range of standards of conduct, performance and ethics in order to maintain her practicing registration.
5. Confidentiality
5.1. Your clinical or counselling psychologist respects the boundaries of confidentiality and will not disclose information to a third party unless you have given your permission to do so. In rare cases, your information may be shared without your permission if:
there is a concern about your safety or
a concern about the safety of someone else, including a child or a vulnerable adult, or
by court order, or
if there are any suspected acts of terrorism
In such cases, if appropriate, we will attempt to inform you that we will be breaching confidentiality before doing so. This may not always be possible, and will be up to the discretion of your Psychologist.
5.2. We comply with all relevant data protection legislation (including the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Dianne Everitt & Associates are DPA and GDPR compliant. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about how we protect your data.
5.3. What you say during an online or face to face therapy session is confidential. You also have your own responsibility to ensure confidentiality.
5.3.1. The clinical or counselling psychologist will make sure that the physical room used for the either online sessions or face to face sessions is confidential and that the sessions cannot be overheard by anyone else.
5.3.2. You are responsible for making sure that the physical place where you access Zoom or another platform that may be used for online therapy is confidential. You are also responsible for the confidentiality of your computer and any other electronic equipment that you use.
5.3.3. You are not permitted to live stream or record or distribute any audio and visual images from the sessions without our agreement. We are not permitted to live stream or record or distribute any audio and visual images from the sessions without your agreement. If either party wish to record sessions, then (i) both parties must have agreed to this in advance of the session and (ii) such agreement must be recorded in writing.
5.4. Notes taken by the clinical or counselling psychologist during sessions will be written by hand and stored in a locked filing cabinet. Additional notes may be taken and stored securely a practice management system or a cloud. All typewritten letters and reports will be written on a password-protected computer. If sent by email, files will be password protected.
5.5. Your psychological notes will be kept for 7 years and then confidentially destroyed. Except in the circumstances outlined in clause 5.1, your data will not be used for anything other than our psychological work together. If you are under 18, your notes will be kept securely for 7 years past your 18th birthday and then confidentially destroyed. You have the right to access your notes at any time provided that a request is made in writing to us prior to their destruction.
5.6. Your clinical or counselling psychologist will only pass on information to a third party (usually as a report) when requested to do so and with your agreement. It is best practice to write to your GP in order to inform and involve them with your ongoing treatment plan.
5.7. If you require that certain information is not disclosed in the report you must make this clear to us in writing before the report is written. Your clinical or counselling psychologist will usually write reports with your collaboration in order to promote transparency and honesty through the therapy process.
5.8. clinical and counselling psychologists are required to receive regular supervision to help maintain our professional standards and maintain good practice. Your psychologist attends individual or peer supervision, where they discuss clinical cases. We do not reveal your identity and the supervisor will not have access to your details. Our supervisors and other professionals are also bound by confidentiality rules.
6. Financing our Services
We’re aware that you may be paying for our Services yourself (self-funding) or you may have funding through your private healthcare provider. Please read carefully the section which applies to you. Please also be aware that if the initial sessions of your treatment are funded by your private healthcare provider you may decide to move to self-funding to continue your treatment.
6.1.. If you are paying for the Services yourself, invoices for sessions will be sent out at the end of each month, and can be paid by BACS.
Please be careful to check bank account details with us in person if in any doubt. We will not accept responsibility if you transfer money into an incorrect account.
6.2. If you plan to use private healthcare insurance to help you with the costs of services, then you should discuss this fully with your healthcare insurance provider. You should be aware that many insurers’ limit the costs that they may be willing to pay (either per session / hour or as a total cap on treatment costs). It is your responsibility to check with your insurer to confirm how many sessions will be covered by them.
6.3. Your clinical or counselling psychologist will not liaise with your insurance company or deal with any invoice inquiries raised by your insurer.
6.4. Where there is a shortfall in fees (or if your insurer makes payment directly to you), we will invoice you for such payment or shortfall.
6.5.. Please note that there is often an excess fee which is payable by the individual or employer in order to commence the Services.
6.6.. You are responsible for payment for cancelled appointments and for failure to attend without prior notice (see clause 8 for information on fees chargeable in these circumstances).
7. Fees
7.1. The fees for therapy sessions vary depending on your needs of treatment. Please contact us on info@dianneeveritt.com for more detailed information.
7.2. Payment for each therapy session must be paid within 7 days of receiving an invoice.
7.3. We may suspend supply of the Services if you do not pay. If you do not pay us for the Services when you are supposed to or do not pay an invoice when it’s due and you still do not make payment within 7 days of us reminding you that payment is due, we may suspend your therapy sessions until you have paid us the outstanding amounts. We will contact you to tell you we are suspending your therapy sessions. As well as suspending your therapy sessions we can also charge you interest on your overdue payments (see clause 7.4).
7.4. If you do not make any payment to us by the due date we may charge interest to you on the overdue amount at the rate of 4% a year above the base lending rate of Natwest Bank from time to time. This interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgment. You must pay us interest together with any overdue amount.
8. Cancellations
8.1. To ensure our high standards in our treatment for our clients, we usually recommend that therapy sessions occur on a regular basis. We will agree their frequency with you we ask you to commit to this. Since we lose money if an appointment is cancelled on short notice, if you wish to cancel an appointment you must give us at least 24 working hours’ notice (for example, if you wish to cancel an appointment on a Monday you must notify us on Thursday of the previous week). Cancellations of appointments made with less than 24 working hours’ notice will result in a cancellation fee equal to the cost of the missed session (Cancellation Fee). If you fail to attend a therapy session without notice you will be charged the Cancellation Fee.
8.2. If your health insurance company is providing funding, you must check your policy to ascertain how cancellations are handled. If your insurance company requires you to pay personally for cancelled sessions or sessions which you fail to attend without notice you will be personally responsible for paying the Cancellation Fee
9. Online therapy sessions
9.1. The medium through which the therapy sessions are to take place us usually online using Zoom. In some instances, a different platform may be used.
9.2. The contact details which you provide to Dianne Everitt & Associates must be correct and you agree to promptly notify us of any changes to your contact details.
9.3. When you have a verified booking for an appointment for a therapy session, you will receive an email almost immediately. In this email you receive confirmation of your booking on the agreed day and time, with a personal telehealth appointment link to join the session, at the time of your session. You are responsible for saving this email and link. If you have not received an email about the confirmation within 48 hours (working days) please check your junk mail/spam folder. If you are unable to find the link in your junk mail/spam folder then please contact us.
9.4. In order to use online telehealth appointments properly, you must have reliable internet access. You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you ensuring your internet connection will allow you to access Zoom and is sufficiently reliable for the duration of the session. We will not be responsible for delays in commencing sessions or interruptions to sessions caused by problems with telehealth. We will not extend a therapy session due to problems with your internet connection or hardware which affect your ability to connect to telehealth
9.5. You are responsible for being on time to your therapy session. We recommend that you are connected to telehealth via the link you received in your confirmation email and have checked the image and sound at least 5-10 minutes before the session is due to commence. We will not extend a therapy session if you are late joining the session.
9.6. At times the session may be interrupted by technical glitches which are beyond the control of either you or us. If the session drops out the clinical psychologist will try to reconnect the session for the next 10 minutes. If they are unable to do so due to technical glitches the session will continue by telephone.
10. Email and Telephone Policy
10.1. If necessary, your clinical psychologist can receive email communication in the form of confidential reports and letters, and/or additional information from you. Your clinical psychologist may also make or receive telephone calls related to your therapy or speak to you on the telephone.
10.2 Such additional work as is set out in clause 10.1 shall incur an additional fee. Such fees will be calculated as the hourly fee charged for your therapy (Hourly Fee) multiplied by the time spent. These additional charges must be paid by you or your insurance provider. We will invoice these fees to you.
10.3. Your clinical or counselling psychologist cannot guarantee rapid responses to email communication due to the high volume of emails that your psychologist receives. However, we aim to respond to all emails within 48 hours, unless stated differently in an automated response.
10.4. It is important to be aware that communications of a clinical nature and especially clinical decision-making will not be encouraged or engaged in by your clinical psychologist via email and telephone. In our experience clinical conversations are best communicated during your scheduled online appointment.
11. Anti-Discrimination Policy
11.1. Your clinical or counselling psychologist respects difference and diversity. Differences include sexuality, sexual preference or orientation, religion, political beliefs, ethnicity, disability, gender expression or age.
12. Health and Safety
12.1. Your clinical or counselling psychologist will take the utmost care and due diligence when working with you as a client and will adhere to all the health and safety regulations within the framework appropriate for online therapy.
13. Other important terms
13.1. This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.
13.2. Each of the clauses of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.
13.3. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you, but we continue to provide the Services, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.
13.4. These terms are governed by English law, and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in the English courts. If you live in Scotland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.
If you have questions about any of the content of our terms and conditions, please contact Dianne Everitt on info@dianneeveritt.com, who can provide clarification.