Privacy policy
Last updated March 2026.
Who is Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd?
Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd is an Independent Speech and Language Therapy provider, run by Amy Wright. Amy Wright is registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council. Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd provides Speech and Language Therapy services to children in their home and/or educational setting, along with contracts with individual or groups of schools.
Collection of personal information
Information about your child may be collected via spoken or written information from parents/carers. With parental consent, information may also be collected from other professionals working with your child (such as teachers, nursery staff, childminders, NHS Speech and Language Therapists, etc). Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd may also collect information about family members where this relates to your child e.g. contact details for parents and relevant medical or developmental history.
If you enquire about services and this does not result in your child being seen by Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd then your personal information will be deleted once your enquiry has been dealt with. If your child is subsequently seen by Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd, these details may be added to their personal record.
Use of personal information
Personal information collected by email, telephone, or face to face, is stored and used by Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd for the purpose of delivering you child’s speech and language therapy.
Any sensitive personal details are stored in a secure and confidential system and processed in confidence by Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd.
With your consent, information about your child’s speech and language needs will be shared with other professionals involved in your child’s care, when it is in your child’s best interests. A record of your consent will be kept in your child’s case notes.
Unless Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd is required to do so by law, we will not disclose any personal information collected to any person other than as set out above.
Therapists/Assistants working with your child are the only people with access to this information and we do not give or sell client details to any third parties.
How your personal information is used
Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd use this information:
To prepare, plan and provide speech and language therapy services appropriate to your child’s needs
To communicate with you via post, email, telephone, test messages (via SMS or
WhatsApp) in relation to:
Confirming and preparing your appointments
General communication in between appointments
Sending you information such as reports or home work
Sending you resources
Sending you invoices and receipts
For clinical audit to assess and improve our services
For management and administration, for example, names and home address are stored in a password protected database. Whenever personal identifiers are not needed for these tasks, if possible we will remove them from the information we use.
How your personal information is stored
All information about you, your child, and their speech and language therapy is stored securely in our systems to ensure that we have a complete record of our services to you.
Paper documents are stored in a locked filing cabinet only accessible to us. Electronic information is stored in a password protected, encrypted folder only accessible to staff working with your child.
Videos or audio recordings may be taken of clients with parental consent. These are temporarily stories on a password protected tablet. These may then be viewed by in order to make notes in a client record within 24 hours of the child’s appointment. These videos may be sent to you via encrypted message (WhatsApp) with your consent. After this these recordings are deleted.
The minimum amount of confidential information will be taken out of the Speech and Language Therapist(SLT)’s office base. When your child’s information is taken out of the base it will be kept with the SLT or locked away (whichever is deemed to be the most secure at the time).
In accordance with the 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.
Meeting professional obligations
It is a legal requirement for all Speech and Language Therapists to be registered with the Health and Care Professionals 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 appropriate and effectively
‘You must share relevant information, where appropriate, with colleagues involved in 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 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.’
For further information the full document can be found at: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/
UK Data Protection Law and EU General Data Protection Regulations
Data Protection Law lays down wide-ranging rules, backed up by criminal sanctions, for the processing of information about identifiable, living individuals. It also gives individuals certain rights in relation to personal data held about them by others.
Amy Wright (Director of Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd) is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as a Data Controller. You can view our ICO registration by visiting: https://ico.org.uk/ESDWebPages/Entry/ZA227750
Lawful basis for processing personal information
Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd’s lawful basis for processing and storing personal information is one of ‘legitimate interest’ (under article 6 of GDPR). We cannot adequately provide a service to your child without processing their personal information. As it is both a necessity for our service delivery and of the benefit of 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.
Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd’s responsibilities
Acorn Speech Therapy Ltd are committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your child’s record. We actively implement security measures to ensure their information is safe, and audit these regularly.
We will not release your personal details to any third party without first seeking your consent, unless this is allowed for or required by law.
We are constantly working to ensure compliance with current data protection regulation.
Your rights
Data protection legislation gives you, the parent, various rights. The most important of these are as follows:
You have the right to a copy of the information we hold about your child
You have the right to ask for your record to be amended if you believe that it is wrong
How to access your child’s records
You can access the information we hold about you by making a written, signed request. A copy of your child’s records is provided free of charge. We will provide you with a copy of your child’s records within 30 days of receipt of all necessary information.
If you have any further questions about how we use your information, please contact us at info@acornspeech-therapy.co.uk or on 07834 161837.
Further information about data protection legislation and your rights is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office or by calling 0303 123 1113, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.