Terms & Conditions
Last reviewed January 2024
Information about This Service
These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide services to you, what to do if there are any problems and other important information. Please read these terms carefully. If you think there is an error in these terms or you have a question, please let us know.
Neuropsychology Dorset Ltd is a registered company in England and Wales (14948704). All of our clinical psychologists are members of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). We provide psychological assessment and therapy online and via face to face appointments at our clinic. We comply with a range of standards of conduct, performance and ethics in order to maintain our practicing registration.
We do not provide services 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 (telephone 111 or 999).
You can contact Neuropsychology Dorset by writing to info@neuropsychologydorset.co.uk, or you can email the clinician you are working with directly. We cannot guarantee rapid responses to email communication due to the high volume of emails received. If we need to contact you we will do so by telephone or writing to you at the email address you provided.
It is important to be aware that communications of a clinical nature and especially clinical decision-making will not be encouraged or engaged in via email. In our experience clinical conversations are best communicated during your scheduled appointments.
Fees and Payment
Self-Funded Services
Self-funded therapy session fees are £110 for each 60 minute appointment. Fees for assessment(s), including diagnostic and formal cognitive testing, are available on request. For assessments (e.g., autism, ADHD), we send the invoice on the week of your first assessment session. The report will not be released until full payment has been received. Payment of the invoice is expected within 7 days of receiving the invoice by BACS transfer. We do not accept cheques, cash, or payment by credit card. We do not have a facility to pay on site or over the phone. Invoices may be sent at the end of the month, or immediately after your session. Whilst your next session may be provisionally booked, it will not go ahead until payment has been received for the previous session. Invoices will be sent by the clinician you are working with, and this will have the bank details on for you to pay into.
Please use your last name or invoice number as the reference, so that the payment can be easily identified. Please note that if these bank details were to change you will be informed verbally as well as in email. You will not be notified by email alone. Should you receive an email of this nature this should be reported to me as soon as possible. Please be careful to check bank account details with me directly if you are in any doubt. We do not accept responsibility if you transfer money into an incorrect account.
Services to you may be suspended if you do not pay. If you do not pay for services provided or do not pay an invoice when it is due and you still do not make payment within 7 days of receiving a reminder that payment is due, your services may be suspended until you have paid the outstanding amounts. We will let you know if we are suspending services to you if this is the case.
Cancellation Policy
If you must cancel or reschedule an appointment, 48 hours advanced notice is required, otherwise you will be held financially responsible. Should you cancel or miss an appointment with less than 48 hours’ notice, this will result in being charged the full session fee for your missed appointment. For diagnostic or cognitive testing assessments this will be charged at the usual session rate (£110 per hour) for the time allocated for that appointment, i.e. if 1.5 hours are allocated for the appointment, the charge for a late cancellation will be £165. The same applies with feedback sessions. If you do not attend the appointment or cancel with less than 48 hours to go, in order to re-book your feedback session you will have to pay the hourly fee. We will endeavour to give you as much advance notice as possible of holidays or of any need to re-schedule a future appointment. Phone/video sessions are treated the same as face-to-face sessions. If you are late getting on the phone, are unable to talk at our scheduled time, your battery has died, you are unable to access a confidential place to talk, or any other variable that prevents you attending our session, please know that you will be charged for the session. Please make the necessary arrangements you need to be available and present for your session.
Third Party Funded Services
We are recognised as clinical practitioners with a number of healthcare providers including Aviva, AXA, Cigna, and Vitality Health. Each provider and every healthcare plan has different rules and regulations of engagement. Third party funded services are charged in accordance with the individual insurer’s fee schedules.
If you plan to use private healthcare insurance to help you with the cost of my 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 and over what time period. I will then invoice the third party at regular intervals during the course of your assessment and/or therapy.
Where there is a shortfall in clinical psychologist’s fees (or if your insurer makes payment
directly to you), we will invoice you for such payment or shortfall. You have the responsibility to pay any outstanding remainders of fees owed. Such invoices must be paid in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. Please note that there is often an excess fee which is payable by the individual or employer in order to commence psychological services. You are responsible for payment for cancelled appointments and for failure to attend without prior notice (see below for information on fees chargeable in these circumstances).
Virtual Therapy
For phone/video sessions, we will call you at our scheduled time or send you a link for our secure video session. If you have not received a video link via email within 24 hours please check your junk mail/spam folder. If you are unable to find the link in your junk mail/spam folder then please email your clinician.
In order to protect your confidentiality, we will call you from a private location where we are the only person in the room. You should do the same. If you choose to be in a place where there are people or others can hear you, you may become distracted or be overheard, compromising your confidentiality. Every effort must be made on your part to protect your own confidentiality. To this end, we suggest you wear a headset or ear buds to increase confidentiality. This will also increase the sound quality of our sessions.
Please know that we cannot guarantee the privacy or confidentiality of conversations held via phone, as phone conversations can be intercepted either accidentally or intentionally.
Please ensure you reduce all possibilities of interruptions for the duration of our scheduled appointment.
To minimise the chances of technological glitches interrupting our session, we invest in modern computer equipment, close all other applications and browser windows, and use high quality internet: all of these things are known to maximise the quality and stability of the call. We suggest you do the same.
At times the session may be interrupted by technical glitches which are beyond the control of either of us. If the session drops out we will try to reconnect the session for the next 10 minutes. If we are unable to do so due to technical glitches the session will continue by telephone. A maximum of 3 attempts will be made to reach you via telephone at this stage. If you are not reachable via telephone I will remain available to you during the entire course of our scheduled session. Should you contact me back and there is time left in your session we will continue.
You are not permitted to live stream, screenshot, record or distribute any audio and visual images from the sessions without our agreement. We are not permitted to live stream, 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.
Confidentiality
We respect 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 the safety of someone else, including a child or a vulnerable adult. Information may also be shared without your permission if it is in the public interest, such as if it is necessary to protect public safety or prevent harm to other people. In such cases the standards of the Health and Care Professions Council and the practice guidelines of the British Psychological Society will be followed (https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/; https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/practice-guidelines).
We comply with all relevant data protection legislation (including the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)). Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about how we protect your data.
Additional Services
There may be instances where it would be clinically helpful or necessary for us to write letters or reports relating to our work together. If necessary, we can receive email communication in the form of confidential reports and letters, and/or additional information relating to your assessment and/or treatment. We may also make or receive telephone calls related to your therapy. Such additional work shall incur an additional fee which is calculated as the hourly fee charged for your therapy multiplied by the time spent. These additional charges must be paid and we will invoice these fees to you. Invoices must be paid in accordance with the information above under the Fees and Payment section. We will discuss any additional services with you before undertaking them. This does not include reports provided as part of diagnostic or cognitive testing, which are included in the overall cost.
Anti-Discrimination Policy
We respect difference and diversity. Differences include sexuality, sexual preference or orientation, religion, political beliefs, ethnicity, disability, gender expression or age.
Complaints
We hope you will never have to complain about the services provided to you but if you do have a concern please put it in writing to info@neuropsychologydorset.co.uk. Alternatively you can make a complaint via the Health and Care Professions Council (https://www.hcpc-uk.org/concerns/).
If you have any questions about the content of this document, please contact us via email (info@neuropsychologydorset.co.uk).
Neuropsychology Dorset Ltd
1 Herringston Barn
Dorchester
Dorset
DT2 9PU
www.neuropsychologydorset.co.uk
info@neuropsychologydorset.co.uk
Registered company in England and Wales (14948704). Registered company address: 3 Swan Road, Seaton, EX12 2US