- Professional standards of practice
Alison Harper is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council and complies with their standards of conduct, performance and ethics https://www.hcpc-uk.org. She is also chartered by the British Psychological Society and abides by their code of Ethics relating to integrity, competence, respect and responsibility https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/bps-code-ethics-and-conduct. Psychological therapists working in the practice are supervised by Alison, under the standards outlined by HCPC.
Please be aware that therapists working at Harper Clinical Psychology are unable to provide a crisis service to clients. If you require urgent help, please contact your GP or emergency services, examples of which are listed on this website.
- Confidentiality
The therapist you see will treat any information given by you as entirely confidential and will only pass on information to a 3rd party when requested to do so. The only, rare exception to this is where the therapist is concerned that a client is at risk of significant harm to themselves or others, or is at risk of being significantly harmed by another individual. In this case, we would discuss our concerns with you.
All personal information is kept securely and Harper Clinical Psychology is registered as a data controller with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The data protection registration number for Harper Clinical Psychology Ltd is ZA161403. Harper Clinical Psychology is also GDPR compliant.
As part of ensuring all therapists provide the best possible evidence-based service, we all receive regular supervision. During supervision, clinical information may be discussed, but only within the context of ensuring that confidentiality is maintained, and in accordance with HCPC and BPS guidelines relating to confidentiality.
- Finance
Self-funding
If you are paying for your services yourself, payment for each consultation should be made in advance, or at the time of the appointment by bank transfer to Harper Clinical Psychology Ltd (RBS; sort code: 831929; account: 00203956). Please use the invoice number as the reference, so that the payment can be identified.
Private healthcare funding
Alison is registered as a clinical practitioner with a number of healthcare providers including BUPA, AXA, Aviva and Cigna. Prior to your first session, please check with your insurer to confirm how much cover you have for sessions and provide us with your membership details and authorisation code for sessions. Any excess fee will be billed to you directly.
- Cancellations
Cancellations for appointments made with more than 48 hours (i.e. 2 working days) notice will not attract any cancellation fees.
Any cancellations made with less than 48 hours, or two working days, notice will be charged at full rate and failure to attend without notice will be charged at the full rate.
- Communication
Please note that, from clinical experience, we find that information is best communicated during your scheduled appointment time. Therapists do receive email communication, if necessary, but please be aware that reviewing the content of such documents will attract your agreed hourly fee and will be added to your next invoice. Telephone calls will also attract your agreed hourly fee.
Please also be aware that therapists also cannot guarantee rapid responses to emails or telephone calls.
- Complaints
We hope to always provide a helpful and positive service. If you are at all unhappy with any aspect of the service you receive, then please put your concerns in writing to either your therapist or to Alison and we will try to resolve any issues in a constructive manner. If you would prefer, you can also make a complaint via the Health and Care Professions Council at https://www.hcpc-uk.org.
- Insurance
All our services are covered by Towergate insurance, including public liability and professional indemnity insurance. Hopefully you won’t need to access this but it is good to know it is in place.