Terms and Conditions for Clients
The below details the terms and conditions of treatment at The London Centre for Eating Disorders and Body Image Ltd. It is important that you read these prior to confirming your initial appointment. By confirming an appointment with us you are agreeing to abide by these terms and conditions. Should you require any clarification on any of the below points please ask prior to commencing your treatment.
Assessment sessions last 50 - 60 minutes
Regular on-going treatment sessions are 50 minutes for individual sessions, or 60 minutes for family sessions
Payment
Fees for sessions will have been communicated to you prior to your first session and are non-negotiable following the start of treatment. Invoices will be emailed to you per session, the day after (or maximum within a week) of your appointment time (please note that given our admin team work flexibly, we can't always guarantee your invoice will be sent to you the day following your appointment).
You will be sent an email with a link to view and pay your invoice - you will be able to pay immediately via card or set up a direct debit. If you choose to set up a direct debit, for future invoices the email will tell you what funds will be taken from your account and when. If you have any queries, please raise them with us as soon as possible prior to funds being taken. You will automatically be issued with a receipt upon payment.
Your invoice is payable upon receipt and a 20% late payment fee will automatically be added to your account if payment hasn’t been received within 30 days from issue date.
If using private health insurance it is your responsibility to ensure treatment has been authorised prior to the start of treatment. Authorisation may need to be renewed during treatment. Your Clinician will be happy to correspond with your insurance company to request further authorisation, if required. Please let us know if you require this.
Additional charges may be incurred for tasks requested or deemed essential to safe care by either yourselves or your Clinician. This may include (but is not limited to): formal reports, formal (CPA) meetings with other professionals (e.g. your psychiatrist or paediatrician), phone calls or meetings made at your request or with your prior agreement (e.g. with your school, university, employer or family member), or any other regular communication which has been requested between sessions. This will not include: GP letters, brief letters or reports, or emails between yourself and your clinician (unless otherwise agreed as a formal part of treatment). Please ask the clinic if you require any further information about additional charges.
Prior consent will always be sought from the bill payer prior to any CPA meetings taking place.
The London Centre reserves the right to make increases to their fee structure but must give all current patients a minimum of 1 months notice prior to making any changes.
Late payments
All clients are given a maximum of 30 days in which to make a payment following receipt of invoice. Payments that have not been made within 30 days will be subject to a 20% late payment fee. If there are 3 late payments within a 3 month period, we reserve the right to request that you kindly pay by direct debit. Repeated late payments may lead to termination of sessions or clinicians may be asked to pause sessions until a payment has been made. If repeated late payments occur or payment isn’t made within 30 days from issue we will seek support from Medical Billings Ltd to carry out a standard medical debt procedure which is recognised industry wide.
Any problems with payments should be discussed with The London Centre admin team as soon as possible in order to avoid late payment charges or interruptions to treatment.
Please note that we cannot take responsibility for reminding clients of pre-booked appointments. Please contact us if you are unsure of the date or time of any of your appointments.
Cancellations
All cancellations should be made with as much notice as possible. Sessions cancelled with less than 24 hours notice will be charged in full. Exceptions to this will only be made in exceptional circumstances and this will not include illness or work commitments. No more than 3 late cancellations are permitted in any 3 month period. If the number of cancellations made exceeds this, The London Centre reserves the right to charge for missed sessions or to discharge you from treatment.
Remote Sessions
Remote sessions will be held via Cliniko or Zoom. The same terms and conditions of treatment apply to all remote sessions as in-person sessions. Should any issues with technology occur on either side, an attempt will be made to contact you by phone provided you have given us a contact phone number. Whilst every attempt will be made to start sessions at the confirmed appointment time, as in all situations occasionally unavoidable circumstances may delay the start of a session.
Please contact info@thelondoncentre.co.uk or your clinician directly if you are having any difficulties starting a remote session.
Confidentiality
In line with standards set out by the British Psychological Society (BPS), Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and The General Medical Council (GMC) and for insurance purposes, your clinician or treatment provider will keep written records of your treatment. These records are confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside of The London Centre team. The only exception to this would be if specialist supervision is required and therefore received outside of The London Centre team, or if your Clinician or treatment provider becomes concerned about your safety or the safety of another person. No details of your treatment will appear in your medical records without your explicit permission.
Anyone seeing our psychiatrist must have consented to sharing information with their GP. This is so information about medication, recommendations around medical monitoring and any concerns about your physical health can be safely handed over. They will also need permission to obtain information about any relevant medical history or test results, from your GP.
Data Protection and Privacy
As a clinic we do hold and keep personal information about you. In line with new guidance we have a duty to explain what data we keep and how this is kept. Client contact details are kept within an online library and our Client Management System, Cliniko. This data is accessible by all members of The London Centre Team. This would never be shared or used by anyone outside of the team. Clinic notes are kept on our Client Management System, Cliniko and where applicable, paper files are kept in a locked cupboard within the London Centre offices. These are also accessible by all members of the TLC team although will only be used by your treating Clinician/s. Some Clinicians use electronic notes stored on either a clinic or a personal computer. These notes will always be password protected. All notes will be kept for a minimum of 5 years following your discharge from our team in case you wish to return to treatment or book a follow up session with your original or a different clinician. If seeing a different clinician we will ask you whether you are happy for your previous notes to be shared. You do have a right to request us to store your personal information in a different way, and you also have a right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office if you are not happy with the way that your personal information is stored or used. We are more than happy to give you any more information about the above if you would like to discuss this with us.
What Data Do We Collect?
The London Centre will collect the following data:
Personal identification information (name, email address, postal address, phone number)
With your consent, personal information relating to your specific difficulty
With your consent, names and contact details of any other professionals involved in your care
Our full Privacy Policy is available on our website: www.thelondoncentre.co.uk/privacy-policy
Marketing
We will not contact you for any marketing purposes, and will never provide any of your data to other companies. With your consent we may share information, where necessary, with other professionals or professional agencies involved in your care such as your GP or external Psychiatrist. If you ask us to, we will provide information to anyone in your support network although the information shared will always be at your request and with your consent.
Risk
In cases where there are any concerns about your medical risk, it will be your responsibility to arrange and attend appropriate medical assessment e.g. GP appointments. In these cases your clinician will advise you as to the necessary tests and the frequency that these will be required. Your clinician will also notify your GP as to the medical advice they have given you. Your GP remains responsible for your medical treatment. If medical or psychological risk becomes a problem during treatment, The London Centre may recommend that you see a consultant psychiatrist either within the service, or externally. It may on rare occasions be necessary to suspend regular therapy sessions until a psychiatric or medical assessment has been attended.
Our psychiatrist can review patients where there are concerns about their medical risk and make recommendations about ongoing medical monitoring. However, we are not able to carry out all the monitoring that may be required and are not able to perform or request tests such as bloods and ECGs. We can either refer you for these privately, or request these are carried out by your NHS GP.
Prescriptions
Prescriptions written during an assessment or review are not charged as an extra cost. If there is a need for an ongoing prescription your psychiatrist will write to your GP to request that they supply it on repeat prescription for you. In the rare instances where this is not possible, for any reason, you can request a repeat prescription by emailing info@thelondoncentre.co.uk with ‘Private Prescription Request’ as the subject. Please include your name, date of birth, medication, dose and frequency.
Please note there will be a separate charge for repeat prescriptions outside of an appointment and this is only available for medications initiated or reviewed by your psychiatrist. We advise giving 2 weeks’ notice if you need a repeat prescription, to avoid you running out of medication.
All prescriptions are processed through the prescribing service Pharmacierge.
Contact outside of sessions
Contact outside of or between sessions is only permitted with agreement from your clinician. In these circumstances contact will be via e-mail or telephone call and will never be face to face. Your clinician is not permitted to contact you via social media unless an agreed aspect of treatment.
Complaints
The London Centre is committed to providing a high quality eating disorder healthcare service. However, if any client, or a person acting on their behalf, is unhappy with any aspect of the service being provided, our complaints policy and procedure is easily accessible on our website. Should you need this in any other accessible format, please let us know.
Formal complaints can be made in writing to Mini Jones at minijones@thelondoncentre.co.uk
By accepting an appointment with us, you are agreeing to all the above terms and conditions of treatment