Professionalism and Ethical Practice
We are Clinical Psychologists chartered by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and registered with the Health Professions Council (HPC).
Our Psychotherapist is a member of the BPS and the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP). She is studying Counselling Psychology at Doctoral level, working towards chartership with the BPS and registration with the HPC.
We abide by the Codes of Practice of these organisations.
Confidentiality
The existence and the content of our meetings are treated as confidential, with some notable exceptions.
The main exception to this is that, from time to time, we discuss the content of sessions with colleagues as a means of peer supervision. This is within professional confidential relationships in which care is taken to withhold or disguise identifying details.
The other possible exceptions to confidentiality are:
- That to withhold information could result in harm to yourself, your child or others.
- That we are required to do so by a court of law.
Duration and termination
At the initial assessment, we will discuss with you how many sessions may be required and we will commit to seeing you for this number of sessions. You may, of course, finish seeing us at any time. We ask that you give us a session’s notice of your decision to stop as it is better to plan the ending in advance if at all possible.
Cancellations
If you wish to change the time of a session, please let us know at least 48 hours in advance and we will do our best to find an alternative slot. If you fail to give us less than 48 hours’ (weekdays) notice, we will need to charge you for the session because we will not be able to meet anyone else during that time and will need to cover our costs.
If we are unable to conduct the session, we will give you as much notice as we are able. We will only cancel at short notice (less than 48 hours) because of unforeseen circumstances such as ill health.
Payment of fees
We are specialist health providers for numerous health insurers including BUPA, Aviva, Cigna, and Vitality. Please confirm with your health insurer prior to the initial assessment that they are willing to cover the cost of the session; you may need to seek further authorisation after the assessment for payment of subsequent therapy/treatment sessions.
Dr Lucy Willetts will pass the patient information sheet you complete to our medical billing company, Nightingales (www.nightingales-uk.com), who will send you or your insurance company an invoice following each session (according to the payment details you provide). If you are paying the fees yourself, payment can be made with credit or debit card via their website*. If you prefer to pay via bank transfer, you can call Nightingales to arrange this.
They will continue to invoice you in this way unless you instruct them otherwise (e.g. due to change of health insurer; switch to paying for sessions directly if your health insurance limit has been reached). If your health insurer refuses to pay one or more of the invoices, Nightingales will write to you to request payment. It is thus your responsibility to ensure that your health insurer has agreed to pay for the sessions provided as you will be liable for the cost of these otherwise. Nightingales do operate a clear payment protocol**.
If you have any concerns about payments, please do call Nightingales to discuss further (01342 316239). They are a family run business who are approachable and happy to help where they can.
From time to time, health insurers ask for a brief clinical report or update of our input in order to consider funding of additional sessions. We are happy to provide this, if you instruct us to do so, at no extra cost.
Please note that Dr Sian Thomas and Dr Sarah Cook will invoice you or the insurance company directly, and payment can be made by bank transfer if you are paying directly. The same payment protocol is followed as with Nightingales**.
Please note that our Psychotherapist, Elizabeth Bazalgette, is not currently registered with health insurance providers. She will ask you to pay directly for sessions on or before the appointment (in cash or by credit card).
Dr Lucy Willetts
Dr Sarah Cook
Dr Sian Thomas
Elizabeth Bazalgette
Newbury Child and Adolescent Psychology Clinic January 2018
Notes
*There is a charge of 2% for credit cards and 50p for debit card transactions
** They will write to you 45 days after non-payment of an invoice, and again at 60 days. At this point, they will instruct a debt collection agency if payment is not made within 7 days
Data Protection and Privacy Policy
Please see our page on data protection and privacy