We believe that a clear definition of our patient policy will allow you, the patient, and us at Aligned Health, to concentrate on your care and achieve your ultimate wellbeing. 

We support all our patients and try our best to help assist them to complete their prescribed course of care. We send reminder communication before your scheduled appointment. Please ensure that the reception team has your most up to date details.

Appointment Timings: 

Our Initial Consultation and Report of Findings appointments are scheduled to be approximately 30 minutes long.

All follow up appointments for chiropractic and osteopathy care vary in length. A routine appointment is usually allocated 10 minutes, while reassessments and re-reports are scheduled for 20 minutes. Your practitioner will, at their discretion, amend your appointment timings to carry out the necessary treatment. You will always receive the right level of care and we will tell you in advance if your appointment needs to be longer. For this reason, appointments are charged per session and services rendered NOT by time allocated. 

Finance:

All fees are dependent upon services rendered and not time allocated. Ultimate responsibility for payment lays with the patient. All patients are expected in advance of or at the time of service. At Aligned Health we offer several payment plans that allow you to prepay for your care in advance at a discounted rate. Please speak to the team if you have any questions regarding our finance policy. 

Health Insurance:

Patients are welcome to use health insurance to cover the cost or partial cost of their care and we are registered with most providers. We do not deal directly with any provider. The clinic will ask the patient to pay for the cost of their care (either in advance or using pay as you go), and then claim back the cost themselves. Full itemised receipts are issued for this purpose automatically via email. The clinic recommends that if you intend to use health insurance to cover the cost of your care you confirm with your provider that they provide a claim back service. 

Cancellation:

We require at least 24 hours’ notice to cancel or reschedule an appointment.  For New Patient appointments, 48 hours’ notice is required.  Failure to provide the required notice deprives another patient of our care and will incur a charge 50% of the appointment missed.    We do understand that life can be un predictable and therefore the charge will be enforced on a case-by-case basis. 

Missed Appointments:

Missed appointments will result in the loss of that appointment and the money paid for that appointment.  The money paid cannot be carried over in this instance. 

Refund: 

You can cancel your care at any time. If a prepaid package is to be refunded, the payee will not receive the prepay discount on the previous sessions and this will be taken from the refund. 

Continuity of Care: 

It is important that your prescribed course of care is not interrupted if it can be helped. In the event your practitioner Is unavailable a replacement will be here to carry out your appointment for you in their absence.

Data Protection Privacy Notice for Patients – Children & Adults

Under the General Data Protection Regulations (2018) we are required to advise you of our Data Protection Policy.

1. How We Use Your Personal Information
This tells you why Aligned Health collects information about you and/or your child and how this information may be used. The health care professionals, who provide your care, maintain records about your health and any treatment or care you have received here previously. These records help provide you with the best possible health care. Our records are electronic and on paper and we use a combination of working practices and technology to ensure your information is kept confidential and secure. Records which this clinic hold about you may include the following information;

      - Details about you, such as your address, contact details previous medical history and investigations
      - Any contact the clinic has had with you, such as appointments, clinic visits, advice given over the phone or email, emergency
        appointments etc
      - Notes about yours and/or your child’s health
      - Details about yours and/or your child’s treatment and care
      - Relevant information from other health care professionals

Information may be used within the clinic for clinic audit purposes to monitor the quality of the service we provide. All of your information is held securely on our premises and may be used for statistical purposes. Where we do this, we take strict measures to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified. Sometimes your information may be requested for research purposes. In such instances we will always ask for your consent before releasing such information.

2. How We Maintain Confidentiality of Your Records
We are committed to protecting your privacy and will only use information collected lawfully in accordance with;
      - General Data Protection Rules 2018
      - Human Rights Act 1998
      - Common Law Duty of Confidentiality
      - General Chiropractic Council Code of Conduct
      - Every member of the team who work at Aligned Health has a legal obligation to keep information about you confidential.

3. Who We Share Your Information With

We only ever pass on information about you to others if there is a genuine need for it and you have given your consent to do so. This may be your GP, dentist, other healthcare professional, solicitor or for court proceedings. We will not disclose any information about you to any third party without your written permission or in cases of a child’s information the parents consent. The only exception would be in exceptional circumstance (ie life or death situations) where the law requires information to be passed on and/or in accordance with the Caldicott principles.

 

4. Assess to Your Personal Information
You have the right, under the General Data Protection Rules 2018, to request access to view or obtain copies of what information Aligned Health holds about you and to have it amended should it be inaccurate. In order to request will need to following;

      - Your request must be submitted in writing - There is no charge for copies of your files (unless the request is deemed to be excessive)
      - You will need to give us proof of name via a valid photographic ID so that your identity can be verified
      - Upon receipt of satisfactory identification we are required to respond to you within one calendar month

5. Objections & Complaints
Should you have any concerns about how your information is managed at the clinic, please contact the Practice Manager (Mrs Sarah Sheldon) in the first instance. If you are still unhappy following a review by the Practice Owner (Miss Helen Harding) you can then complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) via their website (www.ico.gov.uk).

6. Change of Details
It is important that you tell the person treating you if any of your details, such as your name or address, have changed or if any of your details are incorrect in order for us to correct them. 

7. Notification & Data Controller
Miss Helen Harding is registered with the ICO as the Data Controller for Aligned Health. If you wish to contact Aligned Health with regards to your personal data, you can do so using the following details;
A: Aligned Health, 20 Telford Court, Dunkirk Trading Estate, Chester Gates, Chester, CH1 6LT
T: 01244 880 186 E: hello@alignedhealthclinics.co.uk

 

 Wellbeing Community: 

All memberships are based on a four-week rolling period. Your practitioner will recommend the most suitable plan for you. This can be amended at any time on their advice. 

Unused appointments can be ‘banked’ and used as an additional appointment within 3 months of the original booking.  This is providing they followed the cancellation policy outlined above.  Additional appointments will be charged at the relevant membership rate. Missed appointments will result in the loss of that appointment and the money paid in respect of that appointment.  The money paid cannot be carried over in this instance. 

Members are required to set up a Direct Debit mandate via the link in the membership invite email. Aligned Health use GoCardless who are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom to provide payment services as an Authorised Payment Institution.

Your membership will become active once we have received confirmation that your direct debit has been set up. Your payments will be taken between the 1st and the 5th of each month, depending on weekends and bank holidays. 

If you have any appointments before your first direct debit payment but after your membership has been confirmed, you will only be charged the relevant membership price, but payment will have to be made on the day of the appointment. 

Acceptance of membership is at the discretion of the Practice Manager.

Membership cannot be used in conjunction with any other Aligned Health offer.

Complaints:

Most complaints may be effectively dealt with at the time they arise. However, we appreciate that some situations may require exploration of the facts surrounding them – this document explains how we do this. Unfortunately, there are some areas of complaint that may not, for legal or other reasons be dealt with by the practice. If you do have a complaint and we are unable to deal with it we will inform you of this, together with the reason why and provide you with details of who may be contacted in order to pursue the complaint further. 

Our practice based complaints procedure aims to be:

PROFESSIONAL - We have a named individual who is available to assist you in handling any complaint. They will listen to what you have to say and will investigate any complaint fully before reporting back to you with what they have found. If you wish your complaint to be handled by someone else from our team then all you need to do is inform us of this and we will appoint an alternative team member. 

SIMPLE - Complaints may be made in writing or on the telephone. If you wish to make your complaint in person please telephone us first in order to make an appointment. This way we can be sure to give you the time you need. 

WELL PUBLICISED - Details of our complaints procedure are available in the reception area of our practice. Our staff are trained in its use and can help you with any questions or queries you may have. All you need to do is ask. 

EFFICIENT - If there is a problem then it is in everyone’s best interest that it is resolved as soon as possible. Written complaints should be acknowledged within 2 working days from the time they are received. Complainants who telephone or complain in person will be invited to meet the appropriate practice personnel as soon as possible. Without cutting corners, our aim is to try to resolve the matter to the satisfaction of both parties as soon as possible. The maximum period we normally allow for looking into a complaint is 6 months after the matter of concern first arose.

CONFIDENTIAL - All our correspondence relating to a complaint will be marked ‘Strictly Private and Confidential’. If the complaint is made in person or via the telephone then we will strive to ensure that privacy is afforded to the complainant. 

EFFECTIVE - The aim of the procedure is to investigate the complaint in a thorough and systematic manner without prejudice or preconceived views resulting in the best possible outcome for all parties involved.

POSITIVE - It is important to build all feedback about the practice into a review of its performance. To this end we have a complaining log recording negative comments so that continuous themes are identified and can be addressed to prevent further similar complaints arising. 

FULLY DOCUMENTED - At each stage of any complaint we will record fully in writing the views of each party, the outcome that was reached and any further action agreed. The documents will be signed by the parties involved and annotated with the date and time.

You may complain in writing to: 

Sarah Sheldon

Aligned Health Clinics

20 Telford Court

Chester Gates Business Park

CH1 6LT

By Telephone to: Sarah Sheldon 01244 880186

Or in person: Please ask the Front Desk at our practice to arrange a meeting with either Sarah Sheldon. Please be as specific and detailed as possible about the complaint you wish to make.

Normally we will acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and give you an explanation or arrange a meeting within 10 working days.

Our practitioners are registered with their governing body and are members of national associations. Details are: 

 

The British Chiropractic Association 

40 Cranmere Avenue, Tettenhall, 

Wolverhampton, 

WV6 8TS, 

Tel: 0300 302 0332 

E-mail: enquiries@chiropracticuk.co.uk 

 

The United Chiropractic Association 

158b Church Road, Brighton and Hove,

BN3 2DL 

Tel: 01273 324857 

 

The General Chiropractic Council Park House, 

186 Kennington Park Road London, 

SE11 4BT 

Tel: (020) 7713 5155 

E-mail: enquiries@gcc-uk.org