The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children Privacy Notice
This privacy notice explains what you can expect from us regarding the handling of your personal information.
- Contact Details
- What information we collect, use, and why
- Lawful bases and data protection rights
- Where we get personal information from
- How long we keep information
- Who we share information with
- How to complain
Contact Details
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information you can contact us using the details below:
Postal Address: The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children, 13-15 Pine Street, London, EC1R 0JG
Telephone: 0203 316 8100
Email address: [email protected]
For data protection specific queries, you can also contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
What Information We Collect, Use, and Why
We collect or use the following information to provide client care, and services
Personal Information
- Name, address and contact details
- Sex
- Pronoun preferences
- Date of birth
- Your language preference and whether you require an interpreter
Health and Medical Information
- NHS number or RiO ID (RiO is an electronic patient record system)
- Your referral information and/or letter
- Assessment information, which may include questionnaires about stammering, emotional wellbeing screening, assessment results from your assessment including a case history, and videos made as part of the assessment. Please note that we gain specific consent for the use of video at your appointment.
- Progress notes or records which are stored on RiO whether you are an NHS or private client. This will include emails, telephone calls, assessment and therapy session notes, and any liaison with other professionals (as appropriate)
- Health and care information (including medical conditions, allergies, medical requirements, medication, medical history, disabilities, reasonable adjustments and safeguarding)
Key Contacts
- Next of Kin details including any support networks
- Emergency contact details
- GP name and contact information
- School name and contact information (if relevant)
- Any other relevant contact shared with us
Financial Information
- Record of payment and details for those paying for services at the Michael Palin Centre
- For therapy payments, this includes a record of your payment with your email address and postal address, as provided on the online payment system along with the service paid for and payment amount. For payment made by bank transfer, this includes payment amount and reference.
- For those paying for training, – invoice details, financial details, organization and the linked financial details and personal details if payment by individual.
Service Improvement and Research
We may use personal data for in-service audits or research purposes, to improve our understanding of stammering, enhance the effectiveness of our therapies, and improve the services we provide. This may include:
- To identify trends and improve treatment outcome for you as an individual
- Analysing anonymised or pseudonymised data to identify trends and improve treatment outcomes for groups of data.
- Conducting service evaluations or studies to advance speech therapy practices.
- Presenting research findings at conferences in the forms of poster or oral presentations, or publishing research findings to contribute to the wider body of knowledge on stammering and speech therapy.
We always ask for your explicit consent before including your anonymised personal data in research, and you will be asked to complete a separate consent form for the use of clinical data for research purposes.
Your rights: Participation in research is voluntary, and you have the right to withdraw consent at any time. If you choose not to participate, it will not affect the care or services you receive.
We also collect the following information to provide client care and services:
- Racial or ethnic origin
- Religious or philosophical beliefs
- Language/s spoken
Lawful bases and data protection rights
Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to provide client care and services:
Use of Personal Information for Assessment and Therapy
We may use information held on NHS servers about you in the following ways:
- You’ve asked us to take steps so that you can enter a contract with the Centre, which allows us to provide you with healthcare services. (Lawful basis: Contract)
- The personal information we ask for is needed to deliver the healthcare services outlined in the contract between you and the Centre. (Lawful basis: Contract)
- We use your information to make sure the clinical team has the accurate and up-to-date details they need to assess your health and determine the best care for you. (Lawful basis: Contract)
- We may use your information to fulfil our obligations under any contracts between you and us. (Lawful basis: Contract)
- We may contact you to inform you of any changes to our services. (Lawful basis: Contract, Legitimate Interests)
Use of Personal Information for Friends of the MPC
We collect and use your personal information for managing the Friends of the MPC mailing list for those who opt in to receive this information. The reasons we can do this are:
- To manage our communications with you and ensure that we send relevant content. (Lawful basis: Legitimate Interests)
- To inform you about ways to support the Centre, including fundraising campaigns or donation opportunities. (Lawful basis: Legitimate Interests)
- To share information about events and the activities at the MPC, including fundraising, events, networking opportunities. (Lawful basis: Consent)
We will always respect your preferences and only send you information you have agreed to receive. You can opt out at any time.
Use of Personal Information for Training Purposes
- For Speech and Language Therapists (SLT) or other professionals attending our training courses we provide them with the opportunity to opt in to receiving information about upcoming courses and events. (Lawful basis: Consent)
- To provide you with information; details of events; details of learning and development opportunities; and services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you or where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes (Lawful basis: Consent, legitimate interest)
Use of Personal Information for Research Purposes
We collect and use your personal data for research, which may include service audits and wider published research. The reasons we can do this are:
- To conduct research aimed at improving services and understanding factors related to stammering, and therapy effectiveness outcomes. Any data used is anonymised. (Lawful basis: Consent)
- To share anonymised data with other research institutions, both in the UK and internationally, to support further studies and advancements in understanding the nature of and therapy for children, young people and adults who stammer. (Lawful basis: Legitimate Interests)
- You will be given the opportunity to opt in or opt out of your data being used for research, and you will be asked to sign a consent form to confirm or decline your participation at your first appointment. (Lawful basis: Consent)
How we protect your research data
Your data will be anonymised or pseudonymised to ensure your privacy and any information shared will not identify you personally. We comply with all legal and ethical standards for research, including those set by the NHS or other governing bodies.
Your data is safe with us
We will never sell your personal information or data to others. We do not use automated systems to make decisions about you– everything is handled by a member of our team. If this changes, we will update this notice and take such other steps as required to comply with applicable law.
Where we get personal information from
- Directly from you when you contact us; for example, to enquire about a service or make a referral to us,
- Family members or carers (as appropriate)
- Other health and care providers e.g. your GP, your local Speech and Language Therapist (if you have one), or other allied health professionals.
- Schools, colleges, universities, other education organisations or place of employment (as appropriate)
- From you when you sign up to become Friends of MPC, donate charitable funds and attend fundraising events.
How long we keep information
For information on how long we keep personal information, see our retention schedule at https://transform.england.nhs.uk/information-governance/guidance/records-management-code/
Who we share information with
For the purposes of data protection laws, Whittington Health and The Michael Palin Centre are “joint controllers” of the processing of your personal information described in this Notice. This means that both organisations work together to decide why and how your personal information is processed. It also means that we are jointly responsible to you under the law for the processing of your personal data.
We do not perform all processing of your personal information as joint controllers. The Michael Palin Centre makes decisions regarding certain processing of personal information independently of Whittington Health, for which The Michael Palin Centre is solely responsible. Please visit the website of Whittington Health to find out more about processing performed by this organisation.
Others we share personal information with
When you attend your first appointment, we will discuss and agree who you give consent for us to share information from the assessment with. This may include:
- Other health providers (e.g. GPs and consultants)
- Care providers e.g. other NHS Trusts where applicable
- Local authorities or councils which may include schools or education settings
- Organisations we need to share information with for safeguarding reasons. Please note that under child and adult protection laws we are not required to gain consent to share information where there is a safeguarding concern.
Please note that we store all correspondence and clinical activity on a shared NHS system called RiO, regardless of whether you access our services via the NHS or private route.
How to request access to records or complaints
Request to access your personal data Subject Access Requests
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice or
If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/default.asp?c=1352
Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Last updated
21 July 2025
