LSE SU Advice and Counselling

Centre
Confidentiality Policy
Introduction

The LSE Student Union Advice and Counselling Centre (SUACC) prioritises the
importance of confidentiality for clients using the service.

This document outlines our responsibility and practices in respect of information

on clients and explains our policies on confidentiality and data protection.

The Counselling service is informed by the Ethical Framework of the British

Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy www.bacp.co.uk

For the purpose of this document;

1. An Advisor is a member of staff providing legal and other welfare advice

2. A Counsellor is a member of staff trained to provide counselling service
to students experiencing emotional and psychological problems.
3. All members of staff includes the above and all administrative staff

1. Sharing Information within the Advice Centre

All members of staff of the Advice centre work as members of a team and will
have access to personal information stored by the Advice Centre, except for the
content of any counselling session.

An advisor may need to discuss the facts of your case with other Advisors for the
purposes of furthering your matter. Confidentiality is maintained within the team.
If a client has any objection to this, they should inform their advisor as soon as
possible.

2. Sharing Information with Third Parties

• General Policy

All information about client, including their name and the fact of their use of
the ACC is kept confidential and will not be shared with the School or any
other organisation or individual except in the following circumstances;
 1. Where the client has given his express consent
2. Where a member of staff would be liable to civil or criminal court
procedure if the information was not disclosed

• Policy Where There Is Risk of Harm to the Client

Where there is concern that there is a risk of serious harm to the client or
any other person, counsellors /advisors would need to be able to discuss
this with the GP and/ or other health care professionals, even without the
explicit consent of the client. This would be a most unusual event. For the
Counselling service this falls within the Ethical Framework of the BACP and
guidelines from the AUCC (Association of University and College
Counselling).

While the Advice and Counselling Centre operates independently of the

School, the student counselling service has a Duty of Care to students,
which includes areas such as standard of care, breach of contract and
negligence. Consequently, if a student was having severe and exceptional
difficulties, it may be necessary for information to be shared with other
health care professionals and a small number of staff within the School.
Such circumstances are extremely rare, and in nearly every situation
confidentiality is maintained within the team. Wherever possible, the service
would seek the client’s agreement to any change in the confidentiality
arrangements.

• Supervision

In line with their professional requirement counsellors may discuss their

work with a consultant external to the Service. In this process, the identity
of the client is not revealed. The purpose of consultation is to help the
counsellor reflect on their work. This work is governed by the same
principles of confidentiality. Further information is available at
www.bacp.co.uk.

3. Record Keeping and Data Protection

Paper records as well as a data management system are used to record the
personal details of all clients who use the service. These methods are also used
by Advisors to record details of the matters discussed during advice sessions as
well as any other action taken on the case.

The Counsellor does not record the content of the advice session in the data
management system but keeps brief notes of the sessions which are stored in a
locked filing cabinet only accessible by the Counsellor. These notes are
confidential to the Counsellor and are only used to analyse themes in the service.

All other written records, including the client appointment diary are securely
stored in locked filing cabinets which are only accessible by all members of staff.

Access to computer data is restricted to all members of staff within the Advice
Centre.

Case files are kept for 6 years (from the end of the academic year of the client’s
last appointment) and then disposed of confidentially.

3. Statistical Information

In order to assess and monitor our service, we extract certain kinds of general
information (client numbers, types of matters dealt, nationality) from our data
recording system. The statistics extracted do not contain information by which an
individual can be identified and are solely used to monitor and improve the
effectiveness of our work. It is the ACC’s Manager’s responsibility to ensure that
all statistical records given to third parties is produced in anonymous form, so
individuals cannot be recognised.

4. Client Access to Records

Under the Data Protection Act (1998) service users have a right of access to
notes held in their file containing personal data. The only exception is if
disclosure of information would be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or
mental health or condition of the client.

Any client who wishes access to their information should make a request in
writing to The Manager of the Advice and Counselling Centre. If a file contains
information/ references to other individuals these may not be available to the
client, as protection is also granted to third parties.

If a client's file includes a letter or additional information from the person

responsible for their clinical care, usually their GP or psychiatrist, consent from
the relevant practitioner must be obtained before the correspondence is
disclosed.

We will respond to requests for access to or copies of case notes within 40 days
and may make a charge of £10.00 to do so.
We will not provide access to client records if requested by other parties, unless
this is with the explicit written consent of the client, or unless directed by a court
order.

In no circumstances will the original copies of notes/documents be provided to

the client or any other party, even with the consent of the client.