Privacy & Data Protection Statement

1. Data Protection Obligations
Dr Joseph has a legal obligation to protect all confidential patient information. All sourcing, processing, and storage of patient data is carried out in accordance with GDPR, the Irish Data Protection Acts, and all other relevant Irish and European legislation.

2. Communication With Your GP or Referrer
As part of providing a high‑quality, evidence‑based psychiatric service, you consent to Dr Joseph contacting your GP and/or referrer to discuss relevant aspects of your care and to obtain any necessary clinical information. No identifiable personal information will be shared with any third party outside of these circumstances without your explicit consent.

3. Legal Reporting Requirements
Dr Joseph is legally required to report concerns where there is a reasonable belief that a child or vulnerable adult is at risk of active or imminent harm. Any such reporting will be carried out in accordance with Irish law and professional obligations.

4. Payment Processing & Limited Third‑Party Access
Personal details required to process online payments may be shared with Revolut Bank as part of the payment process.
For the purpose of maintaining IT systems, limited access to patient data may be available to IT contractors under strict confidentiality agreements.
For financial audit purposes, Dr Joseph may be required to provide very limited patient information to financial auditors. Wherever possible, information used for audit will be anonymised.

5. Clinical Audit & Service Improvement
As part of standard clinical audit practice, you consent to the collection and analysis of anonymised data relating to demographics, assessment outcomes, treatment outcomes, and other relevant clinical information. This is used to inform best practice and improve service quality.
In the future, anonymised data may be presented or published in academic or professional settings. No individual patient will ever be identifiable.
Dr Joseph also reserves the right to use anonymised data for commercial or service‑development purposes.

6. Website Cookies
When you visit the website, a temporary cookie may be set to determine whether your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is deleted when you close your browser.

7. Embedded Website Content
Articles or pages on the website may include embedded content (e.g., videos, images, articles). Embedded content from other websites behaves exactly as if you visited the external website directly.

8. Third‑Party Tracking by External Sites
These external websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed third‑party tracking, and monitor your interaction with embedded content, including tracking your activity if you are logged in to those websites.

9. Electronic Health Records
Personal and clinical information provided by patients is stored in an electronic healthcare record. This data is retained only for as long as required to provide clinical services and in accordance with Irish and European legal requirements.
10. Use of Microsoft Services
Dr Joseph uses Microsoft Teams for video consultations and Microsoft services for data storage and processing. All data storage and transmission is encrypted to AES‑256 standard and fully compliant with GDPR.
No one outside of Dr Joseph’s practice will have access to your data unless required by a valid court order.