FAQ

[expand title=”What is an initial consultation like for adult?”]

The first visit begins with an extensive discussion of symptoms, medical history, general health and lifestyle, to really get to the bottom of what is causing your symptoms. I’m interested in treating the root causes of your symptoms, to give you long lasting benefits and better overall health.

A hands-on examination of the body will also be performed. You will normally be asked to remove some of your clothing to make the assessment easier and more precise.

The examination aims at identifying areas of the body that are under tension or not functioning as well as they could and are disrupting your health.

Following the examination, I will:

• Discuss with you the findings
• Explain you why you are experiencing certain symptoms or feeling unwell
• Treat you
• Discuss how I can help you and how many treatments are necessary
• Give you recommendations about diet, exercises and possible lifestyle changes, in order to help you take a better care of your health and prevent symptoms from re occurring.

You will have plenty of time to ask questions about your health issues. I want to make sure that you understand why you are feeling unwell!

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[expand title=”What is an initial consultation like for children?”]

The first visit begins with an extensive discussion of symptoms, medical history, any illnesses, pregnancy, birth process, development to date or notable events in the child’s life. This will be followed by an osteopathic examination and treatment.

I will discuss with the parents the findings of the examination, how many treatments are required and give any advice necessary to speed up the recovery process of your child.

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[expand title=”What are follow-up visits like?”]

Follow up visits are of 30 or 45 minutes depending on the complexity of the problem.

You or your child will be treated, the body will be re-assessed to monitor progress, and findings will be discussed with you.

You will have time to give feedback on how you are feeling, how is the treatment progressing, your health or any other question you might have regarding your treatment or the treatment of your child.

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[expand title=”What do you treat?”]

Patients consult me for a variety of reasons such as: to relieve pain, to return to their normal daily activities after an injury, because they want a natural and safe treatment solution to their health issues, to improve their health overall etc.
I have patients that come to see me when they cannot get to the bottom of their chronic symptoms and nobody seems to make sense of their poor health.

The following, is a short list of some of the reasons why people seek my help.

Adult

• joints pain, sports injuries, sprain…
• osteoarthritis
• headache
• recovery from surgery
• incontinence
• sinus infection, ear infection
• gastrointestinal issues: acid reflux, constipation, IBS, etc.
• fatigue, stress
• menstrual pain and pre-menstrual symptoms
• discomfort during pregnancy, post-partum issues
• dizziness, neurological problems, migraines
• Etc…

Parents bring their children for:

• newborn evaluation
• birth trauma
• blocked tear ducts
• plagiocephaly (or abnormally shaped skull)
• torticollis, scoliosis
• sleep irregularities, colic, reflux
• difficulty feeding, failure to thrive
• agitation
• acute chronic infections, asthma
• poor temper
• bed wetting
• pain, falls, sports injuries, migraines
• neurologic problems such as cerebral palsy
• developmental delays, coordination or speech issues
• pre/during/post orthodontic treatment
• Etc…

Do not hesitate to get in touch to discuss your needs and health issues; I am never too busy to help you.

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[expand title=”How many sessions will my child or I need?”]

The number of visits required will depend on the complexity of the problem. 

Adults, on average need 3-6 treatments.

There are people that once experienced the benefits of the treatment, decide to come back on regular intervals, usually once every 5-6 weeks or few times per year.

Children usually need anything between 2-5 treatments; again it all depends on the complexity of the problem.

Some parents bring their children for a check up at regular intervals.

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[expand title=”Will this hurt/could there be any adverse reactions?”]

The treatment is very gentle, yet very effective.

Response to treatment is individual and variable.

After a treatment, patients report an improvement in many aspects of their health, such as: relief of the original symptoms, increased energy and concentration, improved bowel movements,  etc.

Sometimes after the treatment, people may feel fatigued, experience some changing discomfort, and altered bowel movements or increased mucus secretion etc. all natural reactions of the body, moving toward better function and well-being.

Usually children are calm after the treatment and symptoms gradually settle over a few days.

They are often very tired as the energy is directed towards the healing process.

Occasionally children might have more bowel movements or are a bit unsettled for few days following the treatment. Again, these are normal reaction of body being treated and adjusting to changes.

[expand title=”Do you do cranial and visceral osteopathy?”]

Yes, in my treatment approach I use cranial and visceral modalities.

But remember that the terms cranial, visceral, structural etc that you might have heard of, are just modalities that are employed to help your body to function to its best!

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[expand title=” Do you have a GDPR Privacy policy?”]

Yes, here below the full text.

Scope

This document refers to personal data, which is defined as information concerning any living person (a natural person who hereafter will be called the Data Subject) that is not already in the public domain.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is EU wide and far more extensive than its predecessor the Data Protection Act, along with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), seek to protect and enhance the rights of EU data subjects. These rights cover the safeguarding of personal data, protection against the unlawful processing of personal data and the unrestricted movement of personal data within the EU and its storage within the EEA.

1 – Paola Pizzuto Osteopathy, based at 35-37 Bread Street, EH3 9AL, which hereafter for the purposes of this Privacy Notice will be referred to as the Osteopaths, is pleased to provide the following information:

2 – Who we are
Paola Pizzuto diagnoses and treat health conditions. Treatments are carried out in accordance with the Institute of Osteopathy’s patient charter http://www.iosteopathy.org/osteopathy/the-patient-charter/. The practice may also provide other treatments, about which I will be pleased to provide more details.

3 – Personal Data
a) For the purposes of providing treatment, Paola Pizzuto may require detailed medical information. Paola Pizzuto will only collect what is relevant and necessary for your treatment. When you visit our practice, we will make notes which may include details concerning your medication, treatment and other issues affecting your health. This data is always held securely, is not shared with anyone not involved in your treatment, although for data storage purposes it may be handled by pre-vetted staff who have all signed an integrity and confidentiality agreement. To be able to process your personal data it is a condition of any treatment that you give your explicit consent to allow Paola Pizzuto to document and process your personal medical data. Contact details provided by you such as telephone numbers, email addresses, postal addresses may be used to remind you of future appointments and provide reports or other information concerning your treatment. As part of my obligations as primary healthcare practitioners there may be circumstances related to your treatment, on-going care or medical diagnosis that will require the sharing of your medical records with other healthcare practitioners e.g GPs, consultants, surgeons and/or medical insurance companies. Where this is required I will always inform you first unless we are under a legal obligation to comply.
b) For marketing purposes, Paola Pizzuto may also use the contact details provided by you to respond to your enquiries, including making telephone contact and emailing information to you which the practice believes may be of interest to you.
c) In making initial contact with the practice you consent Paola Pizzuto maintaining a marketing dialogue with you until you either opt out (which you can do at any time) or we decide to desist in promoting our services. Osteopaths may occasionally also act on behalf of its patients in the capacity of data processor, when we may promote other practitioners based at our premises, who may not be employed by us. Paola Pizzuto does not broker your data and you can ask to be removed from our marketing database by emailing or phoning the practice using the contact details provided at the end of this Privacy Notice.
d) Some basic personal data may be collected about you from the marketing forms and surveys you complete, from records of our correspondence and phone calls and details of your visits to our website, including but not limited to, personally identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
e) Paola Pizzuto website uses cookies, which is a string of information that a website stores on a visitor’s computer, and that the visitor’s browser provides to the website each time the visitor returns. WordPress.org uses cookies to help me to identify and track visitors and their website access preferences. Paola Pizzuto’ website visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before using Paola Pizzuto website.
f) Paola Pizzuto will only collect the information needed so that we can provide you with the services you require, the business does not sell or broker your data.

4 – Legal basis for processing any personal data
To meet our contractual obligations obtained from explicit Patient Consent and legitimate interest to respond to enquiries concerning the services provided.

5 – Legitimate interests pursued by Osteopaths
To promote treatments for patients with all types of health problems indicated for osteopathic care.

6 – Consent
Through agreeing to this privacy notice you are consenting to Paola Pizzuto processing your personal data for the purposes outlined. You can withdraw consent at any time by using the postal, email address or telephone number provided at the end of this Privacy Notice.

7 – Disclosure
Paola Pizzuto will keep your personal information safe and secure, only staff engaged in providing your treatment will have access to your patient records, although our administration team will have access to your contact details so that they can make appointments and manage your account. Paola Pizzuto will not disclose your Personal Information unless compelled to, in order to meet legal obligations, regulations or valid governmental requests. The practice may also enforce its Terms and Conditions, including investigating potential violations of its Terms and Conditions to detect, prevent or mitigate fraud or security or technical issues; or to protect against imminent harm to the rights, property or safety of its staff.

8 – Retention Policy
Paola Pizzuto will process personal data during the duration of any treatment and will continue to store only the personal data needed for eight years after the contract has expired to meet any legal obligations. After eight years all personal data will be deleted, unless basic information needs to be retained by us to meet our future obligations to you, such as erasure details. Records concerning minors who have received treatment will be retained until the child has reached the age of 25.

9 – Data storage
All Data is held in the United Kingdom in a GDPR compliant cloud service (Google Drive). I will notify you in advance of any changes to this. Paola Pizzuto does not store personal data outside the EEA.

10 – Your rights as a data subject
At any point whilst Osteopaths are in possession of, or processing your personal data, all data subjects have the following rights:

• Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you.
• Right of rectification – you have a right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records.
• Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply you have a right to restrict the processing.
• Right of portability – you have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
• Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.
• Right to object to automated processing, including profiling – you also have the right not to be subject to the legal effects of automated processing or profiling.

In the event that Osteopaths refuses your request under rights of access, we will provide you with a reason as to why, which you have the right to legally challenge. At your request Osteopaths can confirm what information it holds about you and how it is processed.

11 – You can request the following information:

• Identity and the contact details of the person or organisation (Osteopaths) that has determined how and why to process your data.
• Contact details of the data protection officer, where applicable.
• The purpose of the processing as well as the legal basis for processing.
• If the processing is based on the legitimate interests of Osteopaths and information about these interests.
• The categories of personal data collected, stored and processed.
• Recipient(s) or categories of recipients that the data is/will be disclosed to.
• How long the data will be stored.
• Details of your rights to correct, erasure, restrict or object to such processing.
• Information about your right to withdraw consent at any time.
• How to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority (ICO).
• Whether the provision of personal data is a statutory or contractual requirement, or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract, as well as whether you are obliged to provide the personal data and the possible consequences of failing to provide such data.
• The source of personal data if it wasn’t collected directly from you.
• Any details and information of automated decision making, such as profiling, and any meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and expected consequences of such processing.

12 – To access what personal data is held, identification will be required
Osteopaths will accept the following forms of identification (ID) when information on your personal data is requested: a copy of your driving licence, passport, birth certificate and a utility bill not older than three months. A minimum of one piece of photographic ID listed above and a supporting document is required. If Osteopaths is dissatisfied with the quality, further information may be sought before personal data can be released. All requests should be made by phoning +44 (0) 783046 0483.

13 Complaints
In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how your personal data is being processed by Paola Pizzuto you have the right to complain to us. If you do not get a response within 30 days, you can complain to the ICO.

The details for each of these contacts are:

Paola Pizzuto,
Telephone 0783046 0483

ICO
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF Telephone +44 (0) 303 123 1113 or email: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/

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