The data I collect is for the purposes of your treatment and for communication directly with you for treatment or booking purposes. I do not share your data with 3rd parties unless legally obliged, and do not use your data for marketing purposes. You are free to ask at any time for all data to be destroyed or dealt with however you wish.

The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the GDPR). This legislation will replace current data privacy law, giving more rights to you as an individual and more obligations to organisations holding your personal data.

One of the rights is a right to be informed, which means we have to give you even more information than we do now about the way in which we use, share and store your personal information.

Whose information does this privacy notice apply to?

This privacy notice applies to information we collect from:

• patients;
• prospective patients;
• former patients;
• people who subscribe to my newsletter;

What is personal data?

Personal data relates to a living individual who can be identified from that data. Identification can be by the information alone or in conjunction with any other information in the data controller’s possession or likely to come into such possession. Examples of personal data we may hold about you include your contact and appointment details.

Special category data is a sub-category of personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation. Examples of special category data we may hold about you include your patient notes.

How do we process your personal data?

I comply with our obligations under the GDPR by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data. We use your personal data for the purposes set out below. All data is secured in in locked and secured premises and does not leave the site. The data is collected almost exclusively on the patient treatment form, the only computer data recorded is name, telephone number and email all used solely for direct communication with you.

Sections 1 – 15 apply to our patients, prospective patients, former patients and visitors to our clinic

1. I use your name, telephone number and sometimes email address to make and rearrange appointments. I am unable to send or receive encrypted emails so you should be aware that any emails we send or receive may not be protected in transit. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send me is within the bounds of the law.

2. I keep a permanent attendance register which records all appointments for patients attending our clinic to keep a record of when you were treated for tax purposes and to secure potential evidence in the event of a criminal prosecution, civil litigation, insurance claim or complaint to my regulatory body, the Acupuncture Society.

3. I may use your date of birth to help identify patients with the same name to avoid mistakes being made as to safe and appropriate treatment, for identification purposes if referring a patient to another health practitioner, and for identification purposes if writing to a registered medical practitioner so that they correctly identify the patient.

4. I use your presenting complaint and symptoms reported by you for the purposes of making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

5. I use any relevant medical, family history and information of the patient form you have told us for making a full traditional diagnosis, formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

6. I use your GP’s name and address in the event that we need to contact your GP including in an emergency and because it is a mandatory requirement in the Acupuncture Society Code of Professional Conduct. This is done with additional requested consent.

7. I use our clinical findings about your health and wellbeing for making a full traditional diagnosis, and formulating treatment strategy and treatment planning.

8. I keep a record of and refer to that record of any treatment given and details of progress of your case, including reviews of treatment planning to enable us to: review the full traditional diagnosis, treatment strategy and planning; and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.

9. I record and use any information and advice that we have given, especially when referring patients to any other health professional, to help you to receive the most appropriate treatment and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.

10. I record any decisions made in conjunction with you to help you to receive the most appropriate treatment and to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.

11. I keep accident records for any patients, visitors or staff who are involved in accidents at our clinic in accordance with UK Health and Safety legislation including the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) to comply with the law and  to secure evidence in the event of criminal proceedings, civil litigation, an insurance claim or complaint.

12. In the event of an adverse incident occurring to any of our patients we report the matter to the Acupuncture Society and the our insurance company Balens to enable the insurance company to deal with any potential claims, as well as providing research data and information for the Acupuncture Society and other interested parties.

13. Where relevant I maintain records of the patient’s consent to treatment, or the consent of their next-of-kin in order to be able to prove that the patient (and/or parent/guardian/next of kin) has given informed consent to treatment to secure evidence in the event of a civil claim, criminal prosecution, insurance claim or complaint.

Section 14 applies to those who complain about our services 

14. If I receive a complaint from a person I make up a file containing the details of the complaint. This normally contains the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

I will only use the personal information collected to process the complaint and to check on the level of service I provide. I usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis. I may need to provide personal information collected and processed in relation to complaints to the Acupuncture or our insurance company Balens.

I will keep personal information contained in complaint files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to me, I will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.

How long do I keep your personal data?

I keep your personal data for no longer than reasonably necessary.

I keep patient records for a period of 7 years in accordance with the Acupuncture Society of Professional Conduct

Your rights and your personal data

Unless subject to an exemption under the GDPR, you have certain rights with respect to your personal data as set out below.

• The right to request a copy of your personal data which we hold about you.
• The right to request that we correct any personal data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date.
• The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for us to retain such data.
• The right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time. This right does not apply where we are processing information using a lawful purpose other than consent.
• The right to request that we provide you with your personal data and where possible, to transmit that data directly to another data controller, (known as the right to data portability), (where applicable) [This right only applies where the processing is based on consent or is necessary for the performance of a contract with you and in either case the we are processing the data by automated means].
• The right, where there is a dispute in relation to the accuracy or processing of your personal data, to request a restriction is placed on further processing.
• The right to object to the processing of personal data, (where applicable) [This right only applies where processing is based on legitimate interests (or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority); direct marketing and processing for the purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics].
• The right to be informed if your data is lost. We shall also inform the Information Commissioner’s Office in accordance with the time limits in the GDPR.
• The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

For further details about these rights please see the Information Commissioner’s website at https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/

Further processing

If we wish to use your personal data for a new purpose, not covered by this Privacy Notice, then we will provide you with a new notice explaining this new use prior to commencing the processing and setting out the relevant purposes and processing conditions. Where and whenever necessary, we will seek your prior consent to the new processing.

Contact me on tamsinana@duck.com if you have further questions.

I’m excited to announce a day of ‘playing with presence’, a series of workshops exploring movement, mind, mortality and meditation. 

1. Qi gong with Tamsin Anna
2. ‘Connections equals flow’ – methods of self treatment and an intro to biodynamic Cranio-sacral therapy with Lisa Loader
3. Living funeral ceremony with Emily Cross
4. Mindfulness sitting meditation Jonathon Rouse

Each workshop can be booked individually or you can book for the whole day. 

 Book here 

https://buytickets.at/tamsinanna/1658983

I’m now offering two in person classes at the Glow Collective, Bridport.

These classes will focus on developing the foundational principles in the body for qi gong practice: body opening, strengthening, weaving together mind and body, developing consistent presence and awareness throughout the movements. 

You will leave the class feeling present, vitalised, within an increasingly spacious and grounded body.

The classes will be suitable for beginners, though some can find the practice to be strong and active, and so it may be better suited to those with a base level of fitness – though all are welcome to come and try. 

Looking forward to sharing these practices in this lovely space! 

Feel free to just show up, or text, dm or email me. £10 a session or £8 each if you buy a block of 5.

Acupuncture key point revision cards for sale. Each card has a hand-painted / hand-drawn image on one side, with details about the point on the back. The info comes from Damo Mitchell’s final Xian Tian course, and is not exhaustive but contains the most important information to get started using the points. They serve as ‘memorisation’ cards in the early stages of learning Chinese Medicine. I also use them in my clinic. They are postcard size, and come in a box.

£50 a set plus postage. Please contact me to purchase. Digital version available soon!

Did you know, burnout can be understood to be another form of addiction, of self abuse. In the case of burnout, the addiction is often to the ‘socially accepted’ vice of overworking, and to the identity that is associated with that role. Burnout can often lead to a change in identity, as you may have to face changes in your life which alter your identity – perhaps stopping doing a particular job, or changing role. You might have previously identified as being ‘able to do everything’, and instead now you’re faced with tiredness, exhaustion, and a lack of enthusiasm for the things you used to do so easily.

This change of identity can be very hard for some people. We can become attached to ideas of who we are, and changes to this can feel like challenges to the core of our being. We must reconnect with who we are, beneath these layers of identity, and build a new relationship with ourselves. This path is similar for so much work around rehabilitation and recovery – from injury, from addiction, from illness, which invites us to connect with ourselves anew.

In Chinese Medicine, both burnout and substance addiction can lead to a kind of adrenal fatigue which drains your kidneys, on your deep reserves of energy. The kidneys are also associated with identity and our sense of who we are. Acupuncture is an effective way to nourish the kidneys, and to build the strength back after adrenal fatigue. Qi gong is very good for this too. We must nourish and restore the kidneys, which are our storehouse of energy.

This is a place to start, and through restoring physical balance bit by bit, we can also rebuild our connection to ourselves and our bodies.

A few more thoughts from me on how acupuncture can help with addiction.

Often addictions are used as a way of changing ones state, altering how one feels. Acupuncture is a powerful natural tool for changing how one feels. Through the treatment, you are able to experience a shift in your state: you might feel relaxed, more grounded, you might feel that tension has been released. These changes can be subtle and incremental, as we change the patterning in your system. None the less, experiencing a natural tool to alter ones state enables your system to know that there are other ways of creating change. Whilst your vice might be what you’re used to, there are also other mechanisms out there that can create a change in body, mind and spirit. This can give your system a new mechanism to replace the old vice.

Furthermore, acupuncture can shift the underlying patterning or imbalance that creates the feeling of need for the vice. Perhaps it is stress, emotional imbalances, physical pain, or mental pain. Acupuncture can help with these, helping your system to process what life throws at you. It can relieve stress, balance and release emotions, help with physical pain. From a Chinese Medicine perspective, our systems should be able to cope with and adapt to life. If we are not able to, usually this is because of an imbalance in our system, a weakness or blockage that stops our body from processing ‘the event or place or ‘life’. Acupuncture can help to strengthen our systems in order to enable them to process life. We can become better at handling stress and emotions, and our body may improve it’s efficiency which will mean it feels less pain.

The changes that acupuncture creates can be slow, subtle, and incremental. With acupuncture, we are aiming to restore the body’s natural harmony and balance. All of us through our lives will develop imbalances, and parts of the system will get overloaded, whilst other parts will get weaker. Acupuncture can work like ‘shifting a dam’: if we have a big river, which has got used to flowing in one direction, we can use acupuncture to redirect this flow. This will change the course and patterning of how the body and mind operate. However, making this change is usually gradual, and needs a course of treatments, whilst we show the body the new direction, and encourage it to operate that way.

Acupuncture sessions can also include lifestyle advice. This may be about posture, eating habits, lifestyle choices. From a Chinese Medicine perspective, lifestyle changes are often the first step towards improving ones health. The way that Chinese Medicine understands the body and mind is a bit different to Western medicine, and so some of the advice may be different to what you’re used to. Some of the habitual ways we live in the West can, from a Chinese Medicine perspective, be a cause of ill-health and imbalance. For instance, Chinese Medicine often encourages eating warm cooked food and no cold raw salads for people with digestive issues. This can be counter intuitive for us in the West, but learning to understand the Chinese Medical conception of how the body operates can help to learn how to restore and nourish your system naturally.