Acorn Terms & Conditions of Business

Acorn Autism Specialists Ltd Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions of Business are between Acorn Autism Specialists Ltd (“Us/We/Our”) and the employing client and/or the recipient of services (“You”)

1  Our Obligations:

• We are a private, non urgent autism diagnostic service, specialising in autism diagnosis, pre and post diagnostic support.
• We provide a service for children over the age of 3 years, adolescents and adults.
• We provide “gold standard” autism assessment and will provide you with a detailed report of our findings confirming that either you are on the autism spectrum or that you are not on the autism spectrum. An assessment does not mean that you will be automatically diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
• We are not obliged to accept you as a client if we judge that we are not the right service to support you. We do not have to give any reason why we may not accept you as a client and can at any time cease to work with you, if we judge that it is no longer appropriate for us to do so. In these extremely rare instances, we may direct you to your GP for onward referral elsewhere.

2  Your Obligations

You agree that:

• You will supply full and accurate information to us
• You will notify us of any changes to your details, particularly if they may affect your safety or suitability for our service
• You will notify us promptly in the event you need to cancel or reschedule any appointments that we have made
• You will complete a Client Registration form prior to the assessment appointment in a timely manner. Please note that an appointment date and time cannot be booked until this information is received from you, completed in full.
• You agree to complete and return to us before the appointment date all relevant documentation that Acorn Autism Specialists Ltd requests, such as external professional reports. This will ensure that we have all required information to support the assessment process.

3  Cancellation and Lateness

• We understand that sometimes it is necessary to cancel appointments. If you need to cancel your appointment for any reason then we ask that you give us 48 hours notice.
• If you are unable to attend your appointment, you agree to let us know at the earliest opportunity. Acorn Autism Specialists operates a 48-hour cancellation policy. If you wish to cancel your appointment, you must email or call us at least 48 hours before the appointment scheduled time and you will not be charged for this appointment.
  Email: info@acorn-autism.co.uk
• Booking cancellations made less than two working days before the scheduled appointment time will not be eligible for any refunds and will be charged for the full 100% of the appointment fee.
• If we have to cancel the appointment for any reason, then we will endeavour to reschedule as quickly as possible at no cost to you.
• To provide the best possible service to all our clients, we ask you to contact us if you are unable to attend your appointment on time so we can make all necessary arrangements to ensure the appointment can still go ahead. We will try to accommodate you as best as we can, but you may be asked to reschedule your appointment or wait for a later available slot so that this does not disrupt the remaining appointments scheduled that day.
• If you are more than 30 minutes late for your appointment without letting us know, we may consider you to have failed to attend, in which case, you will not be eligible for a refund.
  

4  Fees and Payment Terms

• Our standard fees are communicated to you at the time of booking an appointment and which may be amended by us from time to time.
• All appointments and services with Acorn Autism Specialists Ltd are chargeable and payment will be required to be paid in full by the client in a timely way upon receipt of invoice.
• Payment in full is required a minimum of two working days before the initial assessment appointment, follow up and any additional appointments.
• Please be aware your appointment is at risk should payment in full not be received, and cancellation terms may apply.
• You will be given an invoice via email prior to your appointment. The full amount is required to be paid in full to secure the assessment appointment.
• It is your responsibility to ensure that payments are made on time and kept up to date. If at any time you are struggling to make the payment or keep up with any payment plans previously agreed, you should contact us so that we can arrange a payment plan for you.
• In the event that payment of our fees is made by a third party on your behalf (e.g parent/guardian/employer), you shall procure that such third party complies with these standard terms.
• In the event that any appointment does proceed without full payment having first been received from you or your funder (which would only be in exceptional circumstances) then all of the balance of any fees owed must be paid immediately and we reserve the right to take such action as may be necessary to recover any sums due to us. 

Should you choose to apply with finance with Payl8r and accept finance with Payl8r – you agree that your financial obligations are between you (client) and Payl8r (finance provider). Acorn Autism Specialists Ltd is a credit broker of Social Money Ltd t/a Payl8r in all financial Payl8r related transactions. Please ensure that you read the Payl8r terms and condition’s and you can afford the repayment options offered to you before accepting your offer.

5  Access

• Our clinic is located in an old converted stable in the middle of the Essex countryside. Whilst this is a beautiful, quiet location with easy parking, the building is not wheelchair friendly. There are a couple of steps into our building - as seen on our website photo - for which we currently have no ramp or grab bar/handle to accommodate wheelchairs or those with mobility issues. Our bathroom facilities additionally are not wheelchair friendly.
• If you, or those attending the assessment with you, have any mobility issues, it is your responsibility to inform the Acorn team so that they can discuss any mobility concerns and potentially change location to one of our wheelchair friendly sites rather than the main clinic. 
• Additionally, in the clinic, there is one beam going across the assessment room, which is approximately 6feet. For those, over 6 foot tall, please make sure you take care when walking under the beam.

6  Non-Client Payers

• If you are not a client but have engaged us on behalf of a client or have otherwise paid any sum on behalf of a client you agree that you will be bound by all of the provisions of these terms including without limitation the payment of cancellation fees.

7  Confidentiality and Consent

• We shall manage your personal data in accordance with all
  relevant legislation including GDPR.
• By using our services you consent to us storing and processing your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy, Data Protection and GDPR policies, which can be found on our website.
• All of your information will be held in strictest confidence. No such information will be divulged to any third party without your expressed written consent, such as sharing your assessment report with your GP.
• There are some exceptional circumstances where we may be legally required to disclose your personal information, for example, if you disclose information to us that you may pose either a serious risk to yourself or another person, or information regarding acts of terrorism or serious crime, or where we are legally required in accordance with child protection legislation to report safeguarding/child protection concerns. By accepting these terms you acknowledge that we are legally obliged to do this.
• Acorn Autism Specialists adopts a multi-disciplinary approach for the diagnostic assessment of possible autism. The core team may therefore collaborate with registered professional colleagues within Acorn Autism Specialists where a differential diagnosis is appropriate (NICE 1.1.3)
  
  

8  Children, Young People and Consent

• By law, healthcare professionals only require one person with parental responsibility to consent for them to undertake assessment or treatment. However, at Acorn Autism Specialists we prefer to have consent from both parents with parental responsibility.
• People over 16 are entitled to consent to whether they wish to engage with Acorn Autism Specialists Ltd. Children under the age of 16 can also consent to their involvement if they are believed to have sufficient intelligence and
• maturity to understand and make decisions about their involvement. This may extend to the person refusing assessment treatment, refusing to allow disclosure of their records to third parties (including family members) and refusing to allow us to communicate with the client’s parents without their consent. You acknowledge that we will be subject to such obligations of confidentiality in this respect and that we shall have no liability in the event we are required to comply with such obligations at the direction of the client.

9 Making a Complaint

• Please send all complaints to the assigned principle for complaints which is Dr Sarah Clayton:
   

In writing to:

Suite A, Bridgefoot Studios

Kelvedon  CO5 9BE

Or emailed to:

info@acorn-autism.co.uk

Or telephone:

01376 402284

• If the service we have provided is not of your satisfaction we would like to hear about it to ensure that our service can improve. Your feedback is extremely valuable.
• We do everything we can to make sure our clients get the best service possible. However, from time to time we may not get things exactly right. If this happens, please let us know so we can put things right.
• We endeavour to do the following: 
  - Make it straight forward for you to tell us what your complaint is
  - Give your complaint the consideration that it deserves
  - Deal with your complaint quickly
• How long will it take to get a reply from Acorn Autism:
  - We aim to resolve your complaint straight away but if we can’t, then we will write to you within three business days to tell you:
• We will always aim to try and resolve your complaint as fast as practically possible but it may take longer if it is complex.
• We will keep you informed on a regular basis but if you need an update please call us on the telephone number above.

10  Liability

• We accept liability only for the action of all persons in our direct employ where such actions arise directly as a result of such employment.
• Nothing in these terms shall limit or exclude our liability for death or personal Injury caused by our negligence or any othe liability which Is not legally permissible to exclude. Subject to this we shall under no circumstances whatever be liable to you for any indirect or consequential loss and our total liability to you in respect of all other losses under these terms shall not exceed the fees paid by you in the year in which the loss arose.
• We shall not be liable to you as a result of any delay or failure to perform our obligations as a result of an event beyond our reasonable control including without limitation act of God.
• We have affected a Public and Employers Liability insurance policy to indemnify against costs incurred in respect of proven acts for which we can be held liable in law.
  

11 Miscellaneous

• These terms constitute the entire agreement between Acorn Autism Specialists Ltd and you, the client.
• Any variation of these terms shall only be binding when agreed by us and sent to you by email or written form. You cannot vary these terms.
• In the event that such variations have been so agreed, then those variations shall form part of our agreement.

Download our T&C's  here