Website Security for UK Speech and Language Therapists

Why Speech Therapy Data Is Particularly Sensitive

Speech and language therapists (SLTs) collect sensitive clinical data about patients — and a significant proportion of their patients are children. Assessment data for children includes developmental history, educational background, learning difficulties, and detailed functional assessments of speech, language, and communication abilities. For adult patients, SLTs working in stroke rehabilitation, dementia care, and acquired communication disorders hold medical histories linked to serious health conditions.

This is special category health data under UK GDPR. For children's data, there are additional considerations: data about under-13s in digital services is subject to specific requirements under the ICO's Children's Code, and parental consent requirements add complexity to data collection.

HCPC registration requires SLTs to handle patient data lawfully and securely. A data breach involving children's health and developmental information is among the most serious categories of breach an individual practitioner can suffer.

What SLT Websites Hold

**Online assessment and intake questionnaires** — Parent and patient intake forms for speech therapy services collect developmental history, medical background, current concerns, and educational placement. For children, this includes details of special educational needs, school involvement, and sometimes information about family circumstances.

**Assessment results and therapy programmes** — Private SLTs using online practice management platforms store assessment results and therapy programme records in web-accessible systems.

**School and professional referral correspondence** — SLTs receive referrals from schools, GPs, and paediatric services. This correspondence contains clinical and educational detail about identifiable individuals.

**Session notes and progress records** — Ongoing therapy records are health data. If these are stored in a platform accessible via a web interface, that interface is a target.

Key Vulnerabilities

**Children's data in CMS-stored contact forms** — A contact form on an SLT website asking parents to describe their child's speech concerns is collecting special category data about a child. If that form stores its responses in a standard WordPress database without adequate access controls, that data is exposed to the same risks as any other poorly secured website.

**Practice management software without MFA** — Platforms used by private SLTs to manage appointments and records are web-accessible. Weak credentials on these platforms expose every patient record.

**Email handling of clinical correspondence** — Referral letters, school reports, and educational psychologist assessments shared by email are sensitive documents in an insecure channel.

Run a security scan on your SLT website and review the security settings on your practice management platform. Yrzo AI identifies the vulnerabilities that put patient data — including children's health data — at risk, in language that does not require technical expertise.