Confidentiality

At Tavyside Health Centre, we take confidentiality very seriously. 

Confidentiality is a critical principle that applies across various sectors, including healthcare, law, and business. It refers to the obligation to protect personal and sensitive information from unauthorised access, disclosure, or misuse. Confidentiality is governed by a combination of common law, statutory regulations, and professional guidelines.

Confidentiality is crucial for building trust in relationships in healthcare. It ensures that individuals can share sensitive information with the assurance that it will not be disclosed inappropriately.

Understanding the laws and guidelines surrounding confidentiality in the UK is essential for professionals in all sectors to ensure compliance and protect the rights of individuals and organisations.

Key Aspects of Confidentiality in the UK

  1. Legal Framework:

    • Data Protection Act 2018: This law incorporates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) into UK law. It sets out the responsibilities of organisations in handling personal data and the rights of individuals regarding their information.
    • Common Law Duty of Confidentiality: This principle applies in situations where information is shared in confidence, such as between a patient and doctor. It restricts the disclosure of such information without consent.

  2. Healthcare Confidentiality:

    • Healthcare professionals have a duty to maintain the confidentiality of patient information. Breaching this duty can lead to legal consequences, except in specific circumstances like safeguarding or legal requirements to disclose.
    • The National Health Service (NHS) has strict guidelines to ensure patient information is kept secure and used appropriately.

  3. Professional Codes of Conduct:

    • Professions have codes of conduct that require members to maintain confidentiality.
    • Breaches of confidentiality can lead to disciplinary action by professional bodies.

  4. Exceptions to Confidentiality:

    • Situations where confidentiality might be breached include cases of public interest, where there is a legal obligation to disclose, or where there is a risk of serious harm to the individual or others.
Roles and Responsibilities

 

The Partners

Have overall responsibility for strategic and operational management, including ensuring that Tavyside Health Centre’s policies comply with all legal, statutory and good practice guidance requirements.

The Caldicott Guardian

A Caldicott Guardian’s role, as outlined within the Manual for Caldicott Guardians, is a senior person within a health or social care organisation who ensures that personal information about those who use its services is used legally, ethically and appropriately and that confidentiality is maintained.

The Caldicott Guardian’s main concern is information relating to individuals and their care. Additionally, this need for confidentiality also extends to other individuals and this includes relatives, staff and others.

Information Governance Lead

The Information Governance lead will be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of Information Governance at Tavyside Health Centre and ensure that the Practice complies with supporting the Legal and NHS Mandatory Framework with regards to Information Governance.

The Information Governance lead is responsible for providing advice on request to any member of staff and ensuring that training is provided for all staff groups to further understand the principles and their application.

HR Department

The HR department is responsible for ensuring that the contracts of all staff (permanent and temporary) are compliant with the requirements of the policy and that confidentiality is included in inductions for all staff.

Team Leaders

Team Leaders are responsible for ensuring that the policy and its supporting standards and guidelines are built into local processes and that there is on-going compliance. They must ensure that any breaches of the policy are reported, investigated and acted upon.

All Staff

All employees must, from the date of the commencement of employment or other form of engagement, and thereafter, observe strict confidentiality in respect of any information held by the organisation and by each individual working on behalf of the organisation. This includes dealings, transactions, procedures, policies, decisions, systems and other matters of a confidential nature concerning the organisation and its affairs.

Other than in the proper course of their duties, employees must not, either during or at any time after the termination of their employment, exploit or disclose confidential information. In addition, employees must not, through negligence, wilful misconduct, or inadvertence, allow the use, exploitation or disclosure of any confidential information relating to the affairs of the organisation, its patients, partners, employees, contractors, business partners or suppliers. 

To ensure that any user of our services, our staff and potential employees are aware of the confidentiality obligations within this organisation, privacy notices are available.

The practice privacy notice explains to patients the ways in which the organisation gathers, uses, discloses and manages a patient’s data. It fulfils a legal requirement to protect a patient’s privacy.