Confidentiality
Patients have a right to expect that, unless they give permission, a doctor, nurse or other clinician will not disclose any personal information that is learnt during the course of their professional duties.
Without assurances about confidentiality, patients may be reluctant to give information that is needed in order to provide good care. Therefore, at Thornhills Medical Practice the following principles of confidentiality apply:
Staff responsible for confidential information must make sure that the information is effectively protected against improper disclosure when it is received, stored, transmitted or disposed of.
When patients give consent to disclosure of information about themselves, staff must make sure the individual understands what will be disclosed, the reasons for disclosure and the likely consequences.
Staff must respect requests by patients that information should not be disclosed to third parties, except in exceptional circumstances (for example, where the health or safety of others would otherwise be at serious risk).
If confidential information is disclosed, only as much information as is necessary for the purpose must be released.
Health workers, to whom information is disclosed, must be made aware and understand that it is given to them in confidence, which they must respect.
If it is decided to disclose confidential information, the decision must be capable of justification.
Confidential information must only be disclosed on a 'need to know' basis to other staff, where need to know is defined as 'such access as is needed to legitimately perform NHS duties'.