1. D3 Confidentiality

2. D3 Maintaining confidentiality Definition of confidentiality.
In B1 we touched on confidentiality. Can you create a definition for the term ‘confidentiality’?
Confidentiality is about protecting personal information. Information includes names, date of birth, age, gender and medical history.
How do health care workers maintain confidentiality? (In pairs think of a range of ways)
1. Keeping yourself informed of relevant laws.
Law and the underpinning values of care practice state all health and social care professionals maintain people’s confidentiality at all times.
The law sets out duties known as the common law of confidentiality
Data Protection Act 1998 aims to protect the right of the individual to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data.
The Human Rights Act 1998 reflects this when it says that everyone has a right to respect for private and family life.
Keeping yourself informed of relevant laws.
Keeping information locked away or password protected.
Sharing information only with people who are entitled to have access to the information, e.g. other people in the multidisciplinary team, service users and their carers or families (depending on the situation)
Being professional about how information is shared
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3. D3 Maintaining confidentiality
2. Keeping information locked away or password protected
information stored on paper should be kept locked away when not in use.
It’s important to think about where they should be stored, how to keep them safe, who can have access to them, how long they should be kept, what information should be stored and how often it needs to be reviewed and updated.
Some form of electronic patient record (EPR) system is in place in most GP practices and hospitals, and is used to record information about a patient’s medical history, diagnosis and treatment.
As people can now make appointments and order prescriptions via their computer, smart phone or other devices, it is necessary to have secure passwords and networks to avoid unauthorised people accessing an individual’s personal information.
You need to keep yourself informed of, and up to date with, the relevant laws.
All organisation or workplace in the health and social care sector must have a confidentiality policy, as well as procedures in place that must be followed with regard to breaching of confidentiality.
A guide to confidentiality in health and social care (2013) gives clear user-friendly guidance for processing confidential information about an individual’s care.
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4. D3 Maintaining confidentiality
Sharing information only with people who are entitled to have access to the information
Information should only be shared with others on a need-to-know basis.
for example other people in a multi-disciplinary team.
You should not share with anyone else, even a person’s family or friends, without an individuals permission.
There are exceptions:
If a person is at risk of harming others
Is at risk of harming themselves
Is at risk of being hurt by others
When there is a risk of a serious offence being carried out.
Being professional about how information is shared
Ask the individual concerned for their agreement to pass it on information about them.
Information passed on needs to be accurate.
Information should never be passed on in an offensive way, or anywhere where it can be overheard.
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5. D3 Maintaining confidentiality
Codes of practice for care workers establishing importance of confidentiality
These principles are the following.
Justify the purpose(s): The use and purpose of all confidential information within or from an organisation should be scrutinised to make sure it is necessary.
Don’t use personally confidential data unless it is absolutely necessary: only use personally identifiable information if there is no alternative.
Use the minimum necessary personal confidential data: if it is essential to use personally identifiable information, then only the item required should be disclosed. For example, the whole of a person’s medical details should not be sent if only one small part is needed.
Access to personal confidential data should be on a strict need-to-know basis: only those people who need access to the information should have access to it.
Confidential information refers to information that is of a personal or sensitive nature and that is not available to the public domain.
All information sharing in health and social care is guided by the Caldicott Principles.
These were revised in 2013 to take into consideration the boundaries of confidentiality in relation to safeguarding.
Caldicott Principles : A set of standards aimed at improving information handling in health and social care from a review commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer of England.
Make some notes on some of the rules of confidentiality and Caldicott principles
NHS Information Governance
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6. D3 Maintaining confidentiality
Codes of practice for care workers establishing importance of confidentiality
Everyone with access to personal confidential data must understand their responsibilities. Anyone handling the information should understand the need to respect the service user’s confidentiality.
Comply with the law. Every use of personal confidential data must comply with legal requirements. There should be someone in every organisation who is responsible for making sure that the organisation complies with the law.
The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect individuals’ confidentiality. Health and social care professionals should have the confidence to share information in the best interests of individuals and they should be supported by the policies of their employers, regulators and professional bodies
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7. D3 Maintaining confidentiality
Relevant aspects of legislation, e.g. Health and Social Care Act 2012.
Human Rights Act 1998
Data Protection Act 1998
Health and Social Care Act 2012
Find information on the legislations listed opposite. How can you link confidentiality to those pieces of legislation?
Use the links above to get you started.
Role of the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)
Read the information in the link above. Who are the HSCIC? What do they do? How do they help to maintain confidentiality?
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