whether it is necessary to disclose personal or confidential patient information.whether the public interest served by disclosure outweighs the public interest served by protecting the confidentiality of the individual and the public interest served by providing a confidential service to the wider public.When deciding whether to disclose information, there are several things to consider: ![]() due to an incident which the police should be alerted to for example, reporting knife crime.in response to a request from the police.If you are responsible for responding to the police or making a decision about sharing information, it is important that you are prepared in advance of any request.ĭecisions on providing information to the police may be: Make sure you know what to do if you are responsible for making a decision You should use the support available in your organisation. You should not feel under pressure to provide personal or confidential patient information and never give the police an original health and care record to take away. Understand that there may be times when it is appropriate to challenge a request from the police. You must record your reasons irrespective of whether or not you share information. If in doubt, seek advice from the most senior manager on call before making a disclosure decision. ![]() If a decision really cannot wait because someone is at imminent risk of serious harm, use your professional judgement. Know what to do if these people are unavailable (for example, you are working out of hours). This should be set out in your local procedure. In smaller organisations there should be an individual who is trained to manage requests. If you work in a large organisation, there may be a team who is responsible for managing requests. Requests (whether written or verbal) should be processed by trained or experienced staff. Know who deals with requests from the police in your organisation, who you can ask for advice and who should authorise the disclosure of information to the police. Read and understand your local policy and procedures which should set out how requests for information from the police should be dealt with.īe aware of, and abide by, the advice on public interest disclosures provided by your professional regulator (for example, the General Medical Council if you are a doctor). The following should help in the event that you are asked for information by the police: Make sure you know how to get support and advice There are legal constraints on what can and should be provided, but this depends on the circumstances. A clear legal basis must be identified and recorded and in line with professional guidance. However, any decisions to disclose personal or confidential patient information must be taken on a case-by-case basis. The public interest is best served when health and care organisations co-operate with the police. Doing so may jeopardise a police investigation. If you are the suspect of knife or gun crime, it is unlikely that your consent would be sought or that practitioners would inform you that they had decided to share information with the police. However, they should generally inform you of any disclosures that have been made as soon as possible, unless the person making the disclosure judges that it is not practical or safe to do so. This may be even if you had previously declined as in their professional judgement, the need to protect others from serious harm outweighs the duty of confidentiality they owe to you. However, if the health and care professional was informed by the police that the person who injured you posed a risk to other people, the health and care professional may decide to share your information. If you are the victim of knife or gun crime, a health and care professional would usually ask you before sharing information with the police and will generally respect your wishes. In the case of an individual admitted to hospital with a knife or gunshot wound, information may be given to the police when it is reasonable to believe that the wound is as a result of criminal activity.
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