Patient confidentiality breach - dilemma

LittleVoice

paddedjohn wrote: »

what is so confidential about someones name? any visitors would have seen the board anyway. OP do the right thing and have a word with the owner of the facebook page, even if it is against the rules it wasnt done with any malice and you could end up ruining someones life by grassing.
This country is getting more and more f*cked each and every day, do hospitals actually treat paople anymore or are they too busy with s*it like this.

I do not believe that hospital management becoming aware of the photograph would have the consequence of "ruining" a life!

Much more likely is that the person would be reminded of the need to avoid such action in future (and to remove the photo if it is still there).

The Caldicott Guardian would be told and the lesson learned by management would be to include a similar case in the training they provide and perhaps occasionally in staff newsletters.

Uncertain

The whole issue to do with privacy and dada confidentiality is a total mess.

Had this photo been taken by a visitor or another patient then, realistically, there would be nothing anybody could do. In a way this would be like the nonsense that made the national papers recently when a parent dared to photograph their own child in a shopping centre.

People often misunderstand the law. It does not prevent the taking of photographs in a public or private place and you do not need the permission of people who happen to appear in those photos. The owners of a private place can set pretty much whatever terms they like for letting somebody in. One of those may be no photography.

Obviously staff, even unqualified ones, are governed by the employer's rules and that is what seems to have been broken here.

Should the OP report it? Technically yes but there must be a great temptation not to have noticed the problem!

trishandbubs

What ever you do hun dont write anything on her facebook page about it, my hubby is a nurse and replied to another nurses comment about a patient on her facebook, all he said was I dont think this is right, and he ended up being disciplined for it as he didnt tell the nurse manager about it. He now has a black mark on his record for trying not to be a snitch so tread very carefully. Also dont have the nhs down as your employer as then it aparently gives them the right to use anything you put on your page as bringing the nhs into disrupute!!

Errata

Shoving patient info out into cyberspace is not acceptable, but far more disturbing is the fact that nurses are farting about taking photos of each other on a ward when they should be working and the OP doesn't seem bothered about that. That says a lot about the state of nursing today.

bevanuk

Errata wrote: »

Shoving patient info out into cyberspace is not acceptable, but far more disturbing is the fact that nurses are farting about taking photos of each other on a ward when they should be working and the OP doesn't seem bothered about that. That says a lot about the state of nursing today.

It was someone's leaving day you miserable sod. They are entitled to the nice last day that everyone else gets. Just cause they work in a hospital doesn't change this.

Just message them or call them whatever, let them know and then stop worrying about it. This is obviously an accident. Sure they will understand and then nobody gets in trouble or has any hassle, especially whilst off on maternity leave.

Caroline73_2

Errata wrote: »

Shoving patient info out into cyberspace is not acceptable, but far more disturbing is the fact that nurses are farting about taking photos of each other on a ward when they should be working and the OP doesn't seem bothered about that. That says a lot about the state of nursing today.

I thanked this post because I agree with all of it whole heartedly. Except the last sentence, please don't tar all nurses with the same brush. It would never happen in my department.

If nurses want to celebrate someone's last shift then they should do it after the shift has finished. That applies to all work places too, work is for working. The clues in the word.

magenta22

Contact facebook and ask them to remove the picture.

MonkeySaving?

Speak to your boss and report it, this could come back round and bite you on the !!! if you're not careful. You will at some point in the past have signed an NDA related to patient information and most likely some kind of computer security policy and if your hospital/department has been ISO27k or HIPAA certified then there is likely to be a statement in there related to reporting of security incidents (of which this is one).

lynzpower

We had an issue with a white board in reception when I used to work in social work: the upshot being that visitors to reception could see the names and sometimes the address of families we were seeing. obvioulsly this was not good!

We removed the whiteboard and put it in staff only areas. Fairly simple to do.

Yorkie1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-15492092

Admittedly a more serious breach of patient confidentiality but it shows how seriously the NHS takes breaches of data protection. A person's medical history is sensitive information which must be held securely and only disclosed in accordance with the law. Posting a photo which includes the names of people who are in hospital is not in accordance with the rules. Whether inadvertent or not, it's a serious matter.