Patient confidentiality breach - dilemma

Savvy_Sue

surreysaver wrote: »

Why? If the information is publicly available, why should they not ask about it?

the information about who uses our services is not publicly available, it is confidential. If an official body like the council phones and asks for information on a client, they have to fax across consent from the client first, before we can confirm that we are working with them. If a family member phones and asks after a client, we can't confirm whether we know them or not, we can only say that IF we know them and IF we see them, we will pass a message on.

The person who asked after the name they saw on a noticeboard should not, IMO, have done so, because they worked for an organisation which should have a similar confidentiality policy to ours.

milliemonster

Thank you for everyones comments and I wholeheartedly mean that.

To Errata who has asked why I have shown absolutely no concern whatsoever that this photograph was taken while the staff should have been getting on with their job. I didn't comment on that because that is a separate issue that I did not need advice about, I wasn't on duty myself when it was taken and as far as I know, this photo could quite possibly have been taken after this persons shift had finished anyway.

I do personally have difficulty with photo's being taken in the patient environment that are not workrelated and this is something that I will probably have to discuss with my line manager.

It seems everyone has very different opinions on this, which as a forum I did expect. Whiteboards in the patient area are a bit of a bone of contention in that they can be seen as a breach of patient confidentiality when they have patient data on, it's an issue the Trust are trying to deal with at the moment and the best way around it, the only information on there regarding patients is their surname and first letter of first name, no DOB, no gender etc.

To those of you who have expressed dismay at why we seem to be bothered with such trivialities, well unfortunately this comes from litigation in the past with regard to breaches so the NHS take this very seriously now, to some of you, you wouldn't care less if the whole world and his dog saw your name on a photo posted on facebook, others would be very upset about this, everyone's different.

As I mentioned in my very first post, we do not ever discuss patients between ourselves on facebook and I do think this photo has been taken without regard to what can be seen, but then most breaches of data are accidental and not malicious.

My husband has suggested I pretend I have not seen it, but I have seen it and my conscience tells me I have to act, I have taken your advice and have not contacted the person who posted the photo direct through facebook, I'll speak to my manager about it tomorrow and let her deal with it.

With regard to the poster who suggested that by 'grassing up a colleague - see how many friends that gets me at work', well, my responsibility is towards my patients and governing body, not to behave in a way that disrespects the NMC, the public and my employer just to win brownie points with colleagues at work.

MonkeySaving?

milliemonster wrote: »

My husband has suggested I pretend I have not seen it, but I have seen it and my conscience tells me I have to act, I have taken your advice and have not contacted the person who posted the photo direct through facebook, I'll speak to my manager about it tomorrow and let her deal with it.

With regard to the poster who suggested that by 'grassing up a colleague - see how many friends that gets me at work', well, my responsibility is towards my patients and governing body, not to behave in a way that disrespects the NMC, the public and my employer just to win brownie points with colleagues at work.

An absolutley spot on attitude, and you have made exactly the right choice from a conformance perspective, i should know, I have to write NDA's and security policies conforming to HIPAA standards (not for the NHS but for private healthcare providers) .
When it comes to confidential information then there is no excuse for complacency, you've identified information leakage and are reporting it as per your t's and c's of employment.
No brownie points from colleagues, but have some brownie points from (some) people on this thread who understand the ramifications for not reporting it. Well done for doing the right thing

JustKeepSwimming_2

milliemonster - I agree with your stance & this is what I would do if I were in your situation. I've worked in healthcare (NHS & private) for many years & this is the best option for you. I also understand how you can't pretend you haven't seen it - I wouldn't be able to do this either. I hope your colleague isn't treated harshly, but you can't let this possibility get in the way of doing the right thing.

I'd be interested in how your manager deals with this. When I worked in a particular trust a breach such as this was would trigger a training session for all staff, & the "guilty" party wasn't usually reprimanded (unless there were other issues with their performance) as it was recognised that it could have happened to anyone. Most confidentiality breaches are accidental & most staff are upset that they have caused such a breach (as I think someone else has already pointed out!).

nottslass_2

milliemonster wrote: »

Thank you for everyones comments and I wholeheartedly mean that.

To Errata who has asked why I have shown absolutely no concern whatsoever that this photograph was taken while the staff should have been getting on with their job. I didn't comment on that because that is a separate issue that I did not need advice about, I wasn't on duty myself when it was taken and as far as I know, this photo could quite possibly have been taken after this persons shift had finished anyway.

I do personally have difficulty with photo's being taken in the patient environment that are not workrelated and this is something that I will probably have to discuss with my line manager.

It seems everyone has very different opinions on this, which as a forum I did expect. Whiteboards in the patient area are a bit of a bone of contention in that they can be seen as a breach of patient confidentiality when they have patient data on, it's an issue the Trust are trying to deal with at the moment and the best way around it, the only information on there regarding patients is their surname and first letter of first name, no DOB, no gender etc.

To those of you who have expressed dismay at why we seem to be bothered with such trivialities, well unfortunately this comes from litigation in the past with regard to breaches so the NHS take this very seriously now, to some of you, you wouldn't care less if the whole world and his dog saw your name on a photo posted on facebook, others would be very upset about this, everyone's different.

As I mentioned in my very first post, we do not ever discuss patients between ourselves on facebook and I do think this photo has been taken without regard to what can be seen, but then most breaches of data are accidental and not malicious.

My husband has suggested I pretend I have not seen it, but I have seen it and my conscience tells me I have to act, I have taken your advice and have not contacted the person who posted the photo direct through facebook, I'll speak to my manager about it tomorrow and let her deal with it.

With regard to the poster who suggested that by 'grassing up a colleague - see how many friends that gets me at work', well, my responsibility is towards my patients and governing body, not to behave in a way that disrespects the NMC, the public and my employer just to win brownie points with colleagues at work.

As a fellow NHS employee can I say that you come across as a true professional and represent what is great about our NHS :beer:

sho_me_da_money

We are all flawed in some way and make mistakes at work. How would you feel if you were ratted out for every mistake you made because 'it was the professional thing to do'? If I thought in the same way, I could get alot of people in trouble for breaching policy at work.

At the end of the day, the way I see it, is like this - what goes around comes around. Today its about the girl who took the photo and posted it on FB, tomorrow it could be you.

Treat others the way you want to be treated yourself.

WhiteHorse

milliemonster wrote: »

Should I just have a quiet word with the person who posted the pic, and let them know they need to remove it, should I let it go, or should I speak to my boss?

A quiet word would be better. Then, depending on their attitude (aggressive or co-operative), and what they do about it (take the picture down or not), consider reporting them.

MonkeySaving?

sho_me_da_money wrote: »

At the end of the day, the way I see it, is like this - what goes around comes around. Today its about the girl who took the photo and posted it on FB, tomorrow it could be you.

Well, the way "you see it" has no relevance to this thread and it's unlikely that "what goes around will come around" will happen, since the OP obviously has their eye on the ball, spotted the information leakage and subsequently reported it in the correct manner.
This issue has nothing to do with morals, or feeling sorry for a colleague, it's to do with conformance to strict guidelines set by the NHS.
You're welcome to your opinion but if you don't understand the ramifications of not reporting it then please post your belittling statements somewhere else.

MonkeySaving?

WhiteHorse wrote: »

A quiet word would be better. Then, depending on their attitude (aggressive or co-operative), and what they do about it (take the picture down or not), consider reporting them.

Have you actually read the thread?

Hammyman

milliemonster wrote: »

Am I being petty?

Very. As you instantly bleated on about telling management instead of having a quiet word to resolve what was an innocent occurence you are a shining example of everything wrong with this country.