« Competency 3

• Competency 3 – Good clinical care: Consultation with employers/managers
• Competency 3 – Good clinical care: Understand the need to explain the difference between occupational health and clinical consultations
• Competency 3 – Good clinical care:Understand confidentiality and the principles of consent
• Competency 3 – Good clinical care: Understand the ethics and constraints of communicating with non-medical personnel and the appropriate contents of an occupational health report.
• Competency 3 – Good Clinical Care: Listen Actively
• Competency 3 – Good Clinical Care:Be aware of misconceptions about the role of occupational health professionals
• Competency 3 – Good Clinical Care: Respect confidentiality

Competency 3 – Good Clinical Care: Respect confidentiality

Objective: to develop reflective communication between healthcare professionals, employers and employees

ATTITUDES

Respect confidentiality.

GMC publication Confidentiality: Protecting and Providing Information

This can be elicited by a series of questions to open debate on confidentiality.

Are all medical practitioners bound by confidentiality?

• Yes

Why is confidentiality important?

• Patients’ right to know that information about them will be held in confidence by their doctors.
• It is central to the trust between doctors and patients.
• Without confidentiality patients may be reluctant to give doctors information they need in order to provide good care.

How can information given in confidence be passed onto a third party?

• With expressed consent of the individual concerned.
• Disclosures required by law.
• Disclosures to the courts or in connection with litigation.
• Disclosures to statutory bodies.
• Disclosures in the public interest.
• Disclosures to protect patients or others.
• Disclosures in relation to children or those who lack capacity to give consent.
• Disclosures following death.

What type of information can a medical practitioner pass on to an employer regarding an employee?

• Factual information regarding an individual’s general state of health.
• Prognosis of their medical condition; likely date of return to work, general information relating to the nature of any health concerns.

Is there a difference between passing on information to an employer and an occupational health professional?

• Yes, a report submitted to a fellow medical professional is likely to contain more clinical details, and use medical jargon freely.
• Such reports are bound by confidentiality by the occupational health professional and the only information that can be provided to management without consent is that relating to functional ability.
• It can be interpreted by the occupational health professional to the needs of the working environment.

Can a medical practitioner pass on confidential information without consent?

• Yes as outlined above