Unit 5
P8
Confidentiality is an important aspect in the health and social care sector and must be
considered when dealing with all service users. Every patient has their own data and
information such as their: name, health records, home address and phone number.
If this information was leaked to any member of the public, then confidentiality has been
broken. When confidentiality is broken, it will lead to consequences such as destroying the
trust and relationship between you and the patient. If confidentiality is broken in Alice’s case
then this will lead her to believe she cannot trust anyone, she may stop attending meetings
with the G.P. and the nutritionist or not give them the whole of her situation as she may feel
as though it will not be private which may lead to long term effects regarding her health and
wellbeing.
In health and social care there are laws in place to protect a patient’s information, these are
Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, Caldicott Report, Health and social
Care Act 2012 and the Role of the health and social care information centre (HSCIC). These
organisations have confidentiality policies and procedures in place whilst giving the correct
guidance to help an individual’s health and wellbeing.
The Data Protection Act 1998 is there to withhold and control your personal information by
providing rules such as data protection principles. The principles give the service user the
right to access your own personal data and enables a professional to update notes on their
health. This act is there to make sure only certain people can edit and view the service
provider’s notes. This act could benefit Alice’s case as she could be giving in information
about her alcohol and talking about her day, this would mean the G.P. can take notes via the
computer and so if Alice were to ever move doctors then the G.P. could send over her notes.
However, if this was noy in place then it may mean that Alice must tell the new G.P. or
professionals all over again which is time consuming and given Alice’s depression she may
give up and think there is no point in telling them and may isolate herself from help which
could go onto more abusive drinking leading to death, suicide, or Self-Harm.
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an act that everybody no matter race, ethnicity, wealth, sexual
orientation etc. is treated with equality, fairness, dignity, and respect. This act is in place so
that people have the right to defend their rights in the UK courts and that they must receive,
freedom, the right to life, liberty, security, a fair trial, freedom of thought and expression and
protection from discrimination. This act could benefit Nusrat as she has learning difficulties
then she may be prone to discrimination and a less of an equal right to other people due to
lack of knowledge and understanding, to the court of law it is in peoples powers such as
nurses and professionals to make sure she has an equal right to life and her care plan and so
they have used the Human Right Act by involving her mother into her care plan so that
Nusrat may have a more of an equal say than what she would have gotten without her mother.
This also gives her the right to who can obtain her information if you go against this and a
processional were to give her information to somebody out of her care plan then this not only
breaks the law but also confidentiality. If this were to ever happen it would make Nusrat feel
insecure and she would experience mistrust into people.
Another act which supports confidentiality is the Caldecott Report 2013 which states that if
you are dealing with confidential information you should follow the 7 principles. The first
1
, principle is to justify the purpose where a service user’s confidential data is documented and
is regularly reviewed by the patient’s guardian. The second principle is that you can’t use
personal confidential data unless necessary. This means that a patient’s data can only be
accessed if needed. The third principle is to use a patient’s data for a minimum necessary so
that each individual data should be considered and that if a service provider had to send their
documents to another professional, he should only send the relevant data to protect the
individual’s rights. The fourth principle is the access to one’s confidential data should be
strictly needed and that a professional should only access it if necessary. The fifth principle is
that everybody in the care plan who can access a patient’s data should be aware of their
responsibilities so they should not abuse the data they have been given under strict
confidentiality. The sixth principle is to know that each personal data must be lawful that has
legal requirements and the seventh principle is that it is important to protect a patient’s
confidentiality when handling their personal data. This could benefit Martins case as he
regularly goes to the dermatologist and his G.P. and they would update his personal data, they
would also have to communicate and send Martins data to one another so they can help more,
this report will benefit Martin as it will mean only the necessary information will be passed
along to the dermatologist from his G.P. and that it will only be based around his skin and
physical health not anything that was said about his own wellbeing.
Another act that is there to protect an individual’s data is the health and social care act 2012.
This was set to protect the public by ensuring that the professionals meet the standards for;
training, professional’s skills, behaviour and health. This could benefit Nusrat as she is a
vulnerable person who cannot speak for her care plan, this act will make sure she gets the
correct professional which has been trained to deal with Nusrat’s disabilities. She can find
comfort in the fact that she is being looked after and she will feel secure.
The last act that protects a patient’s confidentiality is the Role of the health and social care
information centre (HSCIC). This is a UK government website that gives advice and
guidance to the public and provides the data of the IT systems. This would benefit Alice as all
her data will be stored so she does not have to explain her problems repeatedly.
In all health and social care settings they should manage confidential information. First
professional should identify why the information is needed, in Nusrat’s case a phycologist
may want to help Nusrat’s case and therefore ask for her information, she would have to give
full prof that is what she is doing and to give reasoning, secondly professionals should
identify what information is needed, in Nusrat’s care plan she will not only be monitored by
her physical being and her progress in learning but also her wellbeing, the professionals
would identify that they would not need to send all of the information to the psychologist.
Thirdly thy must obtains the correct information ready to send. Fourthly they will consider
legal and ethical to see if this is the correct thing to do and if it is within the laws and fifthly
professionals should know the importance of sharing information, they will discuss it to their
colleagues, other professionals and Nusrat and her family.
In all health and social care settings they should manage confidential information. First
professional should identify why the information is needed, in Martins case study the
dermatologist may need some of Martins record data of his heath to best help Martin
overcome his skin problems. Secondly professionals should identify what information is
needed, when Martin speaks to his G.P. he does not just speak about his skin condition but
his emotional wellbeing and how he is coping, a professional does not need to send this
information over to the dermatologist and so he would only send the irrelevant data about
Martins health. Thirdly thy must obtains the correct information ready to send. Fourthly they
2
P8
Confidentiality is an important aspect in the health and social care sector and must be
considered when dealing with all service users. Every patient has their own data and
information such as their: name, health records, home address and phone number.
If this information was leaked to any member of the public, then confidentiality has been
broken. When confidentiality is broken, it will lead to consequences such as destroying the
trust and relationship between you and the patient. If confidentiality is broken in Alice’s case
then this will lead her to believe she cannot trust anyone, she may stop attending meetings
with the G.P. and the nutritionist or not give them the whole of her situation as she may feel
as though it will not be private which may lead to long term effects regarding her health and
wellbeing.
In health and social care there are laws in place to protect a patient’s information, these are
Data Protection Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, Caldicott Report, Health and social
Care Act 2012 and the Role of the health and social care information centre (HSCIC). These
organisations have confidentiality policies and procedures in place whilst giving the correct
guidance to help an individual’s health and wellbeing.
The Data Protection Act 1998 is there to withhold and control your personal information by
providing rules such as data protection principles. The principles give the service user the
right to access your own personal data and enables a professional to update notes on their
health. This act is there to make sure only certain people can edit and view the service
provider’s notes. This act could benefit Alice’s case as she could be giving in information
about her alcohol and talking about her day, this would mean the G.P. can take notes via the
computer and so if Alice were to ever move doctors then the G.P. could send over her notes.
However, if this was noy in place then it may mean that Alice must tell the new G.P. or
professionals all over again which is time consuming and given Alice’s depression she may
give up and think there is no point in telling them and may isolate herself from help which
could go onto more abusive drinking leading to death, suicide, or Self-Harm.
The Human Rights Act 1998 is an act that everybody no matter race, ethnicity, wealth, sexual
orientation etc. is treated with equality, fairness, dignity, and respect. This act is in place so
that people have the right to defend their rights in the UK courts and that they must receive,
freedom, the right to life, liberty, security, a fair trial, freedom of thought and expression and
protection from discrimination. This act could benefit Nusrat as she has learning difficulties
then she may be prone to discrimination and a less of an equal right to other people due to
lack of knowledge and understanding, to the court of law it is in peoples powers such as
nurses and professionals to make sure she has an equal right to life and her care plan and so
they have used the Human Right Act by involving her mother into her care plan so that
Nusrat may have a more of an equal say than what she would have gotten without her mother.
This also gives her the right to who can obtain her information if you go against this and a
processional were to give her information to somebody out of her care plan then this not only
breaks the law but also confidentiality. If this were to ever happen it would make Nusrat feel
insecure and she would experience mistrust into people.
Another act which supports confidentiality is the Caldecott Report 2013 which states that if
you are dealing with confidential information you should follow the 7 principles. The first
1
, principle is to justify the purpose where a service user’s confidential data is documented and
is regularly reviewed by the patient’s guardian. The second principle is that you can’t use
personal confidential data unless necessary. This means that a patient’s data can only be
accessed if needed. The third principle is to use a patient’s data for a minimum necessary so
that each individual data should be considered and that if a service provider had to send their
documents to another professional, he should only send the relevant data to protect the
individual’s rights. The fourth principle is the access to one’s confidential data should be
strictly needed and that a professional should only access it if necessary. The fifth principle is
that everybody in the care plan who can access a patient’s data should be aware of their
responsibilities so they should not abuse the data they have been given under strict
confidentiality. The sixth principle is to know that each personal data must be lawful that has
legal requirements and the seventh principle is that it is important to protect a patient’s
confidentiality when handling their personal data. This could benefit Martins case as he
regularly goes to the dermatologist and his G.P. and they would update his personal data, they
would also have to communicate and send Martins data to one another so they can help more,
this report will benefit Martin as it will mean only the necessary information will be passed
along to the dermatologist from his G.P. and that it will only be based around his skin and
physical health not anything that was said about his own wellbeing.
Another act that is there to protect an individual’s data is the health and social care act 2012.
This was set to protect the public by ensuring that the professionals meet the standards for;
training, professional’s skills, behaviour and health. This could benefit Nusrat as she is a
vulnerable person who cannot speak for her care plan, this act will make sure she gets the
correct professional which has been trained to deal with Nusrat’s disabilities. She can find
comfort in the fact that she is being looked after and she will feel secure.
The last act that protects a patient’s confidentiality is the Role of the health and social care
information centre (HSCIC). This is a UK government website that gives advice and
guidance to the public and provides the data of the IT systems. This would benefit Alice as all
her data will be stored so she does not have to explain her problems repeatedly.
In all health and social care settings they should manage confidential information. First
professional should identify why the information is needed, in Nusrat’s case a phycologist
may want to help Nusrat’s case and therefore ask for her information, she would have to give
full prof that is what she is doing and to give reasoning, secondly professionals should
identify what information is needed, in Nusrat’s care plan she will not only be monitored by
her physical being and her progress in learning but also her wellbeing, the professionals
would identify that they would not need to send all of the information to the psychologist.
Thirdly thy must obtains the correct information ready to send. Fourthly they will consider
legal and ethical to see if this is the correct thing to do and if it is within the laws and fifthly
professionals should know the importance of sharing information, they will discuss it to their
colleagues, other professionals and Nusrat and her family.
In all health and social care settings they should manage confidential information. First
professional should identify why the information is needed, in Martins case study the
dermatologist may need some of Martins record data of his heath to best help Martin
overcome his skin problems. Secondly professionals should identify what information is
needed, when Martin speaks to his G.P. he does not just speak about his skin condition but
his emotional wellbeing and how he is coping, a professional does not need to send this
information over to the dermatologist and so he would only send the irrelevant data about
Martins health. Thirdly thy must obtains the correct information ready to send. Fourthly they
2
