Guide to carers and confidentiality

Who is a carer?

A carer is someone of any age who provides regular unpaid support to another person who could not manage without help. Caring may include physical, practical or emotional support.

What is confidentiality?

Confidentiality means keeping information about patients safe. There are rules about confidentiality that we all have a legal responsibility for. These include asking patients what information we can share about them, who we can share that information with and how we share the information.

The importance of sharing information

Sharing information between colleagues and a carer is vital to the care and treatment of our patients

A carer is often the person that knows the patient best.
A carer's wellbeing can be improved if we work together.

It helps carers to deal with difficult situations if they are given information about care plans, health conditions, medication and dealing with a crisis.

Information that can be shared

The UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act (2018) govern how the Trust processes personal information. They also provide patients certain rights about how their information is processed, including deciding whether they want their information to be shared. Confidentiality never prevents contact between colleagues and carers and does not prevent colleagues from receiving information.

Carers will be supported and encouraged to:

Share information with colleagues about the patient
Receive general information about;

1. the service and its treatments
2. health conditions
3. help and support available for carers
4. coping with stressful situations

Receive an explanation why specific information can't be shared
Know who to contact to express concern about the patient, in an emergency or out of hours

Barriers to the sharing of information

Care works best when patients, carers and colleagues work together.

At times, patients may not want to share particular types of information and their wishes must be respected by colleagues.

Colleagues will agree with the patient the type of information that can be shared and who it can be shared with.

Colleagues will advise carers if they are unable to share information with them.

General information - for example, as described in the previous section. This can be
shared without any permission.
Sensitive, confidential information - for example, information about a patient's healthand care including their diagnosis and care plans, sexual orientation, religious beliefs. Seek permission to share issue by issue and review regularly.

If colleagues feel there is a safeguarding risk to the patient by sharing or not sharing information, they have a duty of care to follow the Trust Safeguarding policy.

The duty of confidentiality may be lawfully breached when:

The law requires it
It is in the public interest-typically to avert a risk of serious harm to individuals (including the patient)
or the public
It is in the 'best interests' of the patient to share the information. For example, if a patient is
unable to consent to their data being shared at that time

Good practice to overcome the barriers

To make sharing information better and easier colleagues will:

Talk to the patient about:

1. Why it is important to share information ?
2. How sharing information can help them?
3. What information they want shared?
4. Who they want to share information with?

Colleagues will record a patient's decision about sharing their information in their medical records.
Colleagues will revisit the patient's decision with them at regular intervals.
Colleagues will routinely identify carers at first contact/assessment and talk to carers about confidentiality and explain if they can not share some information

Click here for further information or to have this information in a different format (i.e. easy read or plain english) please contact us if you would like a copy: involve@nottshc.nhs.uk.

Guide to carers and confidentiality