All
I agree - I think each case must be judged on their merits. Applying the
harm/distress test - would you really be causing that person harm/distress
by disclosing to a third party - more than likely a relative. I would think
you would be preventing harm coming to that individual.
If it was someone with no mental health probs then that may be a different
matter. If e,.g. a parent thought the person was missing they would go to
Police anyway, who in turn would approach the University/hospitals etc.
Aren't we making life too complicated?
Doreen Broom
Data Administrator
Scottish Borders Council
Council HQ
Newtown St.Boswells
Melrose
Borders TD6 0SA
Tel: 01835 826516
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Okey, Andrew [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 07 November 2001 10:49
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Mental health
>
> Rebecca,
>
> This is obviously the theme of the week! After nothing like this for
> years, I
> have had three recent calls from students' relatives in cases where the
> student
> has gone off the rails (for whatever reason), and fallen out of contact
> with
> them (and, usually, us).
>
> The safest policy is to say nothing, of course. This is what I have done
> in two
> cases, though this does leave you having to use rather convoluted language
> of
> the "I can't even confirm if I've ever heard of your son/daughter even
> though,
> obviously, in having this conversation I am tacitly admitting that I have
> information about them which you don't have access to" sort.
>
> In the third case, however, we were asked by a student's sister whether he
> was
> still at the university because nothing had been heard for so long. This
> was a
> student with a long history of mental instability whom we had not seen for
> 6
> months and whom we were in the process of "writing off". The sister wanted
> to
> put him on the missing persons register, though this would be pointless if
> he
> had re-registered. So, we made a very limited disclosure to her -
> confirming
> her brother had not re-registered and we no longer considered him a member
> of
> the University - so that she could ask the police to investigate. This
> disclosure was undertaken using the "vital interests of the subject"
> clause
> from Schedule 2, and was logged in our "exceptional disclosures" log.
>
> Of course, there is no absolute guidance to be offered in these cases.
> Every
> case is a separate judgement call. I'm sure a half decent lawyer could
> argue
> that, in the case above, there was NO evidence whatsoever that this
> student's
> health or life were in danger (our own suspicion is that he's had a
> nervous
> breakdown and is probably living rough). However, we have acted in good
> faith
> and the exceptional disclosure log is at least an attempt to demonstrate
> our
> motivations. I think that's all you can really do.
>
> Andrew Okey
> Lancaster DP Project
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Rebecca Hughes [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: 07 November 2001 09:43
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Mental health
> >
> > Urgent problem! can anybody help?
> >
> > Parents have requested confirmation of their daughter's registration
> > status at the University. The daughter, who has a record of serious
> > mental health problems has not registered and her whereabouts are
> > uncertain. The parents are obviously very worried, but can we tell them
> > anything? A third party has also intervened who may know the
> > whereabouts of their daughter. If more information were to be obtained
> > from this person, could we pass that on to the parents without the
> > daughters consent?
> >
> > Any advice very gratefully received.
> >
> > Rebecca
> > -------------------
> > Rebecca Hughes
> > Administrative Officer (Data protection)
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
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