Dear All
This is the new "advice" from the GMC. We ignore it at
our peril.
from its website....
The key points from the guidance, being issued by the
GMC, state:
. The police must be informed when a patient
seeks treatment for a gun shot wound. The patient’s
identity need not be disclosed.
· The patient’s consent to disclose their name
and other information must be sought, where possible.
· If the patient refuses to allow their
identity to be disclosed, or consent cannot be sought,
information may be disclosed only where you judge that
a disclosure could prevent others from suffering
serious harm, or a disclosure would help prevent,
detect or prosecute a serious crime.
This does not impose a legal duty. There isn't one
except in terrorist cases. In our democracy only
Parliament can do that. However the police have
persuaded the GMC to impose this threat. They have
therefore effectively removed your professional
discretion.
No mention of stabbings.....Yet!
Alan
--- [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Recently we have been presented with a protocol
> devised by our Medical Director and the Police which
> effectively implies that we should be reporting to
> them all gunshot wounds and stabbings, whether the
> patient wants us to or not.
> Now the gunshot wounds I have no problem with, but
> when did we start routinely breaching
> confidentiallity for stabbings? We are being asked
> to phone the police so that they can attend A&E and
> THEN ask the patient if they want to speak to them.
> If they do not then we have to give the police the
> patients details for 'further investigation'.
> I'm very unhappy about this and do not feel it sits
> with our duty of impartiallity and confidentiallity.
> I know there are issues about injury survelliance
> but we practice in an area that is in the bottom
> eighth of the country for violent crime!
> Maybe I'm out of touch, but I would welcome any
> advice, especially from those of you who practice in
> areas of more frequent knife crime.
>
> Simon McCormick
> Rotherham
>
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>
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