Samantha
Providing clinical care is not the issue. A first aider, or even a
layperson can do that in an appropriate situation. They still have to be
a 'health professional' and that term is defined in the Act.
Phillip Bradshaw
Information Manager
Democratic Services
Room CY4A, County Hall
EMail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 029 2087 3346
Mobile : 07890 265987
Fax: 029 2087 3349
Fax: 029 2087 3349
"If councillors and council officers are to be held to account, the
press and public need access to the information that will enable them to
do it. If town halls want to reduce the amount they spend on responding
to freedom of information requests they should consider making the
information freely available in the first place."
Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Samantha Hill
Sent: 09 December 2010 16:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] S.I. 2000 no.413 Data Protection (Subject
Access Modification) (Health) Order 2000
Sarah
I have just been in a meeting with the Head of our Counselling Service
and so was able to ask the questions directly.
The Head of Counselling was clear that they provide clinical care for
the students and therefore would fall under section a) of the quote
below. However, this would not mean that they could not or would not
contact a GP if they felt it necessary.
We both agreed that counselling notes relate to a person's mental health
therefore making the infomration sensitive personal data.
Hope this helps
Samantha Hill
Complaints & Information Disclosure Officer University of Portsmouth
Tel: 02392 843642
>>> Sarah Wickham <[log in to unmask]> 09/12/2010 14:33 >>>
Dear colleagues
Grateful for thoughts on the following.
The University provides counselling services to staff and students on a
self-referral basis. The counsellors keep a record of
appointments/contact details for the client, and separately case notes.
In some instances, depending on the counsellor's personal practice and
counselling processes, these case notes may be very detailed although in
many cases they are merely a note of the topics raised in a session.
All counsellors are on the UK Register of Counsellors.
We have a case currently where a former client wishes to see their case
notes. Because of the issues raised and the length of time the client
was in counselling (much longer than the standard 8 sessions we normally
offer) the counselling team are extremely concerned about the risk of
causing harm or distress to the client by releasing the case notes
"cold" - they normally arrange a session with a client around access to
their case notes and usually clients wish to avail themselves of this.
In this case the client does not want to attend.
So I have two queries:
First, under S.I. 2000 no.413 Data Protection (Subject Access
Modification) (Health) Order 2000, could a counsellor be defined as "the
appropriate health professional" who can take a decision about
witholding information on the grounds it would be likely to cause
physical or mental harm or distress?
The SI says
"a) the health professional who is currently or was most recently
responsible for the clinical care of the data subject in connection with
the matters to which the information which is the subject of the request
relates; or
b) where there is more than one such health professional, the health
professional who is the most suitable to advise on the matters to which
the information which is the subject of the request relates; or
c) where-
(i) there is no health professional available falling within paragraph
(a) or (b)
[ii) not relevant to us]
a health professional who has the necessary experience and
qualifications to advise on the matters to which the information which
is the subject of the request relates;"
My issue is whether counsellors are responsible for the clinical care of
the data subject?
And if not, and only IF the client's consent form covers it, could they
be in touch with the client's GP for this purpose?
Second query, the order only applies to information as to the physical
or mental health or condition of the data subject. I think counselling
notes would be classed as information about mental health. Any
thoughts?
Many thanks
Sarah
M Sarah Wickham, MA, MA, Registered Practitioner University Archivist &
Records Manager University of Huddersfield
+44 (0)1484 473 935
Web: http://www.hud.ac.uk/cls/archives
http://www.hud.ac.uk/cls/recordsmanagement/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/msarahwickham
Twitter @msarahwickham
Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
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