On Tue, 25 Aug 1998 20:59:32 +0100, Chris Pearson
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>In article <[log in to unmask]>, Katie Law <katie@utu-
>mno.demon.co.uk> writes
>>So who *should* have access to a patients notes?
>
>The doctor, the patient, and such persons as they both agree need to see
>them.....
>
>
That's too restrictive for me. As far as I'm concerned my patients
have to accept that I will share clinical information with my partners
and other (eg. locum) doctors who may have to take responsibility for
their care, and I may need to take advice from other clinicians (eg.
ringing a local consultant for advice) without necessarily letting the
pt. know first.
I'd like to know from any lurking lawyers what the legal view on this
is, but personally I would not want to take responsibility for any pt
who wasn't willing to accept the above, which is essentially agreeing
to share information with any clinician whose advice I deem necessary
to my care of the pt. Perhaps we should spell this out in our practice
leaflet?
Obviously there are some other "breaches" of confidentiality which you
may be legally obliged to commit - eg. notifiable diseases, but there
are other non statutory ones which would be difficult to criticise -
eg. yellow card reporting.
I know many people also want to prevent the HA from accessing clinical
data to verify claims without getting permission first, but I think
that's a bit unrealistic. To some degree it must be part of the
contract pts accept when they use the NHS that sometimes clinical info
about them may need to be used for administrative purposes (provided
the HA treats the information with appropriate discretion and
respect). Perhaps a consent form to this effect should be incorporated
into the registration form pts sign when they join a practice?
David
---------------------------------------
Dr David Evans
Cardiff
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