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Hey Maralyn, Whats up? You sound like you've been having a few issues! Anyway to deal with your problem - I don't really see how the HR Manager can claim that you breached his confidentiality as he was speaking to you about his staff member, who was off sick. If he didn't say to you that "this discussion is confidential you cannot share it with Mr X" I really don't see what his beef is. We only accept management referrals here - pressure of work and all that - however I have occasionally been contacted by a Personnel Officer who has said "I need to tell you this but please don't share it with the employee"! They used to send me e-mails like that all the time. My comments always were if you don't want them to know about it then don't send it to me because if you do it will go in their notes and they have a right to see them under freedom of information. My feelings are that if they are concerned about his weekend job then they should deal with it as the management problem as it would seem to be - possibly capability? Hope this helps, Jeremy R F Smith RGN BSc Hons (OHN) SCPHN Occupational Health Manager - KCC 01622 605518 (VPN 7000) EXT 5518 Personnel & Development Making KCC a Great Place to Work -----Original Message----- From: Maralyn Cohen [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 05 December 2005 10:16 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Confidentiality of HR/OH interview Hi everyone, Further to what I said at the meeting last week in Harrogate (great to meet you all by the way), I have returned to a very difficult situation and hope someone can offer guidance. To anyone who has previously replied to me on/offline in a negative or high- handed manner, please do not bother yourself to reply. This is a request for help from like-minded colleagues! Is there any guidance with regards to the confidentiality of information given to OH during a discussion by a manager/HR concerning an employee, unless specifically stated. Very briefly, I have an employee from HR off work due to severe personal and work-related stress. His Manager(an HR Manager)came to see me after the employee reported sick. He was aware that I had seen him, but I explained that I was unable to discuss or report back due to confidentiality, as this had been a self-referral. However, if he submitted a manager referral, I would discuss with the employee what he agreed to my disclosing in a subsequent report. During the talks, the Manager mentioned that the employee had a second weekend job and that he felt he should not be attending this. Although the job is completely unconnected and different, and would probably be a kind of "therapy" by taking his mind of his current problems (a point this manager was unprepared to accept), I did mention to the employee when he rang me that he should make sure of the HR standing with regard to attending another job whilst off sick. This HR Manager has now complained that I have broken his confidentiality (which I was unaware formally existed)as he feels the bounds of confidentiality goes both ways. If he had told me the information discussed was confidential, of course I would have repected his views. I felt it was in the best interest of the employee to be clear where he stood, especially as his manager was harrassing him by phone at home since being signed off sick. Sorry this is so long winded but I am hoping for some advice before dealing with the situation. I have checked the RCN code of Confidentiality, and the NHS Code of Practice on Confidentiality but not found anything related. Here's another fine mess I've gotten into!?!?!? Bashyr - if there is any negative feedback off line, I will certainly forward it to you as requested. Many thanks to all. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remove this footer before replying. For list archives and documents, go to http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html For jobs in Occupational Health, go to http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/OHJobs/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please remove this footer before replying. For list archives and documents, go to http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html For jobs in Occupational Health, go to http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/OHJobs/