Health and Social Care: the Right to Confidentiality
Confidentiality
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives people the right to confidentiality of personal information. Confidentiality means keeping information given to oneself private and not sharing it with anyone that does not ‘need to know’. In the care setting, providing confidentiality requires confirmation that personal and private information belonging to service users cannot be accessed by others. Any information given by a service user should not be disclosed without the service user’s permission. Personal/private information a care setting will regularly come across can include: * Information being discussed orally, for example in a nursery care setting a care worker discussing/debating with a parent of a child (also a service user) how they should deal with and act upon their child’s behavior issue. * Written information, for example, in a nursery care setting before a service user starts to fully attend the nursery they should be given personal detail sheet to fill in and hand back to the care setting, the nursery should then make sure these are stored safely and securely. * Electronic record, for example, in a nursery care setting service users’ medical history should be stored securely on a computer with only authorized personnel having access.
Keeping personal information given by service users confidential is very important in a care setting; this is because confidentiality is an important right of all clients. The following reasons will explain this importance: * Trust: if a service user knew that a certain care worker would not pass on things that they have said, they will be more likely to tell that care worker what they really think and feel. If a service user was to tell a care worker something personal, and then that care worker went on to tell someone else for no apparent reason, merely just to on-go a gossip, if the service user found this out they could potentially feel extremely upset, embarrassed, angry, etc. and there
The Data Protection Act 1998 gives people the right to confidentiality of personal information. Confidentiality means keeping information given to oneself private and not sharing it with anyone that does not ‘need to know’. In the care setting, providing confidentiality requires confirmation that personal and private information belonging to service users cannot be accessed by others. Any information given by a service user should not be disclosed without the service user’s permission. Personal/private information a care setting will regularly come across can include: * Information being discussed orally, for example in a nursery care setting a care worker discussing/debating with a parent of a child (also a service user) how they should deal with and act upon their child’s behavior issue. * Written information, for example, in a nursery care setting before a service user starts to fully attend the nursery they should be given personal detail sheet to fill in and hand back to the care setting, the nursery should then make sure these are stored safely and securely. * Electronic record, for example, in a nursery care setting service users’ medical history should be stored securely on a computer with only authorized personnel having access.
Keeping personal information given by service users confidential is very important in a care setting; this is because confidentiality is an important right of all clients. The following reasons will explain this importance: * Trust: if a service user knew that a certain care worker would not pass on things that they have said, they will be more likely to tell that care worker what they really think and feel. If a service user was to tell a care worker something personal, and then that care worker went on to tell someone else for no apparent reason, merely just to on-go a gossip, if the service user found this out they could potentially feel extremely upset, embarrassed, angry, etc. and there