Confidentiality
When talking to a doctor or other healthcare professional about your health you sometimes tell them private and sensitive things about yourself that you don't want other people to know about. You have the right to expect that this information is treated in the strictest confidence and is not shared with anyone else without your permission.
The information you provide to healthcare professionals is held under legal and ethical obligations of confidentiality. Generally speaking, this means that the information provided should not be used or disclosed in a form that may identify you without your permission.
When information about you is shared, it is usually with other health professionals that are involved in your care. It is very difficult for a specialist to treat you if they do not have the appropriate medical information about you from your GP. Therefore you should expect information to be shared within the healthcare team and with other health workers who care for you. You do have the right to object to the use and disclosure of information about you but it may mean that the care that can be provided to you may be limited and in rare circumstances it may mean that they will be unable to treat you at all.
Information about you that can be shared without your consent is information that doesn't identify you. This means that none of your personal details are shared or used. For example, when information for medical research is provided or when hospitals collect statistics on patients.
If you are concerned about your health records you might want to go through our confidentiality checklist.
Confidentiality and HIV
HIV infection is covered by the 1974 Venereal Diseases Regulations, which obliges GPs and other health services to maintain strictest confidentiality of information regarding sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Some people with HIV have reported seeing "HIV positive or HIV risk" on the front of their files where other people can see it. This is absolutely unnecessary and unacceptable and you have the right for that to be removed immediately.
Recently, a number of people have been prosecuted for the reckless transmission of HIV. The police can obtain medical notes by way of issuing a Court Order. Therefore, in some circumstances, there are limits to the level of confidentiality a health care professional can give a patient in terms of who can access their medical notes.
For more information on criminal prosecution of HIV transmission see www.tht.org.uk/prosecutions.
