Policy responses and statements
Background: The GMC has been holding an initial consultation on its guidance to doctors on confidentiality. This consultation is the first step in a review of the GMC’s current guidance, ‘Confidentiality: Protecting and providing information’, which was published in 2004. The guidance consists of a booklet of high level principles of good practice and a supplementary booklet of Frequently Asked Questions. Although published in 2004, the current guidance is similar to that issued in 2000, and the GMC has not consulted on this subject since 1998-2000, when there was considerable public debate about the common law, and the balance between the benefits of research/epidemiology and respect for the rights of individuals. A working group, chaired by Dr Henrietta Campbell, the former Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, has been established to oversee a thorough review of the guidance. The group includes medical and lay members of the GMC as well as external members to provide expertise in psychiatry and research, where some of the most difficult questions arise. This working group called for individuals and groups, whether professional, public or patient oriented, as well as employers and others with an interest, to answer a set of questions to clarify views about the existing guidance and to identify (by way of examples) where the biggest challenges exist for doctors in balancing respect for patients against the benefits of information sharing.
Download this consultation response as a .pdf
Copies of this response are available from: Lesley Lockhart, Tel: 0131 225 7324 ext 608 [5 January 2008]
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