Policy responses and statements

Name of organisation:

General Medical Council

Name of policy document:

Confidentiality - a draft for consultation

Deadline for response:

28 November 2008

Background: Confidentiality is central to trust between doctors and patients. Without assurances about confidentiality, patients may be reluctant to seek medical attention or to give doctors the information they need in order to provide good care. But appropriate information sharing is essential to the efficient provision of safe, effective care. And information about patients can be used for a wide range of other important activities, from medical research to crime prevention. Striking the right balance can be a challenge for doctors.

The General Medical Council is now consulting on the revised core guidance, Confidentiality: a draft for consultation and seven pieces of draft supplementary guidance which explain how the principles in the main guidance apply in a variety of real life scenarios that doctors ask the GMC about or find difficult:

• Reporting concerns about patients to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVLA)
• Disclosing records for financial and administrative purposes
• Reporting gunshot and knife wounds
• Disclosing information about serious communicable diseases
• Disclosing information for insurance, employment, benefit claims and similar purposes
• Disclosing information for educational and training purposes
• Responding to criticism in the press

Download this consultation response as a .pdf

Copies of this response are available from:

Lesley Lockhart,
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh,
9 Queen Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 1JQ.

Tel: 0131 225 7324 ext 608
Fax: 0131 220 3939

[28 November 2008]