CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY

This practise acknowledges that all members of the team have an ethical and legal obligation to maintain patient confidentiality about information that they have access to. The trust that underpins our clinic’s connection with each individual patient ensures that their personal information will not be disclosed to third parties or organisations outside the office without first obtaining the patient’s permission. Everyone who works at the practise is required to abide by this policy, and they should also be aware of the confidentiality clause that is included in their employment contracts. Infractions of this policy might result in termination of employment.

In the guideline document titled “Standards for Dental Professionals” published by the General Dental Council, it is stated that dental practitioners are obligated to “Protect the confidentiality of patients’ information.”

This entails making use of information exclusively for the objectives for which it was provided in the first place.

• Protecting confidential information from being disclosed inadvertently.
• Avoiding unauthorised access by maintaining the confidentiality of the information at all times.
• An exception to the rule of maintaining strict secrecy can be made in very specific instances.

AVOIDING BREACHES OF PRIVATE INFORMATION

We will maintain all confidential data kept securely, and we will not allow it to be placed in locations where it may be viewed by those who are not authorised to view it.

WE WILL NOT PROVIDE INFORMATION TO:

• A school with information on the attendance of a kid
• To employers about a patient’s appointments.
• To third parties about your appointments, or leave voicemails on their answering machines.

Please only leave messages if you wish for the practise to call you back.

Recall cards and any other pertinent personal information will be delivered in an envelope that has been securely sealed.

THE DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION

In the event that it is essential to divulge facts on a patient:

• We will make sure the patient understands the information that is being disclosed, why it is being published, and any potential implications by first obtaining their agreement, whenever this is practicable.
• We shall just make the bare minimum of our resources available.
• We shall make sure that we are ready to defend our choices and the subsequent actions we take.
• We shall get the patient’s approval before using any patient information (such as radiographs or study models) for educational purposes, and we will also verify that the patient cannot be identified based on the information that is made public.

EXCEPTIONAL SITUATIONS

It is solely the responsibility of the patient’s dentist to disclose any relevant information. No one else on our team would ever consider or settle on such a course of action under any circumstances.There might be certain instances in which the dentist believes that it would be in the patient’s best interest to violate their right to privacy in order to protect the general public. Before disclosing any information about a patient to a third party in such circumstances, we shall consult with our indemnifier to get their input.

It’s possible that a judge will order us to disclose patient information even if they don’t provide their permission. In that case, we shall divulge no more information than is absolutely necessary.

ACCESS TO THE RELEVANT RECORDS

Patients have a legal right to view their own medical records, and we shall respond to any request to do so within a period of four weeks. If a patient wants to examine their records or get a copy of them, the request needs to be forwarded to the patient’s dentist.

The patient must be provided with the option to come into the office to discuss the records, after which they will be provided with a photocopy of the documents.

Personal information about the patient, medical and dental histories, examination records, radiographs, clinical photographs, treatment plans, treatment records, referral and consultation recommendations and reports, diagnostic models, and other materials are all included in these records. However, this list is not exhaustive.

The print version of the records is subject to charge of £15 pounds and the electronic version is available FREE of charge.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Talk to the owner of the clinic or the manager of the practise if you want any further information on this subject.