You and the person you're looking after have a right to expect social services and healthcare workers to keep your personal information confidential. In most cases, information about you should not be passed to third parties, such as workers in the voluntary sector, local councillors or other members of your family, without your consent.
Personal information held by social services or a healthcare organisation should be kept in office files or in computer records that are only accessible to those who are involved in your care. These organisations must keep the information very secure. Normally, organisations have a written policy about confidentiality, and you can ask to see it.
The Data Protection Act is a law that applies to all social services and health records. It means that any information about you should be kept accurately and securely, and there should be measures restricting who can see it.
There are circumstances when an authority may have the right to break the rules about confidentiality. This is normally in extreme situations, for example, when there are concerns about a child's safety, or when it's suspected that terrorism or proceeds from crime are involved.
Getting access to personal information held about you
The Data Protection Act also gives individuals the right to access personal information held about them. This can be useful, for example, if you're concerned about how your carer’s assessment was carried out, or you want to complain about a decision to refuse services. It may help you to understand why a decision was made, or give you the chance to correct any wrong information.
Local authorities or healthcare organisations may refuse access in some situations. For example, if the information you want to see contains information about other people (such as other members of the family), the authority may have to consider their duty of confidence to those other people.
Carers and confidentiality
When you're looking after someone, you may feel you have a right to access information held about them, or that you need the information to help you care for them. However, the law makes it very clear that social services and healthcare authorities have a duty to protect an individual’s confidentiality. Carers don't have an automatic right to personal information about the person they're looking after.
Information about children
If a child under 18 wants to see their personal records, the authority must decide whether they have a proper understanding about the nature of the request. If not, a parent can make the request on the child’s behalf. However, the authority would only disclose information to the parent if they thought it was in the child’s interests.
Information about adults who lack mental capacity
If you're caring for an adult who lacks the mental capacity to ask to see information held about them, you may want to make such a request yourself. The local authority or healthcare organisation that holds the information may be concerned about confidentiality and be reluctant to give you the information.
Authorities have to consider the issues. On the one hand, they have a duty of confidentiality to the adult who lacks the mental capacity. On the other hand, disclosing that information to a parent or carer may be in the adult’s best interests. For example, it may mean that the parent or carer can dispute a decision.
