The Duty to Share Patient Information
The duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality. Vince Kuraitis and Leslie Kelly Hall released a report discussing in depth topics that concern all of us. They have emphasised and pointed out two things that are missing when talking about data sharing: The explicit recognition of a corollary duty to share patient information with other providers when doing so is the patient’s interest, and a recognition that there is potential tension between the duty to protect patient confidentiality/privacy and the duty to share – with minimal guidance on how to resolve the tension. Their article refers to and discusses three main topics: First of all, Vince and Leslie talk about the recent recognition in the UK, giving us examples from one long-awaited study commissioned by the Department of Health. They have identified the key discoveries from The Information Governance Review Report (Caldicott Review), citing in the essay: …safe and appropriate sharing in the interests of the individual’s direct care should be the rule, not the exception. Caldicott review initial report had suggested 6 acknowledged principles for information sharing, but now the recognition of an explicit duty to share patient information was added […]
