Obligatory Situations where we share your Information
In certain circumstances the Foundation Trust is legally and morally obliged to share your information. In many of these circumstances your consent is not required for this sharing to take place and we may not be obliged or able to report that the sharing has taken place. The following list includes, but is not limited to, such circumstances:
Authority/Organisation | Circumstance |
Courts (civil and criminal) | If a court serves the Foundation Trust a court order we are obliged to provide the requested information. It is the responsibility of the court to contact you to inform you of their actions. |
Department of Health | The Department of Health requires us to submit information for performance and financial monitoring purposes. |
Police and law enforcement | Police and other law enforcement agencies can require us to submit information they require to fulfil their investigation. Most only have powers to request information when investigating criminal matters. We would in most cases be unable to inform you that your information has been shared until after the investigation had been completed. |
Professional bodies | Professional bodies, such as the British Medical Association or the Nursing and Midwifery Council have obligations to ensure their licensed members adhere to their codes of practice. Under some circumstances they can request information to assist in malpractice or misconduct investigations. |
National Government department | Some National Government departments have powers to request information to assist in their investigations (e.g. The Home Office). |
National Disease Registries or Research Projects | The Trust may by law be obliged to report some communicable diseases if a service user is infected (e.g. Influenza, Tuberculosis). We may also be required to submit information to national research registries (e.g. Heart Disease, Cancer) under the Data Protection Act 1998. |
Social Services | We are required by law to report suspicion of, or documented cases of, abuse, neglect or circumstances of risk. Similarly we are obliged to support the investigations of Social Services, particularly in regards to children and the elderly, which may require us to release information. In this circumstance however the |
Other external sharing
Depending on the care services that you are engaged with the Trust may have other legitimate needs to share your information. These local needs are not captured here and if you are concerned or curious we would encourage you to speak to your care team about their information sharing requirements.