Information: To share or not to share?

People using health and social care services are entitled to expect that their personal information will remain confidential. They must feel able to discuss sensitive matters with a doctor, nurse or social worker without fear that the information may be improperly disclosed. These services cannot work effectively without trust and trust depends on confidentiality.

However, people also expect professionals to share information with other members of the care team, who need to co-operate to provide a seamless, integrated service. So good sharing of information, when sharing is appropriate, is as important as maintaining confidentiality. All organisations providing health or social care services must succeed in both respects if they are not to fail the people that they exist to serve.

The term used to describe how organisations and individuals manage the way information is handled within the health and social care system in England is ‘information governance’. In 1997 the Review of the Uses of Patient-Identifiable Information, chaired by Dame Fiona Caldicott, devised six general principles of information governance that could be used by all NHS organisations with access to patient information. The chapter sets out those principles, which have stood the test of time. It explains why the 1997 review gave priority to discouraging the uploading of personal information on to information technology systems outside clinical control. The issue of whether professionals shared information effectively and safely was not regarded as a problem at the time.