to think this was hugely inappropriate and want to complain?

[HugoDarling]

I was on the bus coming home from work and there were three of us on the top deck.

A woman got on, her phone rang and she said, really loudly (I was not eavesdropping, 'oh, I'm glad you've picked up, I was worried and I needed to talk to you.'

She was a key worker and one of the people she was working with wanted to commit suicide (she went into much greater detail).

She clearly told the person on the other end the man's name, age and date of birth. She described his medical issues and mental health problems.

I was sitting there like

[Beeyump]

Bit of a pointless thread really (argh, I hate when people say that, sorry). Yes it was inappropriate. Did you complain at the time? Nope? Um ok, it can't have bothered you that much.

[TickleMyTitsTillFriday]

What Nova said. Maybe it was an emergency and she had the choice of doing it there or then or it being too late? She might have saved his life?

[FederationPresidentBarryFife]

I am not defending the woman - it sounds like it was hugely inappropriate, I just think to complain about it would be a complete overreaction. I would have tried not to listen, and then maybe not splash it all over the internet????

[HugoDarling]

How did that come about? It doesn't really seem relevant?

'oh, I'm glad you've picked up, I was worried and I needed to talk to you. It's about X, I'm his key worker. He is feeling suicidal this morning- he wants to..... (here she said what exactly he wanted to do)

The person on the other end said something back and then she confirmed his date of birth and his address.

Call-ee said something again, caller said, yeah, I know he's said that before, before he was treated for X and Y. Then she spoke about his medication.

I wish I had said something now. I do regret that.

[HugoDarling]

I would have tried not to listen, and then maybe not splash it all over the internet???



I kept out the details. It was very hard not to overhear.

[MrsCakesPremonition]

There are threads on MN at the moment where people are getting furious about the idea of their anonymous medical records being shared in a secure way with other organisations without their consent.

But it is just fine and dandy for a professional to share medical and personal information on a fucking bus for everyone to hear and gossip about? Really?

[Jakadaal]

Massively inappropriate and yes would definitely warrant a complaint - if you overheard a GP or nurse talking like this in a hospital/surgery you would raise it immediately. Social care is governed by same confidentiality rules. Try Social Services in the first instance or could be the local mental health NHS trust.

Wonder if people would be so complacent if this was them or their elderly relative being discussed? Hmm?

[frogslegs35]

Yanbu - that's totally inappropriate.
I understand she may of needed to relay info to her boss or whoever but she should have done so out of earshot of others.

I'd possibly have said to her 'you do realise that everyone can hear you?'

As for complaining - I'm not sure where you would call unless you know the company she works for.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

Thanks for explaining, OP. She obviously needed to deal with the call, there was no place out of earshot. She should have said, I can't confirm those details, I'm on a bus at the moment...

Don't complain but file it away that next time you'll tackle the person doing this - right then and there before they disclose anything.

[Anonymai]

She could have got off the bus to deal with it if it was urgent. It seems a bit like she thought she had time to kill so why not sort a few calls to me.

[DownstairsMixUp]

Why is anyone defending this? She could of discussed said patient without disclosing DOB/address/name. She could of referred to him as patient in a certain room, used a physical feature to describe him etc. You don't know who is sitting on that bus and I'd be pissed off if I heard a key worker disclosing any of my relatives/friends names on the bus. You get trained to not do that.

[HugoDarling]

file it away that next time you'll tackle the person doing this

Yes, I have resolved to do this. I will practice my assertiveness!

[HugoDarling]

I have found the email for the social work department of my city. I am going to email them and say that I witnessed someone who worked for them was giving out confidential information on a bus this afternoon, without giving the exact details. Hopefully no one should get into too much bother, but I really feel I can't leave it.

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

I cannot even begin to understand why people are defending her. Perhaps some inbuilt desire to be contradictory just because this is AIBU? You won't be the first person to overhear a difficult situation, say nothing and then walk away feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

She should have moved to a different place on the top deck if there were only 3 people on there and explained that she could not give confidential details. We have data protection laws for a reason.

[LucyLasticBand]

no doubt she needed the details, date of birth etc., to enable the person she was speaking to to look up on computer.

[LucyLasticBand]

try this
www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/infogov/caldicott

[MrsCosmopilite]

I don't understand why people are defending her. She was talking about something confidential related to work.
She should have told the caller to ring back/said she'd call back when she could talk, or said that she could not confirm personal details at that time. If the matter was that urgent she should have got off the bus rather than disclosed so much information in a public place.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

HugoDarling... I've filed it away too! It's very easy for me to say 'do this, do that' on a chatboard but I might have responded in just the same way.

[SirChenjin]

Bloody hell - that's a serious offence , we'd be facing disciplinary proceedings in the NHS if we breached data protection and confidentiality in that way. She will know exactly how inappropriate that is - it's drummed into us.

What you do is up to you - you should have confronted her at the time, but hindsights a wonderful thing. If you do make a complaint then she will be taken to task as per procedure.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

FederationPresident - as someone with depression, who has been suicidal, I would be horrified if any professional involved in my care was blabbing my personal details to everyone on the bus!

The OP shoild complain - not to get the person into trouble, but to ensure that the confidential details of vulnerable people are not broadcast in public! I am surprised that anyone needs to have this explained to them!

[WilsonFrickett]

God, I've pulled someone up on the bus for having a conversation about a friend of a friend's behaviour at work. It's easy enough to make things unidentifiable and if you live in a reasonably small town or city...

[Bingbongbinglybunglyboo]

I think you should report this.

If you find a way to give her organisation and therefore her boss an account of the facts of the incident, they can then decide if this was right or wrong, if the women has a hard enough time of it already, if her actions were actually right and saved the mans life. Or if she has committed Gross misconduct, they can deal with it, because they are the professionals who know the rules, and have the rules there for a reason. It really isn't your call to make, you should pass on the facts and leave the decisions in the hands of her organisation.

[WooWooOwl]

She shouldn't have given his name obviously, but I don't really see what else she could have done.

HCPs working in MH often have a huge workload with not enough time to do everything they need to. If it was my relative and it was a choice between getting him some help and not talking about him on a bus and maybe taking another three days for anything to move on, I'd rather they just got on with it tbh.

[FederationPresidentBarryFife]

I am truly sorry for your personal experiences SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius and I do understand why this was a massive mistake on the part of the social worker/carer whatever.

My problem wasn't with the OP either who sounds a very sensible person - its just I don't like what I see as a culture of rapid escalation: people experience a problem/mistake/whatever and there is a sudden baying for the highest authority. As demonstrated by the comments on here.

Problem at school? Go to the head or no, the LEA! Problem with dog poo? Go to the MP, problem with GP go to the prime minister! Rather than talking to the person at the time. Maybe trying to get a better perspective on the OUTCOME of the complaint, it is sometimes just hysteria and a sense of self righteous satisfaction from being 'the person who complains'.