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

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

Culture of rapid escalation? Most people were not calling to contact the director of social services but to report the complain. So, I don't get your beef in this situ.

[Anonymai]

It's a bit daft when everyone says "oh it was my relative i wouldn't mind!" Your relative is not you. You don't know how you'd feel about your mh being discussed in public unless you've been in a position to be treated for mh issues. I would be horrified if someone was talking about my health on a bus.

[CrohnicallyFarting]

For the last time.

There are other ways of identifying a patient other than by their name, DOB and address. However much of an emergency it was, the person on the bus should NOT have said all that out loud.

For example, I have a letter here by my mental health services, with a ref number at the top. The whole point of such a reference number is to allow your case to be looked up on a computer.

Alternatively, they could use your NHS number or hospital number.

To make sure the person on the other end of the phone has the right file, they can ask questions requiring a yes/no answer, or for individual facts (eg house number, numbers in postcode, year of birth)- similar to how banks establish your identity when speaking to you on the phone.

[diaimchlo]

Definitely report, her actions were totally inappropriate. Yes people who work as HCPs do have massive workloads but that does not excuse what this woman has done and she needs to be made aware. Whoever was on the other end of the phone hopefully was someone who was either another professional involved in his care or one of his family members, so it would have been quite easy to have skirted round personal details tbh.

[CrohnicallyFarting]

And I'm sorry, but having been the recipient of some nasty threats when questioning behaviour (like not picking up after their dog or littering), I would rather complain to the relevant authority than tackle it myself.

As for the outcome of this complaint, I would expect the staff member to receive further training and an explanation of exactly why she was breaching confidentiality, and a written warning to ensure she took it seriously enough. I don't think having a word with her yourself would necessarily get across the gravity of the situation- it might stop her in her tracks this time, but there's no deterrent to stop her doing it again. Her bosses can issue such a deterrent.

[SirChenjin]

Agree Chronic.

Anyone defending this really hasn't grasped how serious this is - it is absolutely forbidden to talk about patients in this way. Not "oh well, if you can find somewhere quiet, great, if not, it's fine and don't worry about it". It's absolutely against procedure and protocol, and there are safeguards in place (or there should be) to ensure it doesn't happen.

[Joysmum]

If you posted the details she had on this thread this thread would get taken down. The woman was wrong and I would bring it to the attention if Social Services.

Imagine if somebody on that bus knew the person? How much personal information they would have got from that.

Worse still, there are some complete shits out there who would use that information to their own advantage.

[YouAreTalkingRubbish]

OP, I agree that you should complain. I would give details too.

[FruitbatAuntie]

Very very inappropriate, yes.

I was in Poundland recently and a woman was browsing the aisles whilst on the phone to a colleague. She obviously worked in a community drugs team or similar, as she was discussing a service user who they suspected was selling his methadone on. She bellowed out all of his details, and also named the other service user who had reported this, asking it to remain anonymous!

I live in a pretty small town, the shop was packed full, so chances are that someone in there knew either the bloke or the woman who had reported him. That could have had some nasty consequences. I feel awful that I didn't go up and say anything now. Maybe I should report the woman (who was pretty recognisable) to the local drugs team, so they can remind staff not to do this?

[HugoDarling]

Thanks for all comments. I can't believe that it's happened to quite a few people, it's very worrying.

I did send the email, I do hope it's not a sacking but I think it's for the best.

[SirChenjin]

You did the right thing, definitely

[RaspberryRuffle]

She should not have given the man's identifying details over the phone. As someone said she could have identified him as "the patient you met with me on Wednesday...no not him, the other one" or she could have sent the man's details by SMS and then proceeded with her call if she had to. In my previous job I worked with vulnerable adults and a) would have got into trouble for doing this and b) wouldn't have wanted to do it anyway because I cared about them and c) the little rule of treat others as you would be treated.

A colleague started telling DH and I about a case involving a woman who had been raped, I told her to stop, she said that as DH didn't know X (and named her) and is a discreet kind of guy it would be fine, and anyway it would make us think twice about going to Y venue. It is not fine at all.

[RaspberryRuffle]

Hugo, well done. It is not always easy to say anything at the time, especially if you are quite shocked.

[Jakadaal]

well done OP think of it as challenging an organisational culture that condones the passing on of patient identifiable information in such an inappropriate rather than pin pointing one particular member of staff.

[Droflove]

La Guardia, there are some parts or a key workers job that are inexcusable to screw up on. And a simple thing like not sharing confidential information in a public place should be ingrained. She sounds like a disgrace to her profession. I would contact the local authority of the area and ask where you can lodge a complaint against a key worker.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

FruitbatAuntie - I do think you should report what you saw and overheard to the community drugs team, as she has potentially put one of their clients in actual danger (the one who reported that the other client was selling their methadone).

I think this problem has grown out of all proportion with the advent of mobile phones. When I started my nurse training, in the early '80s, we were all warned, in no uncertain terms, about the importance of confidentiality, and that we should avoid discussing patients at all, outside the hospital/in public. And it was made clear that breaching confidentiality was a disciplinary offence.

The ubiquity of mobile phones means that everywhere can be your workplace - something that certainly wasn't the case when I was a student nurse - and people can very easily find themselves trying to conduct what should be private or confidential conversations in very public places.

I think a lot of people walk around in their own little bubble, pretty oblivious to the world around them - and this leads to them conducting private conversations, at the top of their voices, in very public places.

I also suspect that there are very clear written policies in place governing the use of mobile phones for these sort of conversations in public places, but that there are so many written policies in place, on so many things, from the vitally important to the frankly trivial, that ones that matter, like this, get subsumed in the mass.

[Mutley77]

Not ok at all. I am a social worker and have had discussions in public places (quietly) but would never so much as mention a first name let alone any other identifying details. Agree you should have challenged her there and then, as in told her you had heard the full detail of the conversation.