To think this is a confidentiality issue and is not appropriate?

[SarahTeaPot]

(NC for this) My local health centre is very well run and friendly. The Doctors are excellent and the quality of care is second to none, even throughout the pandemic. I've been with this surgery for many years and never had any reason to complain. However, over the last few months the teenage DD of one member of staff (who mainly works in a pharmacy role) has been coming in after school and spends a lot of time behind the counter in the reception/pharmacy area shadowing her parent and 'helping out' in various ways, including by looking for prescriptions which involves seeing information about the medication of a lot of patients. I know the parent and the DD to some extent and they are nice but very gossipy (think Susan Carter from the Archers!) and I really don't want my personal information looked at by a staff member's teenager - AIBU? Or am I just getting old and out of touch with modern workplace culture? If anyone here works in a health centre / pharmacy, would that be allowed in your workplace?

No she shouldn't be doing that.

How old is she?
We can have volunteers if they complete elearning on confidentiality etc

What age is she?

Surely she just has a job?

That's awful!! What if she saw stuff about her teachers?! Or peers?! Please complain to the practice manager.

@AlDanvers

What age is she?

Surely she just has a job?

She's 15. I guess it is possible it might be an actual job, but she just turns up after school and stays in her school uniform, not the uniform the other staff wear. I mean hopefully that is the case and proper procedures are being followed but it does make me uncomfortable.

@Orangesandpineapples

That's awful!! What if she saw stuff about her teachers?! Or peers?! Please complain to the practice manager.

If I did complain I would want to do so anonymously as this is a small place and everyone knows everyone! I did have a look on their website and there was no option to do that.

So is possible she is on a work experience scheme or just working?

Then I think yabu. Find out all the information before you complain and cause people issues.

You can complain via careopinion and you can remain anonymous

I think it’s very unlikely the DD has been just hanging out at the surgery for several months and not once has it been questioned by any other member of staff there, including the practice manager or the GPs with whom the buck essentially stops. She has to be a volunteer and will have undergone appropriate training. Yes, she may see information, but so will any other member of staff of volunteer working there.

@AlDanvers

So is possible she is on a work experience scheme or just working?

Then I think yabu. Find out all the information before you complain and cause people issues.

You're probably right. I don't want to be a busybody. The parent is a nice person but really is the village gossip and I was fairly uncomfortable when they got the job there in the first place but such is life. Their DD very much takes after them.

@ComtesseDeSpair

I think it’s very unlikely the DD has been just hanging out at the surgery for several months and not once has it been questioned by any other member of staff there, including the practice manager or the GPs with whom the buck essentially stops. She has to be a volunteer and will have undergone appropriate training. Yes, she may see information, but so will any other member of staff of volunteer working there.

Fair enough. I do hope that is the case. I guess I'll let that one go.

Create a disposable/temporary email account and complain from there. You can do it in Gmail or use a client like tempmail.

You can ask the question rather than complain.
Something like ‘ive noticed a teenager is involved in working behind the counter at the pharmacy. Can I check that whatever their role is, they are bound the same confidentiality rules as all the other staff at the pharmacy?’

If they are in a work experience, I imagine that some jobs she shouldn’t be doing (because confidentiality etc…) for example.

Or they are actually employed so have signed a contract stipulating the confidentiality.

Or they are just ‘there’ and it’s weird and have access to info they shouldn’t have access to (even though I doubt she would have any idea what those medications means for the person iyswim). But a review needs to happen.

Sorry but how can a 15yo genuinely be working in a position like this? No matter what confidentiality training she has had, surely it is inappropriate for her to view things like prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs or see details about a miscarriage etc on a screen?

Training does not magically confer maturity and appropriate behaviour.

@MananaTomorrow

You can ask the question rather than complain. Something like ‘ive noticed a teenager is involved in working behind the counter at the pharmacy. Can I check that whatever their role is, they are bound the same confidentiality rules as all the other staff at the pharmacy?’

That's really well worded, thank you, I might do that. It's not confrontational and is a perfectly reasonable question.

@JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff

Sorry but how can a 15yo genuinely be working in a position like this? No matter what confidentiality training she has had, surely it is inappropriate for her to view things like prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs or see details about a miscarriage etc on a screen?

Training does not magically confer maturity and appropriate behaviour.

There's no age restrictions on working in a medical centre, only on specific jobs such as dispensing, clinical roles etc. As long as she meets the criteria for the role it's fine. And she could have had a miscarriage or abortion of her own!

Is this perhaps something you could raise with the Care Quality Commission or, as your concerns are mainly about confidentiality, with the appropriate body for that? I’m sure that neither of these would have to tell the surgery who had alerted them. However, purely on age grounds, I think it would be wrong for this girl to be given much responsibility or access to data but even if the contact is quite cursory, you are entitled to raise the issue and have your mind out at rest.

Oops! PUT at rest.

In this situation the surgery needs to take the lead in reassuring all patients that any volunteers/ work experience students are trained in confidentiality.

It's lovely that she's volunteering at such a young age. I think it's fine for you to want to be reassured that she has the relevant training and supervision to undertake her role.

When I was 15, I had a part time job after school and at weekends working at a pharmacy. No one ever complained and tbh I had zero interest in who had what prescription or even what the medication was.

Maybe an over reaction??

My DS2 did work experience with a GP and in a hospital at 16 before A levels and starting medicine at uni. Also no complaints.

Scocialcare yes but it doesn't follow she would be able to cope appropriately with others'.

If there are really are no age restrictions, fine.... I just find it amazing that she wouldn't be allowed to hand someone a bottle of low-alcohol beer across a bar but can be involved in knowing about life changing medical conditions etc.

That’s extremely odd in this kind of workplace. Report it to the Health Board and also drop a note to the practice manager.

She shouldn't be doing that but if it helps, I had a Saturday job in a pharmacy from the age of 15-18. I was mostly just behind the counter taking prescriptions in to the pharmacist but also helped stock the dispensary. With the exception of really common drugs like insulin or the pill (because everyone ticked the exempt from charges box for contraception) I never learned what the drugs were for. I could name 200 drug names and tell you where they went but that was it. Nothing in the pharmacy records hints at what an illness is.