To be shocked at lack of confidentiality in hospital

[TooHotTooSlow]

Currently in hospital on an assessment ward awaiting an MRI. The doc has just been in to see the lady opposite me (not the issue). Doctor took a phone call from another doctor somewhere in the hospital asking about referring a patient. This call was conducted via speakerphone right in front of me - I know the patients name, address, nhs number and his medical history.

i would be absolutely mortified to think that my history would be discussed in this way. Obviously I can’t now remember his address or nhs number, but I do his name and medical issues.

is this normal on wards?

Thirty plus years ago I was in hospital for an operation. Because my period was late I had to have a pregnancy test first thing on the morning of the op. I had no idea that I could be pregnant. Around lunch time the nurse came with my pre med tablet and I said "So the pregnancy test was negative then? I thought so." She snatched the meds away from me and said she would check.

She came back and stood in the doorway of the six bed ward and called out "Hairbrush - the test was positive - you're pregnant!"

Zero privacy. Zero confidentiality. And the woman in the bed opposite me was waiting to go down for a D&C after a miscarriage.

It happens way too often

It's just awful
When I was on the ward having dc2 there was a very young mum there and the midwife discharging her was taking the time to go through contraception and doing pelvic floor exercises etc, encouraging her to do them (sex is better!) etc. In the end I had to put earphones in as the husband of another woman was making disgusting comments after every sentence. It was so gross. Poor girl was only 17 and poor woman with the gross husband!

Unfortunately very common. Even in doctors surgery at the reception and when at the pharmacy, personal information is overheard all the time

I completely agree. Every time Mr Glyndŵr goes to the hospital it's "do you still live at xxx?" and is your contact no still "yyy"? Said in a loud voice by the receptionist after he's told her his name and DOB in front of the whole waiting room.
I feel I should say something, but can't be arsed - the NHS has bigger things to worry about.

As an aside - I often worry about GP and pharmacy processes too. There is no ID&V at all in either situation.
No one checks I'm actually Mrs Glyndŵr at the surgery, nor when I collect a prescription. In fact anyone can collect a prescription - there is no check that it ends up with the actual person the meds were prescribed for.

Same at the GP surgery, and even at the pharmacy when collecting a script I'm asked to shout out my name and address, or have it shouted at me. I don't think the NHS have heard of GDPR and privacy!

Friend was waiting on hospital with his wife on a surgical ward - nurse left ipad on bed while she went somewhere- it was unlocked! Friend is IT nerd. He could have accessed all sorts of private information if he had desired ! He even worked out what the individual passcodes are for the log ins!! It’s very concerning as with that info anyone could access and temper with patient records, diagnostic reports, treatment plans , hospital finances…. The list is endless

yes happens very often - little privacy, respect dignity.....

Somebody will be along soon to tell us that if the tortes would only put a few billion pounds in this would never happen.

I do worry about shouting out my name and exact address in a pharmacy full of strangers - maybe it's irrational, but I've met a lot of weirdos in my time.

Oh yes.

In the breast clinic with 20 people behind me I was asked for full name, dob and address. I asked if I could write it down and was abruptly told no I couldn't because it meant the receptionist had to heck against her screen and it increased mistakes.

Receptionist at GP surgery yelled across reception "Mercury, your smears overdue, you need to book an appointment" dd's deputy head was there.

In hospital last year behind curtains a nurse asked me to change into a gown. Within nano seconds she swept the curtain back to check progress. I was slow admittedly, I had a broken wrist and severely fractured vertebrae, when I objected I was sharply told she'd seen it all before and provided me with the specially curated NHS eyeroll when I responded "that may be so but I haven't shown it all before so close the curtain".

I could go on but I'm not a duracell battery.

On a more serious note one has to co sides the many pounds spent on making services accessible to minorities which is absolutely right but somewhere in there they have forgotten the simple majority, that they too are entitled to dignity and are also taxpayers.

Exactly this. It simply isn’t feasible for everyone to have a private room or a doctor or nurse to take every patient to a private area for every conversation. In the grand scheme of priorities, it is not what I’d be worrying about.

I'm a nurse and I've never witnessed an incident like this where the conversation is on loudspeaker. Yes phone conversations do happen but how stupid of this doctor to conduct the call on loudspeaker in a public area.

Have you not been on a ward and the doctor closes the curtain yet you know everyone can hear what’s being said? It’s horrible the lack of privacy

During one A&E visit, I was alone in a room with a nurse whilst she was typing stuff into the computer.
On the screen was a list of all the names, ages and reason for admission on the monitor.

Also, during one of my times as inpatient in a psychiatric hospital, my room was next to the main office where handover and ward rounds were carried out. During each shift change, I could hear every single thing about all patients on the ward. I mentioned it to the staff and they said to listen to music with headphones on. I wasn't allowed headphones! (ligature risk).

This is on ward round when the team discuss the plan of care etc with the patient. What would you have them do instead? Only the adjacent beds are likely to hear.

I wonder if hospitals in other countries where care is considered better have ‘magic’curtains too?

So there's no privacy or confidentiality, agreed, but when my dad was in hospital all but his basic info was on the whiteboard, his name and nurses name and there was no file with his info because it wasn't deemed acceptable that other visitors /patients might see that info ! (Due to Gdpr)

I was in a consultation with a consultant a few years ago to follow up on an operation I'd had, and he answered a call on speaker phone and had a full detailed conversation about another patient's medical condition, including their name and various personal details. I was shocked at the lack of confidentiality and also the rudeness of me just sitting there like a lemon whilst he had this lengthy conversation during my appointment.

Agree with others the lack of privacy is horrid, I'm currently in hospital having had surgery for an ectopic pregnancy. Being brought on to a ward sobbing my heart out with people watching from their beds, and then crying and crying behind the magic curtain knowing everyone could hear has been one of the many low points of the last 24 hours.

Yanbu it's awful

My dad died on a ward that was overcrowded, 6 beds to a 4 bed bay, there wasn't enough room to even have a curtain round the bed. We arrived just after he had died & had to say our last goodbyes in full view of the ward, there wasn't enough room between the beds to even put a chair. Another man on the ward had died earlier in the week & they hadn't moved his body 8 hours later.

Good grief that is awful.

We know the curtains aren’t soundproof but what else do you expect? Many patients are bedbound or not very mobile and can’t move to another room to speak to the doctors. The info could be written down but that’s inefficient and likely to lead to confusion, if the patient’s sight is even good enough to be able to read it.
Some of the examples on this thread are unacceptable, but hearing about peoples meds and ward rounds is just inevitable as a inpatient.

I have also had this - so little room on a ward that nurses kept moving my little cupboard out of the way so I couldn't reach my phone, bag, etc, And the woman next to me was told her unborn baby had died literally in full view of me because the consultant couldn't even be arsed to pull the curtain fully.

I will never understand why we put up with this absolute barrel-scraping health service.

The irony is that when I deal with NHS systems through work, they are completely intractable when it comes to email or sensitive data. They will not share information about a person through any medium but a NHS.net email address (and - absolutely weirdly - a fax, but only when I promise to go and stand next to it). This shows a fundamental misunderstanding of GDPR and is a complete waste of resource, particularly as if I happened to be in the hospital at the same time as the patient, I would find out their bra size and when they last took a shit whether I wanted to know or not!

Yes I find this every time we go to GP/ walk in/ hosp. It's such an obvious data protection issue I'm always stunned!