Are medical professionals legally allowed to tell relatives of child’s condition?

[Emily19932]

Hello,
I am in hospital with 7 month old due to pneumonia currently in intensive care. I was met by a health care assistant who said she knew ex husbands mother and had seen photos of our son on sons grandmothers Facebook and recognised him.

I already let grandmother know I was in hospital with son, have no contact with ex husband. I didn’t go in to details I just said he was unwell. She asked me what was wrong and I was meant to reply but with everything I forgot about it for around 12 hours.

I text her back to let her know what was wrong and how he’s being treated and she said she already knows and HCA friend had contacted her on Facebook and told her.

I have nothing to hide just seems very unprofessional. Is this allowed?

Absolutely not allowed under any circumstances whatsoever. Report her.

Wow! Absolutely not. She does need reporting for that. She could put someone in danger.

Hope your little boy pulls through. You don't need extra stress on top of that.

As above - sackable and rightly so.

Sackable offence.

Did she message you that information?

That's not allowed, and I would be reporting it ASAP, with the screenshot attached to the complaint.

Total breach of confidence. Report it

Absolutely not! How does she know you haven’t escaped from an abusive relationship? She needs to be reported to keep patients safe. Hope your little one gets better soon.

That is so outrageous.

Please report! Absolutely this is against policy and confidentiality!

Report it. Really not on, breach of confidentiality and highly u professional

Absolutely unacceptable at every level, and potentially thoroughly dangerous. Report with all evidence.

Bloody hell. I'd be spitting feathers.

No, that's not allowed. Although we had an incident when a very distant relative went to visit ds in hospital when we had specifically said no visitors except me, dh and his brothers. She was allowed to visit him by the nurse while we weren't there. So these things happen, but it isn't allowed.

I’d be wanting HCA friend sacked for that

Disgraceful. There may be no harm caused by her breaking patient confidentiality this time, but it could have serious repercussions for other patients in the future

I strongly urge you to report her

That is so unacceptable on so many levels. Could well be a sacking offence.

Sorry, replied too fast. Hope your little one makes a full and speedy recovery.

Not allowed. It’s a sackable offence that can get you banned from practicing in the UK. I would report her immediately

Do report, either to the ward sister (nurse in charge) or PALs who will usually have a desk in the hospital or contact details online. it's very unprofessional and potentially dangerous. It's also a safeguarding issue. They can check if the HCP has accessed any medical records, like blood results, notes, addresses.

Absolutely not.

I have family members who are not aware of my condition and I am always very clear with medical staff that the only person that can be spoken to is my partner and no one else. The default should always be say nothing unless given permission to do so outside of primary care givers.

So not only as this healthcare professional broken confidentiality, she has used a social media platform to do so (albeit I assume via private message- but health information should never be disclosed in these sorts of places).

Absolutely disgusting behaviour from that HCA who definitely knows better (so much training happens about these sorts of scenarios).

id report that

Completely breach of law, rules and protocols. What if there was a protection order in place? The next person she is so loose lipped about could be placed in genuine danger.