Health visitor told nursery about a private medical condition I have??? not happy

[nowtheretwo]

Hi there,
At nursery today one of the staff said hows your *** condition? I was taken aback and ask how did you know about that, she just said well your childs health visitor mentioned you have it.

Is that not a breach of Data protection? I have never even told my health visitor about this before, guess she got access to my medical records.

There must be more to this, surely? HVs aren't ususally involved with nursery-aged children unless the child or its parents need support.

Have you had issues dropping off/picking up on time and she has tried to mitigate so you aren't penalised? Still doesn't make it ok but perhaps it was done in good faith?

We are not allowed to access the parents medical records of any child we work with.

If we have concerns then we report to their GP but we are not given the information.

The only time we get told medical information about a parent is if the parent has given consent.

You need to email / speak to the practice manager about the breech of information.

You need to complain the the NHS Trust that employs her. It's a conduct issue and a breach of confidentiality and potentially data protection.

Wonder if the nursery mentioned it in good faith i.e to show that they understand if you are struggling due to your condition and to reassure you that they will help if possible.

Or...

Maybe they mentioned it to let you know that the HV had broken confidentiality as they're not happy about this either

Just write to the head of community nursing and ask why the hv had access to your notes and why they shared the information.

It is pretty unusual for health visitors to be involved with children of nursery age. Therefore they will likely have legitimate interest.
It isn’t nice but if you have something like alcoholism or severe depression - basically anything that could seriously impact your child then the nursery and HV will likely argue that they need to know. It stops children from slipping through the net if they don’t turn up.

As you have found out in Scotland your HV is allowed to access your notes same as the midwife, nurse or GP. It would have been listed on your maternity notes as well (or the app).

In relation to the nursery that's a bit more tricky as it would depend on the reason why. The best place to start is a phone call to the GPs to find out what the reasoning was behind the disclosure. From this you can then work out if it was a breach.

Health care professionals and support professionals e.g nurseries and teachers can share information if there is a relevant and valid reason to do so but that's usually around child issues

FatCow in Scotland certainly it’s normal for the hv to still have contact up until the child starts school when they then go into the school nurse system whom you never see or speak to.

Trying to see what could have been deemed important for nursery to know - I remember reading a tragic story about a woman who died from an epileptic fit and her son died too as no one knew about it - a nursery could have contacted the police if they’d known there was a special risk.

I’m pretty sure it’s not mental health related as we haven’t reached the point were a nursery worker would say “how’s your depression?” to a parent.
Follow it up with the HV would be the first port of call surely.

I work in a nursery and think you need to complain to the nursery about how their staff handle sensitive information
Then complain about the health visitor

It’s totally normal for health visitors to be involved with nursery aged children
We have contact with all our local health visitors and are supposed to have a health visitor assigned to us

I made an online appointment last night to see my G.P.

I browsed my account for a few minutes, looking at my prescriptions etc, & found a "who has accessed my information"
I clicked on it & it said "No-one has accessed your information in the last 12 months"

Maybe sign up to view your info.

That's atrocious. I'd be complaining so that it doesn't happen to someone else too.

Op why are you avoiding answering what the condition is?

This makes me think it is something relevant to the child.

Complain about the health visitor. This is serious.
If there was some relevance to your child, that is, it was a life or death thing they needed to know because it would have an impact on your child then, arguably, it would be ok.

And the nursery cocked up too. If it was a serious matter there's no way it should have been doing a breezy "how's your [whatever the condition]?" If it wasn't serious, they shouldn't have been talking about it in public, even if the idiot HV mentioned it.

@Sarahandduck18 maybe because it's private and no one else's business, which is actually the point of the thread.

OP I would also talk to the Care Inspectorate about your concerns about the nursery.

When posters are saying the HV has a right to look at patients, it's on a confidential, need to know basis, not just for a nosey and in order to inappropriately share the OP's confidential health information.

Op why are you avoiding answering what the condition is?

Because it’s private? That’s the entire point of this thread.

@FatCow2018

The HV is the Named Person in Scotland for all children under 5 whether the parents consent to it or not. As the child starts school, the Named Person duty is transferred to a member of the SLT at the school such as the HT or DHT or CP lead.

It is pretty unusual for health visitors to be involved with children of nursery age
All children "have" a HV up till 5.
When we needed a referral for continence for our nearly-4-yo the HV did it.
When our other child was referred to investigate epilepsy, in Reception but aged 4, the HV was informed.
You may not see them but they are there and it does NOT indicate concern/child in need etc.
And children in nursery can be 6 months plus.
The two year check in England is shared WITH YOUR PERMISSION with nursery but carried out by a HV.
Having said that this is a HUGE breach of confidentiality and you should complain to nursery and the GP and the HV's supervisor.
At preschool age, while the HV exists they are really just an admin/in case role so even if you are a long distance from the next most accessible one you could switch and not really notice.

It is pretty unusual for health visitors to be involved with children of nursery age

No it’s not. Whether there’s constant input or not they’ll be on the HV books, and if there’s a dx for the child or parent which affects or could affect the child there will be more input.

Or if the parent needs extra support. I had a lot of HV interaction while my kids were being diagnosed with autism and while my Mum was dying.

I appealed this for my mum; about my sisters nursery.

The result was that if the condition was something that reasonably could affect the child; it was allowed to be disclosed - and they found that the nursery nurse was being respectful in mentioning that she knew; and told my mum in a sufficiently private place. I'm not sure if that's the case for you.

We can't really help with whether that's reasonable in your case; without an idea of the condition - but if was found to be in my mums; which was mental health related but under control at the time, if that helps.

AnchorDownDeepBreath, so you discovered this, well therefore if a HV believes that a medical condition that a parent has reasonably could affect the child then that gives the HV the right to look at parents medical records and share that condition with the nursery.

Even though I dont agree my medical condition affects my child at all, if the HV then that goes above what I know and think.

I understand you cant help with whether its reasonable in my case without knowing the condition, but as other posters kindly noted the whole issue here was confidentiality.

Oh I wasn't asking to know - just saying that I can't say if it's the same. I totally appreciate that it's confidential.

Could you talk to your health visitors manager? You may be able to find out why they were concerned and reassure them about why they shouldn't be; and get that passes on to the nursery, too?

OP did you log a complaint?

Child protection is the key issue here, and agencies have a duty to share information.

If the condition is something like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, a personality disorder, severe depression or being a victim of domestic violence then this is extremely relevant to the child. Nurseries and health visitors have a duty of care. Health visitors don’t usually get involved with nursery aged children unless there are safeguarding concerns. If there are safeguarding concerns, then agencies WILL share information that is relevant to the child. They don’t need your permission to do this, but should inform you if you disagree.

Nursery will have care if the child during the week. They may be monitoring for signs of abuse/neglect, and if they have concerns about your mental health hey will share this with the health visitor.

Health visitor notes are recorded on the same system as GP notes, and Healthy visitors go to meetings within GP practices about the families they work with.

Are here safeguarding concerns over your child OP? Just because you don’t think the condition is relevant, doesn’t mean that the proffesionals involved will agree.