Law ‘threatens patient confidentiality’
FAMILY doctors are being drafted in as state snoopers to report parents’ illnesses to Named Persons.
Despite patient confidentiality, GPs will be able to share health concerns about a mother or father whose illness is considered serious enough to affect their child’s ‘wellbeing’.
But there were warnings last night that this could deter some seriously ill people from seeking medical help.
The role of GPs to report on parents is a new flashpoint in the guidance on Named Persons, which the SNP yesterday caved in to pressure to amend.
Tory education spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘Under this official guidance, we could end up with a GP reporting parents to a Named Person because they are judged not healthy enough to bring up their children.
‘The SNP says it will “refresh” this guidance, but the fact that sections like this are there only goes to show why we should, at the very least, have had a delay to examine this flawed legislation properly.’
Revised guidance on state guardians, published in December, says ‘a GP treating an adult with a chronic health condition must consider whether (this) is affecting the wellbeing of a child or children. The GP will then need to decide whether or not to share any information with the Named Person service.’ Eileen Prior of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council warned that if parents ‘have an alcohol issue, depression or anxiety, they might not seek help for things they need help with because they are scared they could end up with their children being taken away’.
Simon Calvert of the No to Named Persons campaign said: ‘The scheme has major implications for the traditional relationship between GPs and their patients... clearly, this will be considered by many as a breach of confidentiality and it is probable that patients will decline to confide in their GP.’
The Scottish Government did not provide answers to questions on whether a parent’s consent would be needed for a GP to share information, what conditions might be reported to a Named Person or how this is compatible with patient confidentiality.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Information should only be shared in a manner that is proportionate and respects the needs and views of children, young people and their parents and existing legal frameworks. The Scottish Information Commissioner’s Office has supported the information-sharing provisions within the Act and indicated that they are fully compatible with existing law.’
Dr Alan McDevitt of the BMA’s Scottish GP committee said patients ‘need to be reassured’ that their health information ‘will be treated confidentially’, but he added ‘there are times when information must be shared in order to protect children at risk’.