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Care Opinion

Confidentiality and consent

Posted By screenname01

"Confidentiality and consent"

About: South West Health

(as the patient),

I went to attend an appointment with a Dr. as an outpatient.

When I attended, I recall there was a nurse in the room.

I felt I had not given consent nor was I informed a nurse would be attending.

I think you need to tell patients what is involved in attending an appointment and whom will be there/who will be involved and who will access their record etc., as well as get consent for other professionals to attend/read the client's record prior to having the patient enter a room. Sometimes I feel people do not handle client information compassionately.

Also, one week I was given an appointment and no appointment time. I was only given the time on the day of the appointment (despite sending an email on the day, requesting the time) thus I could not attend. Staff acknowledged the error. I hope if this happens it does not reflect negatively with the patient- i.e. staff accept responsibility for their errors and don't blame the patient. 

Regards,

screenname01

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Responses

Response from Renny Carroll, Outpatient Manager, Coastal and Inland Districts, WACHS South West 2 years ago
Renny Carroll
Outpatient Manager, Coastal and Inland Districts,
WACHS South West

Submitted on 17/12/2021 at 8:27 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 20/12/2021 at 9:48 AM

Dear screenname01,

Thank you for providing feedback on your recent outpatient experience at Bunbury Hospital. It is common practice for nursing staff to provide support and/or attend outpatient appointments alongside medical specialists; however, you should have been informed that this was going to occur at the time of your appointment and consent obtained. Patient confidentiality is important to us and all health care professionals are bound by a duty of care to maintain confidentiality in the course of providing medical treatment and care to patients.

Regarding the lack of appointment time, please accept my apologies for this error. Appointment letters are automatically generated by our patient administration system, so it is unusual that this has occurred. We will review our processes and make any necessary changes to ensure that it does not occur in the future

Your care is very important to us and we would like to gather some more details, so we can investigate the issue further. If you are comfortable discussing your experience, please contact myself, Renny Carroll on 0403 936 161 or the Customer Liaison Officer on 9722 1521. Once again, thank you for providing feedback on this issue, as it gives us an opportunity to make improvements to our service delivery and meet the needs of our patients.

Renny Carroll

Senior Project Officer - Outpatient Reform

WA Country Health Service – South West

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Update posted by screenname01 (the patient)

G'day,

Thanks. The situation wasn't in Bunbury but I understand Bunbury may have the head office.

I ended up calling the manager of the department to discuss confidentiality processes, after trying to contact a case manager.

I recalled they mentioned they would share with their manager.

Perhaps it was a bit jumbled as they tried to fit me in quickly (this has not been discussed) but a good heads up that some patients info is sensitive to them and private.

The manager has explained to me the process now that a nurse will be in the appointment and it may not always be the same nurse. I think it's a great idea to share that with patients so they can make an informed choice on attendance, I believe they may be too raw or private for shuffling about.

I did appreciate my first walk-in appointment that I first had and a check over via the doctor available on the day.

Thank you for responding. I will call the phone numbers you have mentioned if any more concerns.

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