GOC consultation on disclosing patients’ confidential information launched

The GOC has launched a consultation on new draft guidance on disclosing patients’ confidential information.

This new guidance will help GOC registrants to decide when the need to override patient confidentiality may arise in terms of the public interest. One example of this would be informing the DVLA is a patient’s inadequate eyesight makes them unfit to drive.

Marcus Dye, GOC head of standards and CET, said: ‘Our standards make clear that practitioners should promptly raise concerns about their patients if in their professional judgement patient or public safety might be at risk. Some registrants have requested additional guidance on how to apply this and in particular how to consider this alongside the professional requirement of maintaining confidentiality. This guidance will provide more clarity about our expectations and will help registrants in their decision-making.’