I found out a few weeks ago that whilst I was in hospital, January-April 2011 and November-May 2012, a health care assistant breached confidentiality by telling her daughter about things I had done whilst being inpatient. And I don't just mean little things; she told her daughter all about my self harm, risky behaviours I did. Her daughter then went on to tell my work colleague, who was the one who told me.
The work colleague told me things she had said, these were things I had not told her, so must've come from her.
Anyway, I'm aware this is against the law/rules; I'm wondering who's the best person to make a complaint to? The NMC only deal with registered nurses and midwives, and I'm unsure about going to the ward manager as I know what she is like and she will either a) dismiss my complaint, or b) do her best to cover it up.
I want that woman sacked for what she has done, what's the best way to go about it?
Hey. I won't be much use with how to complain as I'm not in the UK but I found this page http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rig...omplaints.aspx and it has some information that might be useful for you. I can tell you that healthcare assistants are not regulated like nurses are.
I'm so sorry that that happened to you. It's such a horrible breach of trust and I can totally understand why you want her sacked. Patient confidentiality is one the most basic things for healthcare workers. She shouldn't have even let on that she knew you were in hospital. I really hope you get your complaint listened to and resolved to your satisfaction.
Thank you both, I am in the UK so I'll look into contacting pals and reading through the link.
I'm horrified, especially as she was a HCA who I trusted and spent a lot of time with, just to find out that she was gossiping about me the whole time! Makes me so mad too, one way or another ill make sure she pays for it!
The manager is not allowed to dismiss the complaint.
PALs is a good option though.
She's done a lot of things she's "not allowed" to do; trust me she'd try and cover it up or ignore it in some way. It'd be pointless going to her. I think PALs sounds like the best option, thanks.
I've been through the formal NHS complaints twice, you need to go on the trusts website and find the complaints procedure section, write a letter, send it in, within 2 working days you will receive a letter saying they have received the complaint and are currently looking into it.
Usually about 2 weeks after that you will be invited to attend a complaint resolution meeting, where you will meet with the person investigating the complaint to discuss the issue further and tell them what you want the outcome to be.
Then about 3 - 4 weeks after that you will receive the resolution summary, which is basically their reply to your complaint, this will usually include an apology and an explaination to what went wrong and why. If you are happy with their answer you close the complaint, if not then you take it to the NHS obudsman, but they take very few cases on.
It's extremely unlikely the woman will get sacked.
Hope this helps!
Push will get a person almost anywhere except through a door marked “pull".
But there's laws around confidentiality? And surely there's no claus that would allow her legally to tell her daughter all about me/what I did etc?
Surely they can't apologise, "say what went wrong" which is her breaking confidentiality for NO reason other than being a gossip, and expect me to accept that?
Looking on the NMC website, nurses have been struck off for a damn sight less than what she has done, so why wouldn't she loose her job? Or at least get suspended, something!
Her daughter is the biggest blabber mouth I know, she told a work colleague and god knows who else she told.
Support workers have called me stupid and thick to my face, lied to me, told me I am a time waster, pushed me against a wall for absolutely no reason and a CPN told the two guys in the tattoo shop next to the CMHT that I had BPD and wasted loads of there time, and told them about my OD's (I found this out from the guy in the tattoo place).
Yes, there's laws around confidentially and that's for her employers to look into, you can't threaten them with legal action or threaten to sue them. You can sue individual doctors on the NHS but not support workers.
Absolutely nothing happened apart from a small slap on the hand to the staff who mistreated me, I was given a written apology, sent my complaint to the ombudsman who rejected it saying the trust couldnt have done anymore.
The NHS are a nightmare to deal with, they WILL lie and they do. I'm still in my second complaint and all they have done so far is lie and switch everything round to reflect bad on me, they also blame everything on my mental health condition.
Push will get a person almost anywhere except through a door marked “pull".
I am in the US and I work on a psychiatric unit of a hospital. Here, this is highly illegal and employees receive extensive training on the confidentiality laws. This is not exceptable in any way. The employee should be dismissed for certain. I feel like you could make a complaint to the hospital administration but if you have suffered in any way from your coworker finding out it is a legal matter.
It can be a criminal act to break confidentiality. I really would contact MIND's legal department. The human rights and equality commission can help as it could come under article 8 of the human rights act. They can at the very least give you proper advice. You are right to not accept this and I'd take it further.
Thank you both, poppet, she was a health care assistant on the ward when I was inpatient, I don't know if this makes a difference than her being a support worker.
I'm just so angry, thankfully the colleague hasn't told anybody else. But I wonder who else her daughter told.
It hasn't really affected me as such other than being incredibly angry and hurt by it. I trusted the HCA a lot and was close to her, and now I know that the only reason she did that was to get "gossip"!! I told her very personal things and hate to think that she told her daughter who then went on to tell my work colleague.
I tried ringing the local PALs this morning but there was no answer, I'll try them again or contact mind as you suggested. I'm not letting her get away with this.
