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Formal Consultation launched

We held a formal consultation on revised draft guidance which ran from the beginning of September to the end of November 2008. Participants were asked to take part in the consultation by completing either:

  • a full written consultation which was based on the draft core and supplementary guidance; or
  • a short consultation which could be completed whether or not participants had read the guidance.

Why did we consult on this guidance?

The aim of the consultation was to seek views on the revised draft guidance which was informed by responses to an initial consultation. Formal consultation is a key part of the guidance development process as it allows us to find out what our key interest groups, including individual doctors, patients and members of the public think of the revised guidance.

What did we consult on?

We consulted on the revised core guidance, Confidentiality: a draft for consultation and seven pieces of draft supplementary guidance which explain how the principles in the main guidance apply in a variety of situations that doctors ask us about or find difficult:

  • Reporting concerns about patients to the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVLA)
  • Disclosing records for financial and administrative purposes
  • Reporting gunshot and knife wounds
  • Disclosing information about serious communicable diseases
  • Disclosing information for insurance, employment and similar purposes
  • Disclosing information for educational and training purposes
  • Responding to criticism in the press.

During the formal consultation period we also held meetings with representatives from the profession, employers, and patient and public groups, the police, medical researchers, doctors and others working in sexual health, where difficult questions about confidentiality arise, to discuss the draft guidance. Meetings were held in Belfast, Edinburgh, London and Cardiff with a range of these representatives.

A report of the consultation will be available on our consultation website in Spring 2009. You can access the consultation site here Opens in new window(opens in a new window).