The Key To Disclosure: Safeguarding Patient Confidentiality

The problem of how to deal with patients’ confidentiality in the context of legal proceedings is a common one and the recent case of A Health Authority v X and Others¹ is a helpful decision for solicitors, GPs and Legal Liaison Managers at Trusts and Health Authorities alike.

An unnamed Health Authority applied for disclosure of medical records by the respondent GP (Dr X) and his partners in an NHS General Practice. The Health Authority wished to consider the extent of compliance by Dr X and his partners with their terms of service and accordingly sought disclosure of two categories of documents on grounds of public interest as follows:

• Documents that had been produced to the court or generated forensically in the course of care proceedings heard last year by another judge of the Family Division (the individuals, mainly children, who were the subject of those proceedings, are or were patients of the practice). (‘List A documents’); and