My wife fell down the stairs, so we went to the Urgent Care Centre (what used to be called Accident and Emergency) at our local hospital.
While waiting by her trolley, I read with
interest a report left on the counter. It was from a care home, sent in with a previous
patient, giving full details of his and his nearest relative’s name, address,
date of birth and information that would allow me steal his identity. It included
his medical details and symptoms of dementia, so you could probably steal his
identity without his knowing.
I thought about mentioning this to the computer-users
studiously avoiding any eye-contact with the rest of us in the room, but I
didn’t because my wife and I have a policy of being nice to everyone involved
in caring for us. This is the most likely tactic for getting good service from
harassed professionals in the NHS. So they had no opportunity to cease
revealing the personal details of one of their patients to all and sundry
arriving at the counter because our ‘be nice’ policy prevented my handing the
report back.
It’s an example, though, of how easy it is to be careless
about making sure that patient information is not routinely left around for
anyone to gawp at. It’s lucky I am a registered social worker who keeps things
confidential and carefully forgot the things I saw; they might not be so lucky
next time.
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