Part 5: Information Sharing and multiagency working
The challenges of information sharing in general practice
Information sharing in a safeguarding context can give rise to a
number of challenges in general practice – some of these are listed
in the table below. We have to balance the need for a confidential
health service with the responsibilities we have to share information
when appropriate to keep children, and adults at risk of harm, safe
from abuse and neglect.
Challenges of information sharing
Insufficient information provided
Agencies requesting personal information about a patient from general practice may not provide sufficient information for the practice to be able to lawfully share necessary, relevant, and appropriate information.
Understanding of consent
There can be a lack of understanding that health professionals have to follow the common law regarding confidentiality and consent as well as meet the requirements of data protection law.
Time
Sharing information according to the time requests set out in legislation and by other agencies can be extremely difficult given the substantial pressures on general practice and the vast amount of information a practitioner has to review. There are often multiple records to review in one family.
Trust
With our most vulnerable patients and families, trust in professionals may already be extremely fragile. An unintended consequence of health services sharing personal information may be that patients/families become reluctant to access healthcare which can be detrimental to their health and wellbeing.
Minor concerns
When there are minor or emerging concerns, it can be difficult to know whether to share concerns with other agencies.
Previous inaction
Information regarding safeguarding concerns may have been shared before with seemingly no action taken.
What information to share
It can be difficult to know what information is necessary, relevant and proportionate to share.
These challenges must not prevent
appropriate sharing of personal information for the purposes of
safeguarding. One of the key ways to overcome many of these
challenges is to be confident in your knowledge about safeguarding
and information sharing processes. You can be assured that sharing
personal information for the purposes of safeguarding is allowed in
both the common law and data protection law.