SHARE: consent, confidentiality and information sharing in mental healthcare and suicide prevention

SHARE: consent, confidentiality and information sharing in mental healthcare and suicide prevention.

S: Seek consent to share information

H: Have regard to the law, rules and regulations

A: Always act in the patients’ best interest

R: Record all discussions and activities

E: Ensure service user confidentiality is respected

“Confidentiality, consent and capacity are all issues which have rightly received a great deal of careful attention over the years. It is clear that, where the common law duty of confidentiality applies, practitioners will usually be under a duty to respect a person’s refusal to consent to disclosure of their suicide risk if the person has the relevant capacity and they do not pose a risk to anyone but themselves.” The Department of Health and Social Care.

“Consent and confidentiality should be part of the core narrative with service users throughout the course of their treatment and support.”

Authors

Zero Suicide Alliance, Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England/Improvement.

Audience

Health and social care professionals, suicide prevention leads, families and carers

Aims

The aim of this report is to help practitioners feel adequately trained and equipped to seek consent and engage with family, friends, and carers on concerns of mental illness and risk of suicide.

Background

Consent, confidentiality and the sharing of information, both between agencies and with families and carers, are important aspects of mental healthcare.

The 2018 NHS Resolution (NHSR) Learning from Suicide Related Claims report identified failure to share information as a recurrent theme in deaths by suicide.

The 2014 Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the National Suicide Prevention Strategy Advisory Group (NSPSAG) report sought to highlight the theme of information sharing and strengthen its guidelines, both for those at risk from self-harm and suicide and those close to them.

Method

The 2014 statement was updated and republished by the ZSA in 2021 with support from the DHSC Care and NHS England/Improvement. This reflected the legal position of the UK General Data Protection Regulation, tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018.

Contents

Practitioners are bound by law and professional guidelines to protect confidential (personal and sensitive) information about individuals, unless there is significant risk to the individual, the public or children.

When a significant risk to safety is imminent and not sharing information appears likely to result in death or serious injury, then relevant information can and should be shared with those people for whom consent has been given to share.

For people aged 18 and over, the consensus statement encourages the application of clinical, professional and legal judgement, especially when there is a clear risk to life.

This share report includes information on:

• Consent
• Capacity
• Sharing information and public safety
• Listening to families and carers
• Good practice checklist
• Management support
• Clinical scenarios to aid decision making