National guidance for child protection in Scotland - Scottish ...

There are however four sets of circumstances in which the disclosure of
confidential information to a third party is lawful:
Where the patient has given consent
Where disclosure is in the overriding public interest
Where there is a legal duty to disclose for example by court order
Where there is a statutory basis which permits disclosure
Records Management
Record Keeping
All health professionals have a responsibility to have accurate contemporaneous
records in line with their professional bodies, for example, the Nursing and
Midwifery Council and General Medical Council.
NHSScotland Code of Practice on records management overnment Records
Management: NHS Code Of Practice (Scotland) Version 2.1 January 2012
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/01/10143104/0
All Staff
All NHS staff, whether clinical or administrative, who create, receive and use
documents and records have records management responsibilities. All staff must
ensure that they keep appropriate records of their work and manage those
records in keeping with the records management codes of practice and the
relevant policies and guidance within their Board.
NHS organisations need robust records management procedures to meet the
requirements set out under the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004. In addition they will be required to produce and implement a
records management plan under the terms of the Public Records (Scotland) Act
2011.
Records are a valuable resource because of the information they contain. High
quality information underpins the delivery of high quality evidence-based
healthcare, accountability, clinical and corporate governance and many other key
service deliverables. Information has most value when it is accurate, up-to-date
and accessible when it is needed. An effective records management service
ensures that information is properly managed and is available whenever and
wherever there is a justified need for information, and in whatever media it is held
or required to:
Support patient care and continuity of care.
Support day-to day-business which underpins the delivery of care.
Support evidence-based clinical practice.
Support sound administrative and managerial decision making, as part
of the knowledge base for NHS services.
Meet legal requirements, including requests from patients or other
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