Care is taken often, to protect vulnerable people from any harm that may lie in wait. We can inadvertently put ourselves at risk sometimes by not thinking things through, or not being careful. Mental health consultations or assessments usually consist of two health professionals and a patient with a friend or family to accompany the patient if possible. There seem no problematic issues with patients bringing relatives or friends, but problems can arise from consultations or assessments that have two mental health professionals and only one patient. But then two-to-one appointments can have devastating effects if the two professionals turn on the patient and make wrongful reports or stories against a vulnerable person in their health records, even causing problems with someone’s complaint against a trust if they have one. Please don’t kid yourself that these things don’t go on, because they do.
We have taken a big interest in this subject and seeing this scenario at first hand believe something must change. Two health professionals can turn on one patient and give incorrect information about a consultation. Whatever the reason, there is no way this should be allowed to happen. Everyone has the right to an honest consultation, and modern technology has the answers to helping someone get an honest and fair appointment.
Is there a solution?
You would think being in the hands of an NHS trust would be a safe environment. Somewhere to talk about your mental illness and look for help from your local health professionals. We have written other articles on this, but being in a consultation alone cannot be considered safe. You’re scrutinised at a consultation like what you wear, how you greet them etc, which isn’t a problem, but you could be in a position where two professionals can change a situation or narrative because they don’t like you in some way. Always realise in a consultation you are scrutinized on everything you say or do. Also, some people can make mistakes in reporting the consultation conversation because they don’t make correct notes within the consultation and challenging, the conversation can be hard after a two 2 one session.
Trusts are looking for patients to ask to record a consultation and not to record the appointment covertly. But what happens if someone disagrees with the audio recording at a consultation, is the meeting over? It should be really because what have the 2 professionals to worry about in the first place? Some Trusts say, that asking to record is a trust-building exercise but no record, you’re 2 to 1 and the same worries apply. Let’s face it, we don’t think a vulnerable person should be in a 2 to 1 situation anyway and there are no excuses. If someone is alone, it should be 1 to 1 to make it fair.
A way to check your consultation is to request a statutory access request or (SAR). This document provided by a trust will give details of your activity within the trust like medical records. Trusts have to provide you by law with your SAR in 30 days, or you can complain to the ICO, the Information Commissioners Office (https://www.ico.org.uk).
Then there are Data Protection rules these days. But you can covertly record a consultation as long as it’s for your own use. Section 36 of the Data Protection Act 1998 states: ‘Personal data processed by an individual only for the individual’s personal, family or household affairs are exempt from data protection principles.’ But it must be mentioned that if you make a recording and post it online on social media etc, You will start breaking a few laws because it’s not for personal use. Patients, however, do not need doctors’ permission to record a consultation. The information they are recording is personal to them and therefore exempt from data protection principles.
Many trusts now are writing articles about patients covertly recording consultations and appointments with recording devices such as mobile phones and MP3 recording devices. We read through a 33-page document for Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust about their rules on recording just as an example on consultations in the NHS: (https://www.northamptongeneral.nhs.uk/Services/Our-Non-Clinical-Services-and-Departments/Downloads/Audio-and-Visual-Recording-Policy-0001.00.pdf). Its a long read but brings a few points out about trust.
The BMA (British Medical Association) also has written an article on patients recording consultations. It’s not long and worth a read, because they point out some good points about recording an appointment as well as the bad. They can be found at (https://bma.org.uk/advice/)
With modern technology being so cheap these days, a mobile phone or cheap MP3 recorder would do the job of recording using hardly any space from your device’s memory. The apps and devices are simple to use so that should please some people.
It should be made law that all mental health consultations are recorded by a Trust to promote trust and clarity of a consultation. There should also be no need for covert appointment recording that it should be made law for a patient to be able to record. Yes, its a simple subject but again its important. We will be looking into this further in the coming months and will keep you informed.