Introduction

There are occasions when intervention is necessary in order to save or protect a patients life or to prevent them from serious immediate harm, for instance during a psychotic episode, serious injury or accident. In many of these circumstances the patient may be unconscious or too ill to communicate or understand. In these circumstances we have an overriding duty to try to protect and treat the patient. If necessary we will share your information and possibly sensitive confidential information with other emergency healthcare services, the police or fire brigade, so that you can receive the best treatment.

The law acknowledges this and provides supporting legal justifications.

Individuals have the right to make pre-determined decisions about the type and extent of care they will receive should they fall ill in the future, these are known as “Advance Directives”. If lodged in your records these will normally be honoured despite the observations in the first paragraph.

We are required by Articles in the General Data Protection Regulations to provide you with the information in the following 9 subsections.