Confidentiality and files

Many students are concerned that friends, lecturers or family may find out that they have seen a doctor, nurse or counsellor or the Disability Liaison Officer. Any contact you have with our service will be in professional confidence. We respect privacy and, except in the situations outlined below, nothing concerning a client/patient is reported elsewhere without his/her prior consent.

Limits of confidentiality

In accordance with professional guidelines and legislation, there are occasions where confidentiality may need to be broken.

Duty of care

If there are concerns that a person may hurt himself / herself, or poses a threat to someone else, confidentiality may need to be broken to ensure safety.

Legal requirements

There may be occasions where confidentiality needs to be broken to meet certain legal requirements.

As far as possible, permission would be sought from the client prior to the disclosing of any information.

Record keeping

All files are kept securely in our offices. Health, Counselling and Disability notes are kept in the one file. You may request to see what is in your file. Files are not accessible to any person outside of the Health and Counselling Services without the client’s permission.

Release of information

Occasionally a client may ask us to give information to parties outside the Health and Counselling Service. This will only be done according to the client’s explicit verbal or written request.

For further information, see our policy statement.