Tamika:
Today I learnt about how important it is to protect the personal information we hold on clients. Let me show you what I mean.
(Phone ringing)
Enid:
Can you answer that Tamika?
Tamika:
Okay Enid.
Hello. This is the aged care centre. How can I help you?
Female 3:
Hello. Can I please speak to Aunty Lillian?
Tamika:
Sorry. Lillian doesn’t come here anymore.
Female 3:
It’s family business. Can you give me a contact number for her?
Tamika:
Yes. Okay. I’ll see what information we have.
Hey Enid there’s someone here on the phone looking for Lillian. They want to know if we have her phone number. Can you give that to me so I can pass it on?
Enid:
Who wants the information?
Tamika:
They said they’re Lillian’s niece.
Enid:
I’m sorry but we can’t give them any information. They’re not on Lillian’s consent form as someone we can share her personal information with.
Tamika:
Oh. But they’re her family. That’s okay isn’t it?
Enid:
Under the privacy laws we can’t give out personal information. Think about it Tamika. We don’t really know if the person on the phone is Lillian’s niece or even if they are whether Lillian wants them to know where she is.
Tamika:
Oh I see. Yes. That makes sense.
I’m sorry. I can’t give you Lillian’s phone number or address because she hasn’t given us permission to share with you.
Female 3:
Oh I see. Well it’s really important. But I guess I’ll just have to ask someone else.
Tamika:
Yes. I understand you are her niece but she hasn’t given permission.
Enid:
That’s good. Thanks for the update Lance. Now I thought for today’s training talk we could focus on privacy and confidentiality.
Tamika:
Hmm. I’d like to know more about that. I might have done the right thing if you hadn’t been there for that phone call yesterday Enid.
Enid:
That’s right. We have a lot of sensitive information on clients and we have to protect that information. We also learn things about people while we’re caring for them, things that they might not want many other people to know, personal stuff or information that can put them at risk of abuse.
Samuel:
What do you mean?
Enid:
Well we have to collect information on people like where they live, who they live with and what other support they have. We learn about their health and about what they’re good at, what they find hard, what they can’t do and what money they have. We have to do this so that we can give them the right sort of care and services and also so that we charge them the right amount for that help. That’s very personal stuff.
Samuel:
Oh I see.
Enid:
We also learn things about people as we work with them. We learn their habits, patterns of what they do, likes and dislikes, and we get to know their limitations or their weaknesses.
Tamika:
Yeah that’s right. We learn more about someone the more we work with them, the more we get to know them.
Enid:
We need this information. It helps us provide good care but it also makes the client more at risk of harm if sensitive information is spread around. We need to protect this sensitive information so that the wrong person doesn’t hear it and use it against the client. Let me show you what could go wrong.
A staff member talking about a client in front of another client.
Tamika:
Did you hear about Betty? She should be getting a payout for that car accident.
Delia:
Hmm. I must tell Janice about that.
Enid:
A staff member passing on information over the phone.
Samuel:
No. Her husband passed away last month. She’s staying down with her daughter in Adelaide and there’s no one to let you into the house.
Male 1:
Hmm. Good. There shouldn’t be anyone at her house then. Easy to break in.
Enid:
Leaving documents laying around.
Delia:
That’s interesting. I didn’t know they had kidney problems.
Enid:
Leaving the office open and the filing cabinet unlocked.
Lance:
What are you doing in here? You’re not allowed to read that. That’s private information.
Enid:
Accidentally sending information on one client to another person, accidentally disclosing information.
Betty:
Hello. This is Betty Sanderson. You’ve sent me a copy of Betty Smith’s care plan. I didn’t know she has diabetes.
Enid:
Disposing of confidential information inappropriately.
Judith:
I found this client paperwork in the yard.
Enid:
And it’s not just about keeping the paperwork safe. We all use computers so much these days we have to make sure that we protect the information that is on our computers or stored on the internet. We have to make sure our antivirus is up to date otherwise our computers could be hacked.
And we should use strong passwords on the computer to help protect sensitive information.
It’s also important that you have passwords on your phone if you have work information like your roster as well.
Samuel:
That’s all really important for us to know. We don’t want clients to get hurt because we accidentally shared information about them.
Enid:
That’s right Samuel. And we have to be careful about what we post on social media. Sometimes we take photos of excursions and we share those on our organisation’s Facebook page but we always make sure that all the clients in the photos have given us permission to use their photos on social media.
Tamika:
So it’s okay if I take a photo when we’re out and put it on my Facebook page?
Enid:
That’s a good question Tamika. No. You can’t share that photo on your own Facebook page. Just the organisation one.
Tamika:
Okay. I’ll make sure I remember that.
Enid:
Good. And don’t forget that it’s not just private information we have about clients that needs to be protected. We keep information about you as a staff member and that needs to be protected as well. And there is also information about the organisation that is confidential. So you need to be really careful about what things you talk about and who to. Think carefully before you talk about something or share it on social media.
§(Music Playing)§
Tamika:
See. It’s really important to protect the information we collect or learn about a client. We need to keep it confidential. This helps keep clients safe and to feel more comfortable about sharing sensitive information with us.
Aged care organisations need to keep private and sensitive information on people receiving care, including where the person lives, who they share their home with, their health status, finances and vulnerabilities.
Use this facilitator guide to support discussion about the needs for aged care staff to protect private and sensitive information.
Stories, people and places are based on individuals from different communities in East Arnhem Land. For cultural appropriateness, names have been changed.