Ensure that they explain their professional duty of confidentiality to survivors at their initial meeting, and that this is re-emphasised and explained throughout the course of the professional relationship.
Ensure that staff explain to all survivors their professional duty of safeguarding the individual and what information will be shared if they must raise a safeguarding concern.
Manage any personal and background information provided by survivors in such a way that it is only disclosed to third parties or agencies with their prior informed consent; well-constructed consent forms should be sufficient to avoid the future burden of ‘Subject Access Requests’. This duty relates to information that is held on paper, computer, visually or audio-recorded or held in the memory of the professional.
Ensure any information-sharing agreement specifies who the information can be shared with and specifically which information will be shared. It should not be a blank authorisation for information to be shared with other parties to be decided later.
Share the necessary information with the appropriate authorities as a matter of priority in any situation where there is a concern that a child is at risk of harm.
