News & Media > 'Confidentiality in the NHS: your information, your rights' - a new guide for people living with HIV in England

'Confidentiality in the NHS: your information, your rights' - a new guide for people living with HIV in England

Confidentiality in the NHS: your information, your rightsThursday 28 August 2014

NAT has published a new guide for people in England living with HIV, explaining how the NHS handles, stores and shares their personal confidential health information. The short booklet also explains patients' rights in relation to their records and advice on how to raise questions or concerns.

The guide, endorsed by BHIVA, was developed following on from NAT's 2014 report 'HIV Patient Information and NHS Confidentiality'.

In research for the report NAT consulted people living with HIV, asking them whether they had ever received any written information about their confidentiality rights in the NHS - 54% said no and 20% were not sure.

Of those who had received written information, 49% said it did not answer their questions, and 21% said it partly answered their questions.

Yusef Azad said, "There is a strong call from people living with HIV for information that clearly explains what their rights are when it comes to confidentiality and what is happening with their data. We have created this resource to meet that need."

Click here to download the guide.  Hard copies are available from the NAT website.