Confidentiality: Good Practice in Handling Patient Information
General Medical Council
Core guidance published 2017 with supplementary guidance, including on reporting concerns to the DVLA.
Summary
Trust depends on patients being confident that what they tell doctors will be kept private, and this guidance explains when confidentiality can and cannot be set aside. Confidentiality is described as important but not absolute. Doctors may disclose personal information if the patient consents, if the law requires it (for example, notifying certain infectious diseases or responding to a court order), or if disclosure is justified in the public interest — typically where failing to disclose could expose others to a risk of death or serious harm. Any disclosure should be the minimum necessary, and wherever practical the patient should be told first. Supplementary guidance applies these principles to specific situations, such as a patient who continues to drive when medically unfit: the doctor should first try to persuade them to stop and inform the DVLA themselves, and may disclose to the DVLA if they do not, after telling the patient they intend to do so.
Why it matters at interview
Confidentiality dilemmas — driving, safeguarding, infectious disease, a teenager's secret — are staple interview stations. The key is showing confidentiality is a strong default with defined exceptions.
Key takeaways
- Confidentiality is essential to trust but is not absolute.
- Disclosure routes: consent, legal requirement, or public interest (risk of death or serious harm to others).
- Disclose the minimum necessary, to the right person, and tell the patient where practicable.
- For unfit drivers: persuade first; disclose to the DVLA if the patient won't, informing them first.
How to use it
Frame confidentiality answers as 'strong default, defined exceptions', then walk through persuasion before disclosure.
Questions it helps with
- A patient recently diagnosed with epilepsy tells his GP that he is still driving to work every day because he can't afford to lose his job. What should the GP do?
- A 15-year-old girl comes to see her GP alone asking for the contraceptive pill. She says she has a 16-year-old boyfriend and does not want her parents to know. What should the GP do?
- A fellow medical student posts a photo on Instagram from their hospital placement. A patient's name is visible on a whiteboard in the background. What would you do?
- Role-play: your friend has seemed withdrawn and has stopped coming to lessons. Talk to them.