Sharing Patient Information

The NHS Isle of Wight Trust policy for releasing patient information is in line with our publicly available Privacy Notice, the NHS Digital Code of Practice on confidential information (including the Caldicott Principles for information sharing), the NHS constitution and the common law duty of confidentially. 

To protect our patients rights to confidentiality, we will only ordinarily share information with those listed as next of kin (NOK) or a preferred patient contact. Patients can add people to this list during their stay by notifying the ward staff directly. Where the Trust is unable to identify NOK/preferred patient contact through its regular processes, other sources can be referred to as and when appropriate provided that there is a lawful basis for sharing that information – these could include GP practices.