Patient Confidentiality and Jayex Boards

The BMA ethics committee has issued the following advice following any concern that the displaying of a patient's name on a Jayex Board in the waiting room could breach patient confidentiality:

"Although it could be argued that there is some breach of confidentiality if people see patients or hear a patient's name in a waiting room of clinics etc, these places are (to all intents and purposes anyway) places that the public can easily access and there is little to stop people from being seen by others when they're waiting, or hearing their names when they register their arrival at the reception desk. 

If there are particular concerns regarding this the practice could set up a system whereby a patient receives a number when they arrive at the surgery that is then called out when it is time for them to see the nurse/doctor."

The ethics department's stance is that confidentiality is an important ethical principal but that it has never been an absolute principle.  There are, for example, three exemptions to it - consent (implied or express), legal and public interest.   Some might argue that using patient names in the waiting room operates on an implied consent basis i.e. patients are aware that this is how their information is used and disclosed.  However, as is the case in both implied and express consent models - if a patient objects to their information being disclosed in this way, his objection should be respected.