Carers Groups in HMS SULTAN
1. The Professional Carers Group meets weekly
and reviews personnel identified as being potentially at risk.
It is attended by the doctors and chaplains of HMS Sultan as well
as the visiting Community Psychiatric Nurse and NPFS worker (Appendix
1) and takes place within a strictly confidential environment,
as directed by the various professional codes of conduct of the
participants.
2. It is a forum within which information
can be shared and awareness of potential problems raised without
breaching confidentiality boundaries (note 1). The principal objective
of the meetings is to reduce the risk of failure to detect or
correctly manage personnel who require a multidisciplinary, integrated
approach to sensitive issues.
3. No formal minutes are kept but a list
of personnel and issues discussed is maintained to provide continuity.
4. It will be usual practice to obtain the
consent of those discussed before meetings but, in urgent or newly
identified cases, this may not always be practicable (note 2).
5. The forum is also used to discuss establishment
policy that can affect the welfare and the wellbeing of our patients/clients.
6. The Professional Carers Group lead (currently
the PMO) acts as the sole conduit of information between the Group
and the Executive in order to maintain clinical and welfare confidentiality
whilst ensuring adequate integration with the associated activities
(discipline, divisional and training) of the wider establishment.
7. Any member of the divisional or training
staff who has concerns about any individual may approach any member
of the group and ask that a case be raised.
8. In order to accommodate the legitimate
Executive requirement to have a defined involvement in these sensitive
issues a recent innovation has established a fortnightly Administrative
Carers Meeting. This meeting is chaired by the XO of HMS SULTAN
who draws up the agenda and is thereby able to consult the professional
carers on welfare and personnel issues. The Carers are also able
to feed back any policy issues of concern that they have identified
in their confidential work.
Administrative Carers does not involve open
discussion of individual cases—that is reserved for the
fully confidential environment of the Professional Carers meetings.
Notes
1. PROFESSIONAL
CONFIDENTIALITY
Confidentiality is governed by the professional
rules applicable to the individual Carers:
(a) Chaplains hold absolute confidentiality
that may only be broken with the explicit consent of the individual
(ref BR 439 para 0142).
(b) Doctors and nurses confidentiality and
consent rules in the Royal Navy are laid down in BR 1991 para
0904-0908.
(c) NPFS worker adheres to RNGC1 02/104 NPFS
Confidentiality Code (leaflet).
2. CONSENT
Consent by the patient/client should always
be obtained before the case is raised at the Carers Group. Consent
is usually written in nature but informed verbal agreement, recorded,
is also acceptable. Occasionally an acute situation arises where
it is not practical to obtain consent and an urgent review is
required but this is extremely rare.
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