Document carefully and consider
confidentiality
Domestic violence and child protection issues should be
documented in detail if a disclosure is made. However, there is
always a risk of inadvertent disclosure to the perpetrator if
domestic violence and children’s issues have been discussed,
particularly with desktop computers in primary care. This could
increase the danger to the woman and children. The policy
recommendation is that any records of domestic violence are kept
separate from records to which the perpetrator may have access.
Practices need to decide how they will address the potential
conflict between keeping details confidential from the perpetrator
and protecting the children’s interests by the accessibility of key
information e.g. to a locum who may not know the family. The
written records could be coded with a coloured sticker (with no
wording) to indicate if additional sensitive information is held
elsewhere and that any consulting doctor should seek them out. In a
paperless practice there could be a coded entry on the 'current
problems' screen. Of course, the practice would need to communicate
the existence of such a tagging system to all locums or new members
of the team via their practice induction folder, or the system will
not work.
Any letters to outside agencies, such as lawyers, should be
written in the knowledge that they may be made available to both
sides in a legal case.