Patients are welcome to record their own consultations with the healthcare practitioner they have an appointment with. They can either record audio or video. It is courteous, and it is practice policy, that patients doing so, discuss this and, where possible, gain the agreement of, the practitioner BEFORE commencing any recording.
We ask that patients think very carefully before carrying out concealed recordings of practitioners. Such behaviour will inevitably damage trust between the patient and the Surgery and will not promote a positive therapeutic relationship. We ask that patients considering making a covert recording of a practitioner consider how they themselves would feel if a member of the Surgery made a concealed recording of them during a consultation. In such a situation, patients would feel rightly violated and the practitioner would face a serious disciplinary issue.
Accordingly: It is practice policy that a covert recording of a practitioner is an Unacceptable Behaviour. Patients found to be doing so will be asked to stop the recording where possible and will receive a behaviour warning which may put at risk their registration at the Surgery.
No one is permitted to use a recording device in the public areas of the Surgery. To do so is a serious Unacceptable Behaviour which may lead to removal from the practice. Patients have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they attend the Surgery. Recorded audio and or images made in the public areas of the Surgery, e.g. by the reception desk, may reveal personal and intimate information. Such images and audio (that may either be shared, uploaded or otherwise stored) would cause a serious breach in a patient’s expectation of privacy.