Confidentiality policy

Our commitment to your privacy

We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that we provide a safe environment, where you are able to speak freely. Your calls will be handled professionally, with empathy and with confidentially. This policy explains how we safeguard your information, times where we may work together to refer you to another agency and the rare situations where confidentiality might need to be broken to protect you or others.

What confidentiality means for you

Your information stays private:

• Anything you share with us during your contact will remain between you and the Compassion in Dying information line.
• A record of any contact you have with the information line will be made and any information given will be stored securely.
• If you share identifying information, this will be recorded and treated with care. It will only be used to provide you with the best support.
• We will not share your details or discuss your situation outside the helpline unless you give us permission to do so, or it is necessary to safeguard you or other people. (see “Limits to Confidentiality”).

When confidentiality might be broken

While we strive to keep everything you share confidential, there are specific circumstances where we might want to help you gain some support or help. We will always try to work with you and gain consent to pass on your information to relevant parties only. This would normally be your local authority, your GP, or in some instances the emergency services. We will ensure that we only pass on relevant information as agreed with you.

There may also be times where we may need to share your information without your permission in order to keep you or someone else safe, including any children in your care. These include:

You are at immediate risk:

• If we assess you to be in life threatening situation.
• If you allege abuse by a person known to you in a professional role or social standing, where this provides access and potential risk to other vulnerable adults or children and young people.
• If we are unsure about your capacity to make appropriate decisions regarding your safety or the safety of anyone children, young people or vulnerable adults in your care.

Safety of a child or vulnerable person:

• If we believe a child or vulnerable adult is in danger, we have a legal and ethical obligation to act.
• Where a third party has been identified as being in clear life-threatening danger.
• If you allege abuse to others or an identified person who you have thoughts of abusing.

Legal obligations:

• If required by law, we may need to share information, such as in cases involving court orders or legal investigations.

In the event of a caller reporting concerns about a third party to Compassion in Dying and asking that we involve another agency to support or protect the third party, we will make a referral to the appropriate agency. This will be considered a referral with consent and does not constitute a breach of confidentiality.

In any situation where confidentiality might need to be broken:

• We will explain our concerns and the risks that are present.
• Will try to gain consent and work with you to refer you to the most suitable agency.
• We will explain why we need to take action.
• If consent is not reached a person within Compassion in Dying who has responsibility for safeguarding decisions (designated Safeguarding Officer), will make the decision as to whether we will breach confidentiality.
• If this decision is made, we will only share the minimum amount of information necessary to address the concern.
• Will record all the information and referral along with your contact details securely.

How we handle your information

Your data is safe:

• Any notes or records from contacts including personal information will be kept and securely stored and protected.
• All telephone calls are recorded and may be used for training purposes, they are kept securely, along with any notes made of the contact.
• We will only keep your information as long as needed for operational or legal purposes and then securely delete it.
• Your information will not be shared with other areas of the organisation and will not be used for any other reason, unless given permission to do so.
• We will only share information with others, with your consent, the information given will only be that relevant to the concern for which we are passing it on. There are exceptions to this where information will be passed on without consent (see above). In these situations, we will only pass on the relevant and identifying information.
• If we need to involve someone else (e.g. another organisation) to help you, we will ask for your consent first, except in cases outlined above.

Your rights

Ask questions or raise concerns:

• If you have any questions about how we protect your privacy or why certain actions were taken, you can ask our team for clarification.
• Further information can be found in our privacy policy.

Access to information:

• You have the right to know what information we have about you and how it is being used.

Our commitment to transparency

We want you to feel safe, respected, and supported when you use our helpline. If at any point you’re unsure about how we handle confidentiality, please don’t hesitate to ask. We’re here to help, not to judge or harm. Our privacy policy gives full information on storing and processing of information.

This policy is reviewed regularly to ensure it reflects the highest standards of service and complies with any legal changes.

Thank you for trusting us to support you.