Confidentiality is very important to us – we will only share information about young people when we feel it is absolutely necessary, and we will always explain what information we are sharing and why.

CAMHS is part of the National Health Service (NHS) and all health services like us (GPs, hospitals, clinics etc. that are part of the NHS) have a duty to keep information about patients confidential. If you are ever in a situation where you are not sure about confidentiality, don’t be afraid to ask. It is your right to know what is happening with the information you tell people about yourself and the young person.

Confidentiality means that no information that we have about you or the young person will be shared with anyone outside of the Health Service without your permission.

However, there are some situations where we have to, by law, give people information with or without your permission. In these situations we will always try to talk to you about things first.

SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION

We may need to inform social care:

• If there are concerns that a young person might have been, or are currently being, neglected.

• If there are concerns that a young person might have been, or are currently being, abused – this might be sexually, physically and/or emotionally.

• If there are concerns that a young person might have been, or is currently, abusing or neglecting other young people (or if they know about other people who are).

• If there are concerns that a young person might have been, or is currently, at risk of serious physical or mental harm, or if they threatened to harm or injure another young person.
   

RISK

We will think about risks with every young person who uses our service and will sometimes need to ask more questions to asses this further. Your CAMHS worker will explain to you what a risk assessment is and why we do it. All health professionals who work with you will have access to your risk assessment and to this agreement.