Mental Health
Confidentiality
Before consulting a member of university staff, or health professional, about a student’s welfare, the student’s permission should be sought, if possible.
If the student refuses permission but you feel their safety or the safety of others is at risk you need to share this information as a ‘duty of care’.
You can seek initial advice, without breaching confidentiality, by withholding the student’s identity.
If you feel that confidentiality should be breached, always consult a line manager first when possible.
Information, both verbal and written, should be shared on a ‘need to know’ basis.
If information needs to be communicated with others in the university, that information must contain only the minimal details required.
Care must be taken to ensure that sensitive information concerning the student is logged securely and appropriately and is not available to other people.
If a parent/guardian is seriously concerned about the wellbeing of a student, the University will make appropriate enquiries as to the student’s situation. In exceptional circumstances, the University is able to relay a message to a student on behalf of a parent/guardian but cannot confirm if the message was received.
The University will contact the parent/guardian (or any other person nominated by the student), or will supply information, via the Registrar’s Office, to the relevant statutory authority in any circumstances where a student’s emergency contact is needed (e.g. in the event of an accident, or where the student has been deemed by the appropriate staff group to be at serious risk). [Further advice is available from Student Services on such procedures]
Policies on confidentiality and sharing of disability-related information are contained in the Code of Practice on the Provision for Disabled Students.
For Bangor University’s policies on record keeping, see:
www.bangor.ac.uk/ar/ro/recordsmanagement/dataprotection/DPPolicy.php.en
www.bangor.ac.uk/ar/ro/recordsmanagement/InformationSecurityPolicy.php