Well done, you made the correct decision.
In your reflective activity, you should have covered all of these points:
- You took the correct action when you told Bob that you could not discuss Diane’s support package with him further, and that you will contact your manager to find out what information is appropriate to share with him. This is a discussion that should only happen in the workplace.
- However, you should have stopped the conversation immediately, as soon as Bob started talking about Diane.
- You are now showing that you understand and follow the SSSC Codes of Practice for Social Service Workers. But you should revisit these codes and make sure that you really understand them.
- It is essential to remember that social service workers are expected to create and maintain the trust and confidence of people who use services and carers.
- An important part of upholding public trust and confidence in social services is ensuring that you do not abuse the trust of people who use services or carers, or the access you have to personal information about them.
- You respect confidential information and know your employer’s policies on confidentiality. You appreciate that service users have the right to expect that they will have their privacy and confidentiality upheld by social service workers in whom they and the public place their trust and confidence.
- You recognise and use responsibly the power that comes from your work with service users and carers. You know that you are expected to respect and maintain the dignity and privacy of service users. You know that a breach of a service user’s confidentiality may put them at risk of harm.
- You know that you must act in a way that demonstrates you are trustworthy and reliable. Through your actions you earn the trust of colleagues, service users and the public. You know that a failure to follow guidelines on confidentiality constitutes a breach of trust.
- You know that if you had not taken the correct action in this situation, it could have called into question your suitability to be a social services worker. Failure to take the right action could have resulted in Diane, her family, or a member of the public making a complaint to your employer.
When Bob began to talk about Diane outside of work, the correct action to take was to tell Bob right away that you should not discuss this further until you both returned to work. Click here to find out why this was the correct option.
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