Katherine Timms, Head of Policy and
Standards, explains how professionals can use social media appropriately
Just over
a year ago, we published our new Guidance
on social media, to help registrants navigate the complexities of this
area. A year on, we are reflecting on how this guidance has helped registrants,
and what more we can do to support them.
Social
media has some clear benefits to health and care professionals. It helps
develop individuals’ skills and knowledge, allows them to network with other
professionals, helps the public understand what they do, and raises the profile
of their profession.
In using
social media, registrants should follow the Standards
of conduct, performance and ethics. In particular, they should:
Confidentiality
Confidentiality
is an essential consideration in all areas of a professional’s practice, and is
particularly important in the context of social media. Our Guidance
on confidentiality talks registrants through the principles of
confidentiality. We explain that any identifiable information about a service
user is confidential. In the workplace this is typically understood to include
information such as name, address, treatment, etc. However, identifiable
information goes beyond that and can include details about a service user’s
personal life, health or circumstances, or images relating to their care.
Where a
registrant wishes to share service user information, they should have express consent.
The service user must understand and not object to:
For
consent to be valid, it must be voluntary and informed, and the person giving
consent must have the capacity to make the decision.
Social media in practice
There are
many social media platforms available to our registrants. We know that some use
WhatsApp groups to help them
network with colleagues across hospitals to ensure service user care is the
best it can be; checking approaches with supervisors, and considering complex
cases in a time effective way. In doing so, registrants should be mindful not
to share personal details, and take care to follow employer policies.
A great
deal of learning is carried out through Facebook, where colleagues undertaking weekend CPD
activities come together to discuss specialist areas of practice, making use of
a wider pool of individuals, available at any time. Registrants should be
mindful to maintain appropriate professional boundaries and not to post
inappropriate material.
LinkedIn can provide excellent
networking options and opportunities to write articles and share information,
but registrants should think before they post and consider who can see what
they share.
Another social
media platform our registrants use is Twitter; predominantly to raise the profile of their profession
and reach out to the public. Twitter can be a quick and easy way to show people
how dedicated and hardworking our registrants are, show the public what they do,
and highlight the services they provide.
A key
challenge in the use of Twitter is confidentiality. In providing health
and care services, HCPC registrants’ primary consideration should be their
service user; raising the profile of their profession should only ever be a
secondary consideration, and should not impact the service user’s privacy or
dignity. When live tweeting in order to raise the profile of the profession,
registrants should take care to only share information required to achieve that
objective. They should post in a modest manner; only providing the information
the public needs to understand the role, and they should ensure any additional
information, in particular service user identifiable information, isn’t
included.
What next…
After reflecting
on the use of our social media guidance over the past year, and the challenges
still faced by HCPC registrants in applying this guidance, we intend to update
the document with further advice and support on the topic of confidentiality.
Where to go for more information
- Professional
bodies
provide guidance and advice about good practice which can help registrants meet
the standards we set.
-
The
Policy and
Standards team at the HCPC can provide further assistance in how to
apply the standards we set.
