Confidentiality
The OUR Project provides support and advocacy for people living with or affected by HIV in Bradford.
Information given to any Yorkshire MESMAC worker (including OUR workers) is confidential. This means that we will not give out details that identify you to anyone outside Yorkshire MESMAC unless:
- You have agreed for us to do so, for instance as part of helping you to gain support or services from other people or organisations.
- There is a serious and urgent danger to you or anyone else. If you are a young person under 18 or a vulnerable adult, this may include protection from self-harm or abuse.
To access some services within the OUR project, we will need to obtain proof of your HIV status. In order that your HIV status can be confirmed in writing by your sexual health clinic, you will need to sign a consent form to allow this exchange of information to take place.
Your personal information and details will be stored securely in a locked cabinet.
We do not disclose the HIV status of any person using the service without your consent, nor will we disclose whether you are registered at the project without your consent. This consent needs to be written.
Letters from a medical professional confirming your HIV status are often required by charities that provide grants for people living with HIV, this includes any grants that are applied for directly to the OUR Project.
Within the initial contact meeting the OUR Project’s confidentiality policy will be explained to you. You can ask the project worker any details that you are unsure of. We will also make a note of how you would like us to contact you in the future.
If you are accessing the project with your partner, the workers have a duty to respect the confidentiality of each individual person. This means that your partner will not be told the details of meetings that you attend without them and vice versa. It will be your choice to decide what you tell each other.
The OUR Project’s confidentiality policy is clearly on display within the meeting rooms. We cannot guarantee that you will not see any other people in the building other than OUR Project workers. Seeing another person at the project might mean that they work for another project or that they are accessing information. It does not mean that they are living with HIV or accessing the OUR Project.
In very rare cases the police or courts may demand we give them information.
Yorkshire MESMAC and OUR believe that criminalising HIV
transmission leads to an increase in HIV stigma, non-disclosure and people not testing for HIV. For those reasons we are against the criminalisation of HIV transmission.
Anyone taking part in activities that risk transmission of HIV or other sexually transmitted infections should take into account that many people either do not know or do not accurately disclose their HIV or other sexual health status. Everyone should take full and equal responsibility for the risks they are prepared to take.
This includes the risk that people may be lying about their HIV or other sexual health status.
Any information you give a Yorkshire MESMAC worker about your HIV or other sexual health status will be treated with the same degree of confidentiality as any other information you give us.
Exceptions to this would include situations already covered above.
People who fail to accurately disclose their HIV and other sexual health status when taking part in any activity involving risk to other people should also bear in mind that they may be liable for prosecution if they infect other people.
Yorkshire MESMAC and OUR believe that criminalising HIV transmission leads to an increase in HIV stigma, non-disclosure and people not testing for HIV. For those reasons we are against the criminalisation of HIV transmission.
If we ever need to take action to protect you or other
people we will always try to discuss this with you and gain your permission first. If this is not possible, we will restrict any information given to the minimum needed to avert the immediate danger. In very rare cases, the police or courts may demand that we give information.
Yorkshire MESMAC only keep minimal written records. However, you have a right to ask us if records about you exist and if they do, you have a right to see them if you wish to do so. If anything in this statement is not clear, please ask any Yorkshire MESMAC worker to explain it to you.