Commentary on Sections Section 19: Duties to share information
59.Section 19 subsection (1) places a duty on relevant bodies (such as Health Boards) to share information (where practical and appropriate) with the Patient Advice and Support Service, and allows the Patient Advice and Support Service to ask for any other relevant information that it would find helpful. For example, the Patient Advice and Support Service might seek clarification on procedures or services offered in a particular area.
60.Subsection (2) means that the Agency must ensure that providers of the Patient Advice and Support Service give information on its services to the relevant bodies. It also means that these bodies can request information from the Patient Advice and Support Service. An example might be a Health Board asking its local Patient Advice and Support Service for statistical information on the numbers of women and men using the service because it wanted to compare that with the gender profiles of patients in the Health Board area.
61.Subsection (3) requires that when sharing information, patient confidentiality must be respected.