Sharing with confidence
The Moderator assigned to the meeting will discuss all aspects of privacy and confidentiality with you before the meeting begins. They will also be able to answer any questions that you have about this.
Any information disclosed in a meeting also has very strong legal protections and there is more information about this below.
Section 33 of the CervicalCheck Tribunal Act 2019 says that no information, statement or admission made in a meeting can be admitted as evidence in any court or in the Tribunal.
It also says that no information disclosed can invalidate professional indemnity insurance or constitute an admission of fault, professional misconduct, poor professional performance, unfitness to practise or other failure.
It is the purpose of most meetings to facilitate real and meaningful discussion. In order to support this the Act provides strong limitations on how any information from a meeting can be used.
If you choose to attend, anything that you say in the meeting is legally protected and cannot be used in any court or professional proceedings.
For women (or their dependants) who request a meeting, this means that nothing said in a Restoration of Trust meeting can be introduced in court if you have litigation pending. For someone invited to a meeting, it means that you can speak freely without being concerned that anything you say could be introduced in court or could be considered an admission of liability.
The Act states that the following provisions apply:
- No evidence shall be admissible in any court or the Tribunal of any information, statement or admission disclosed or made in the course of a restoration of trust meeting.
- Any information relating to the subject of the request and provided by a participant in a meeting cannot invalidate or affect the cover of:
- a policy of professional indemnity insurance,
- any documentation that comprises an offer, or evidence, of an arrangement for indemnity between a medical defence organisation and a member of that organisation, or
- a contract of insurance providing insurance cover for claims in respect of civil liability or clinical negligence actions.
- This restriction applies even if there is a provision to the contrary in any of the above policies or any other enactment or rule of law.
Information provided to an appropriate person cannot:
- constitute an admission of fault, professional misconduct, poor professional performance, unfitness to practise or other failure. This applies if a complaint is made about a participant regarding the issues that are the subject of the meeting.
- be admissible as evidence of fault, professional misconduct, poor professional performance or unfitness to practise. This applies notwithstanding any other enactment or rule of law.
The above applies in addition to, not in substitution for, any enactment or rule of law relating to the disclosure of information in respect of the provision of health services.
