Why is it necessary for clients to be assured that personal information collected and held by health service organisations will be treated as confidential?

Answer 1

Because information supplied by patients to the health service is private - and must only be accessible by qualified and authorized personnel. Nobody by the health service and the patient has the right to see what's in their medical file If you don't keep patients information private - you might as well shout 'Mr Smith has AIDS' outside his home !

Answer 2

To encourage the client to provide accurate and complete information, even in areas that might be embarrassing or thought to be shameful.