Ms d’Aquino said there were valid reasons for patients to record the audio of medical consultations – so they could listen back to the detail, for example.
“The difficulty is that our phones have become so much a part of our day-to-day life that recording and sharing has become second nature,” she added.
Dean Rogers, the director of strategy at the SoR, is calling for NHS trusts to have clear policies in place that stop patients from filming without permission.
“As healthcare professionals, we need to think: does that recording breach the confidentiality of other patients? Does it breach our ability to deliver care?” he said.
“There are hospital trusts that have very good policies around patients taking photos and filming procedures but this is something all trusts need to have in place.”
Prof Meghana Pandit, co-national medical director at NHS England, said it was vital that, if patients want to record any part of NHS care, they discuss it with staff first and it remains for their personal use only.
“Recording other patients inadvertently and without their permission risks breaching patient confidentiality – the information and treatment provided to other patients on NHS premises should never be recorded, let alone posted to social media,” she added.