Consultations recorded via FourteenFish
When making a video call or a phone call via FourteenFish, we collect consent from the recording automatically before the doctor and patient are connected to each other. This ensures that any recordings you make via FourteenFish have proper patient consent. This is visible in the Audit Log when you view a consultation recording.
Our system will not save the consultation if a patient doesn’t consent before the consultation or revokes
consent after the consultation. This means that you cannot have access to consultations made through FourteenFish that a patient did not initially consent to, even if you have separate evidence of their consent retrospectively.
Uploading recordings
When you upload a recording made outside of FourteenFish, you will be asked how you can demonstrate that the patient gave consent. There are two choices...
- The patient consents verbally in the recording
- I will attach separate evidence now
Verbal consent
If the first option (verbal consent) is selected, then as long as this is clearly audible towards the start of the recording then that’s all that’s required. Normally you would identify the patient first by asking them to confirm their details (e.g. date-of-birth, first line of their address) and then proceed to ask them for consent to have the consultation recorded, including letting them know that they have the right to change their mind at a later date.
When examiners are assessing your consultations for the RCA exam, they will take into account the time taken for getting consent. This means that the time taken to request a patient's consent will not be included in your allotted 10 minutes of assessment. See How long can my recorded consultations be? for more information about how this works.
Separate evidence of consent
If the second option (separate evidence) is selected, then you will be prompted to upload one or two pieces of evidence of the patient's consent.
What is acceptable as patient consent?
You can find out more about what consent evidence is acceptable on the RCGP website. Dr Michael Mulholland (Vice Chair of Professional Development) has also summarised RCGP guidance on consent in a recent blog.
In summary, any one of the following are acceptable for recordings made outside of FourteenFish...
- Verbal consent at the start of the recording
- Copies of a text message (SMS) conversation with the patient
- A photo or scan of a signed consent form
You can download an example consent form from the RCGP website (appendix 2 in the document). You can use a different form if you like, provided that it makes clear to the patient how their recording will be used and that they have the right to change their mind at a later date.
Consent evidence that is uploaded to our system has the same level of security as the consultation recording itself, so it is okay to include a document with a patient's personal information.
No evidence of re-consent is required
At the end of the consultation, you should check that the patient is still happy to have had the consultation recorded. This gives them the opportunity to change their mind (perhaps something came up that they weren't expecting to talk about) and have the recording deleted.
However, you do not need to submit evidence that you asked the patient to consent a second time.
Recorded consultations used for the RCA
All recordings submitted for the RCA will be deleted on the date that the exam results are published. Recordings that are uploaded but not submitted will be deleted after 26 weeks (182 days). If the consent that you have obtained from the patient will have expired by that time then you cannot upload the
consultation.
For more information, we also have another help page dedicated to which consent options to choose when uploading consultations made outside of FourteenFish.
Comments
6 comments
Hi, I want to check about uploading accurx messages used to consent patients as they include the patient's name, NHS number and DOB. Is it acceptable to upload a screen shot of this or would it breach confidentiality?
Thanks
Hi Raghad – Consent evidence that is uploaded to our system has the same level of security as the consultation recording itself, so this would be covered by our data protection documentation at https://www.fourteenfish.com/datasecurityforpractices in the section "How will the recordings be stored?". We will update this documentation soon to make it clear that this also covers any attachments.
Great, so I'll be able to use the screen shots of patient's messages with their details as proof of consent. Thanks
Hi Phil,
In terms of consent on a video consultation, if the patient is elderly and has a family member helping them with their phone, if they consent at the start and end on the fourteen fish platform, would I also need the family members consent on the recording verbally? Even if they knew the consultation was going to be recorded? And if so could I get the family members consent as a text message after the consultation if I haven't verbally checked with them on the fourteen fish recording. As it stands even if I did this, are we able to upload a consent form to a recording recorded directly on the fourteenfish platform?
Sheraz Mohammed Yasin – That's a good question. I will speak to the RCGP about this but since we are getting close to the submission deadline it might be worth you contacting the RCGP Exams team yourself to get a quick answer (exams@rcgp.org.uk or 020 3188 7660).
Hello
I have started recording telephone consultations via Fourteen Fish platform. I have few questions and my practice manager was also keen to clarify few issues.
1. Do I still need to properly ask them for consent even if it's done via the Fourteen Fish or will it be enough to just say at the beginning of the call "thank you for giving the consent via the website to record this consultation "?
2. Do I need to still ask them by the end of the telephone consultation for 2nd consent as my practice manager was keen to clarify this information (for all calls recorded via Fourteen Fish)?
3. I am also assuming that we need to have separate local /practice consent before patients telephone numbers are being used by Fourteen Fish to record telephone consultations as per GDPR ?
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