SERMAS sends 'Confidentiality Commitment' documents to workers in various centres, with a signing deadline of October 31. Experts question their legality as they extend secrecy to administrative and economic information.
Workers from several public hospitals in the Community of Madrid are receiving a document titled 'Commitment to Confidentiality and Duty of Secrecy' that SERMAS urges them to sign. According to Público, the text does not limit itself to protecting patients' clinical data, but extends the obligation of confidentiality to administrative, economic, technical, and strategic information of the organisation.
The case of Hospital Dr. Rodríguez Lafora is one of the documented instances. A worker from this centre, who wishes to be identified as Pedro to avoid reprisals, explains that at the beginning of August he received the document via WhatsApp and corporate email, which he was required to sign. The deadline given ends on October 31. The document warns that failure to comply may result in disciplinary, administrative, civil, or criminal liabilities.
The situation is not exclusive to that hospital. Similar documents have also been sent by the Primary Care Management of SERMAS and the Hospital Universitario de Getafe. Although the format varies, the content is consistent in demanding confidentiality regarding any data known in the performance of duties.
Experts in administrative law consulted by this medium point out that the document from Rodríguez Lafora raises the most doubts because it extends confidentiality to all types of administrative or economic information without delimiting its scope. They add that the health administration cannot arbitrarily determine what information is confidential, as this must be established by law or regulation.
Extending the confidential nature to any information, including generically all kinds of administrative or economic information —not just clinical or care-related— could exceed the legal mandate," warn the experts.
The Framework Statute for statutory personnel in health services already obliges workers to maintain confidentiality regarding information about centres and users. The controversy arises two days after the case of Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal came to light, where the severity classification of 57 patients was altered to manipulate the surgical waiting list data. The complaint originated from surgeon Luis Alberto Martos. The Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, denied that the data had been manipulated, and the Minister of Health, Mónica García, demanded explanations.
Affected workers have until October 31 to sign the document. Those who refuse face potential disciplinary consequences, as stated in the document itself.
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