One of the DipSW Value Requirements (CCETSW Rules and Requirements for the DipSW, Revised 1995) places a responsibility on practitioners to "promote people's rights to choice, privacy, confidentiality and protection …...". Although it has long been acknowledged that the principle of confidentiality needs to be applied rigorously to any placement documentation which is to be used for educational purposes, nevertheless the preservation of confidentiality in Placement Reports and other recorded materials based on placement work has not always been fully maintained.
The right of clients to such confidentiality is incontestable. However it has increasingly been recognised that there are a number of other people and organisations whose anonymity also requires to be preserved, where there is no requirement for readers of placement-based materials to know the identity of such people and organisations. The following guidelines concerning confidentiality should therefore be consistently observed in all placement reports and in assignments (eg. Needs and Resources Profile, Integrative Practice Studies) which draw on the work of placement agencies.
©West of Scotland Consortium for Education and Training in Social Work 2001.