Sørlandet Hospital shall be accessible and open to scrutiny, and practices the principle of greater public access. Employees shall provide clear, relevant and accurate information. The Communications Department helps journalists get in touch with hospital employees.
The official spokespersons for the health trust are the chair of the board and the managing director. Clinic directors and directors of staff departments are spokespersons for their respective professional and management areas. Department heads, section managers, unit managers, project managers and others with their own areas of responsibility speak on these matters. Employee representatives and safety representatives speak on matters relevant to their roles.
The hospital protects patients and relatives from unwanted media contact. If patients and relatives wish to be interviewed on hospital premises, we will facilitate this. Contact the manager of the relevant department/ward, or contact the Communications Department for assistance. A patient may also give the media access to their medical records.
Photography and filming outside the buildings is permitted, but please remember to protect people's privacy. You may not identify people who are patients or relatives unless they have given their explicit consent. Take particular care near the emergency departments.
If you wish to film with a drone, contact the Communications Department.
Information about health status following an accident or act of violence
As of February 2021, Sørlandet Hospital discontinued its practice of providing the media with information about the health status of patients who have been involved in accidents or acts of violence. This policy applies to all of the hospital's treatment facilities and locations.
Privacy and confidentiality
All patients have the right to protection against the disclosure of information about their personal and health circumstances. This also applies to people involved in accidents or acts of violence who are mentioned in the media.
We fully understand the press's role and need to inform the public about matters of public interest, but the health trust's duty to protect confidentiality and privacy must take precedence over the media's need for information. Data protection officers at health trusts across the country have pointed out that information previously provided to the media should be treated as personal data covered by the General Data Protection Regulation and statutory confidentiality obligations.
At the scene of an accident, the police are responsible for providing information to the media, as before. The police make their own assessments of what information they can and wish to share with the media in such cases. Healthcare personnel are bound by confidentiality, including in relation to the police, with a few exceptions. The police therefore only receive information about a patient from the hospital where there is a legal basis for disclosing such information.
Information from the hospital during major incidents
In the event of major accidents involving many injured people, such as terrorist incidents, natural disasters and similar events, the hospital's crisis management team will work with the police to determine what information can be provided to the media. It may be appropriate, for example, to provide information about the number of injured people and the general types of injuries being treated, depending on the incident. Information about individual patients' conditions will not be provided out of consideration for privacy.
