In this lesson, we will explore the HCPC standards for social media use by healthcare professionals. The Healthcare Professions Council (HCPC) provides guidance and regulations to ensure that professionals maintain high standards of conduct, performance, and ethics when using social media platforms. It is essential for healthcare professionals to be aware of these standards to protect patient confidentiality, maintain professionalism, and uphold the reputation of the profession.
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Hi, In this session i’m going to talk through the Health and Care Professions Council guidance around using social media as a healthcare professional.
The HCPC is a regulatory body for 15 healthcare professions, they set standards of practice and education that all registrants must adhere to and as a student on one of their training programmes you must become familiar with and meet all of these standards to become registered. They keep a record of all registrants, and this allows them to protect service users and maintain high standards of practice within these professions. And also to investigate any concerns about individuals who don’t meet the standards.
There are multiple sets of standards that outline what is expected of you as a registered professional including the standards of proficiency, standards of continuing professional development and the standards of conduct performance and ethics. It is the standards of conduct performance and ethics that are relevant to social media usage and the HCPC has also published specific guidance on this topic. This guidance exists to keep you, your colleagues and service users safe while still encouraging healthcare professionals to enjoy the benefits that social media can have.
A review of the standards was conducted and due to demand for advice from registrants and increasing use of social media the HCPC have expanded this guidance on social media. The updated guidance and standards come into effect from the 1st September 2024 and I will summarise this advice here.
Section 2 of the standards of conduct performance and ethics is about communicating appropriately.
This guidance highlights that as a registrant or future registrant you must use social networking sites responsibly. The 2024 update to guidance has expanded on this by adding points 2.11 and 2.12 to specify that you must make reasonable checks to ensure information you share is accurate. As a healthcare professional you are held to a higher standard and have a responsibility to promote public health. When sharing information online you should use your professional judgement and expertise and ensure information you are sharing is evidence based.
Remember, if you have inadvertently shared misleading information or something that turns out to be false, you should correct yourself.
Section 5 outlines the responsibility to protect confidential data. Remember that sharing of patient information requires informed and voluntary consent.
You should also consider your privacy settings, and remember that even applying the strictest privacy settings, once posted information can be shared out of context and without your knowledge. It is always best to think carefully before posting.
It is also important to consider what constitutes patient identifiable data and the possibility of jigsaw identification. Identifiable information includes medical details and images, for instance some conditions are so rare, that information alone may be used to identify somebody, especially coupled with the location or account information.
Whether sharing on a personal or professional site the standards encourage honest and trustworthy activity. What you post reflects not just on yourself but your profession and organisation and you must take care not to bring them into disrepute and to maintain public trust.
As the communication guidance already touched upon you have a responsibility to ensure you are not spreading misinformation and that what you share is accurate. You should make reasonable checks to ensure the accuracy of the information you are posting including critically appraising the sources, checking dates of information and using your professional knowledge.
When sharing online you can also choose to add a disclaimer to communicate that your views are your own and do not represent those of your employer or any other organisations you are involved in.
When sharing online you can also choose to add a disclaimer to communicate that your views are your own and do not represent those of your employer or any other organisations you are involved in.
The HCPC has expanded the standards around challenging discrimination. As Healthcare professionals have a responsibility to ensure our services are available to all. You may often share your views on wide ranging topics online but you should consider the impact of what you are posting and whether it could affect access to services. For example, posting biased views on something like religion could lead to those who practice that religion to feel unwelcome and avoid accessing services.
And finally, another section that has been updated in the revision is maintaining appropriate boundaries. While social media is valuable for sharing information relevant to your profession, it is important to maintain a boundary between your personal and professional life. You must always communicate with service users in a professional way, it can be useful to stop and think, is this how I would communicate face to face?
If you are going to interact with service users online the HCPC recommends using a separate professional account and ensuring you have agreed this with your employer before using it. If you are contacted on a personal account the HCPC also recommends politely declining the interaction or request and if necessary redirecting to a formal channel such as a work email address.
The guidance also stresses the importance of ensuring personal relationships don’t impact professional decisions and the importance of not abusing your position to pursue inappropriate relationships with service users or colleagues.
The links to the HCPC guidance on social media as well as the full standards of conduct performance and ethics will be found below this video.
There are many other sources of information on this topic including HCPC webinars which can be found on their website or on their youtube channel. Another valuable source of guidance can be from colleagues who may have experience with utilising these social media sites. Your employer is also likely to also have guidance available and there may be information governance or communications teams who you can talk to for advice.
Other sources of information include trade unions and other professional bodies such as the chartered society of physiotherapists or the royal college of occupational therapists.
The session covers the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) guidance on social media use for healthcare professionals. The HCPC regulates 15 healthcare professions, setting standards that all registrants must follow, including those in training. The guidance, updated in 2024, emphasizes responsible social media use, accurate information sharing, maintaining confidentiality, and upholding professional boundaries. It also stresses avoiding misinformation, safeguarding patient data, and ensuring that personal views don’t negatively impact service access. Professionals are encouraged to use separate accounts for personal and professional interactions and seek advice from employers and professional bodies when needed.
