Consultation
If you are anxious about a student it may help to ask other staff, including Resident Tutors, if they share your concerns. You can also seek advice from Student Services staff eg Medical Centre, Student Health & Wellbeing, Student Disability Advice, International Student Advice or Student Information & Funding. These staff are happy to talk to any member of staff with worries about a student. Any consultative meeting should respect the confidentiality of the matter discussed.
Confidentiality
It is often helpful for those worried about a student to share those concerns with other colleagues including the student's Director of Studies. Where there may be a serious risk it is better to err on the side of caution and inform the Head of Student Services.
All staff are required to abide by the requirements of data protection legislation and can obtain advice on this from the University's legal advisors. It is also expected and desirable that Personal Tutors and other staff treat personal information about a student with discretion, whether spoken or written, including email correspondence. It is important to respect the student's right to privacy but confidentiality can be broken if a person is in danger of harming themselves or others. Professional support staff such as counsellors, clergy, medical practitioners and other student advisors are bound by codes of practice and ethics to maintain strict confidentiality in most circumstances. Issues related to disclosing information about students and protecting the identities are more fully addressed in the document Confidentiality Relating to Students.
If you are contacted by a relative, friend or other person concerned about a student you may be able to offer a sympathetic ear but remember that our policy on confidentiality and the law on data protection means that we cannot disclose any details to a third party, even a parent, without the student's express permission.