Upgrading Confidentiality: Six Primary Care Facilities Join the Programme

In March, together with Svoi.Ridni, we launched the programme “Rebooting the Culture of Confidentiality in Primary Care Facilities”. Over 50 primary care facility teams from all over Ukraine responded to the open call. 

The expert panel selected the six most motivated ones: 

• Nadvirna Primary Healthcare Centre Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise 

• Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “Centre for Primary Healthcare of the Sencha Village Council” of Poltava Oblast 

• State Budgetary Institution “Medical Clinic of the Ukrainian Catholic University” 

• Municipal Enterprise “Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise Voznesensk City Centre for Primary Healthcare” 

• Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “Primary Healthcare Centre No. 1” of Sviatoshynskyi District, Kyiv 

• Municipal Non-Profit Enterprise “Zolotonosha City Centre for Primary Healthcare (Family Medicine) of Zolotonosha City Council” 

The aim of the programme is to focus the facility teams’ attention on the topics of confidentiality and ethics in their daily work, in order to shape approaches that naturally and clearly protect personal data. 

We wrote in detail about what confidentiality in medicine is—and why this concept is much broader than non-disclosure of a diagnosis, relating primarily to human dignity and trust between a patient and their doctor—in the previous issue of the Newsletter 3/2025 (20) 

How the Programme Works 

Over the course of nine months, the teams of the selected facilities are working together with experts to analyse the environment, organizational culture, processes, and ethical frameworks that influence interactions between medical staff and patients. 

We are currently conducting interviews with team representatives—management, administrators, medical, and non-medical staff. In parallel, we are collecting data through surveys of the teams and patients. This will allow us and the facilities to better understand privacy compliance practices and identify the areas where privacy is most frequently breached. 

In addition to the research component, the facilities are participating in a training programme. Thematic online meetings with the teams take place every two weeks, featuring invited guest speakers. In total, this part of the programme covers six areas: 

• comprehending practical case studies on confidentiality; 

• reviewing the facility’s corporate culture and values; 

• confidential communication with the patient and within the team; 

• confidential space, data transfer, and electronic document management; 

• legal aspects of confidentiality—both inside and outside the facility. 

Work on each topic includes independent preparation by the team and a mentoring session with an expert. 

The mentors and speakers of the programme are Ihor Zastavnyi, Anastasiia Khodan, Matviy Khrenov, Olena Matsekh, Sofiia Nastyshyn, Vasyl Piven, and Tetiana Korchak. 

As early as July, we plan to visit the facilities to discuss the findings of the initial information gathering and jointly develop recommendations for each of them. At the end of the programme, each facility will receive a list of steps on how to even better protect patients’ personal data.