Statutory & mandatory disclosure
What it means
The law sometimes REQUIRES disclosure regardless of consent: notifiable infectious diseases (to public health), FGM in an under-18 (mandatory reporting to police), suspected terrorism, certain court orders, and providing information to regulators/coroner. Road Traffic Act: you must give identifying details of a driver to police on request (but not clinical details). These override the default duty.
Worked example
A confirmed case of a notifiable disease (e.g. measles, TB, meningococcal) must be reported to public health whether or not the patient agrees.
In the exam
A doctor diagnoses a notifiable infectious disease; reporting it to public health is legally required even without the patient's consent.
What settles it
Mandatory (statutory) disclosure = you MUST; public-interest disclosure = you MAY (discretionary). Know the mandatory list (notifiable disease, FGM under-18, terrorism, court order).
Classically confused with
Public-interest disclosure
Source: Public Health legislation; FGM Act 2003; RTA