Professional Standards and Patient Safety on sureCova: A Doctor’s Guide

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND PATIENT SAFETY

The professional standards, clinical responsibilities, and safety principles every doctor on sureCova is expected to follow.

sureCova is designed to help doctors maintain continuous relationships with their patients beyond traditional clinic visits. Because this relationship may involve ongoing communication, clinical advice, prescriptions, and follow-up care, it is important that every interaction is handled professionally and safely.

As a doctor on sureCova, you remain responsible for your clinical decisions, professional conduct, and the care you provide within the scope of your professional authorisation.

The following standards guide how you should communicate with patients, protect their information, document care, respond to emergencies, and determine when further clinical assessment is necessary.

Professional Conduct and Communication

Patients trust their Personal Doctors to provide appropriate clinical guidance, communicate clearly, and treat them with respect. Every interaction should reflect the standards expected of a medical professional.

As a doctor on sureCova, you should:

• Communicate respectfully and professionally with every patient.
• Explain medical information in language the patient can understand.
• Be honest about your clinical assessment, the limits of remote consultation, and any uncertainty.
• Respond to patients within your stated availability and communicate when a response may be delayed.
• Avoid making promises about treatment outcomes or guaranteeing recovery.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries in all communications.
• Treat patients fairly, without discrimination or harassment.
• Avoid sharing misleading information or providing advice outside your competence.

Remember that a Personal Doctor relationship develops over time. Consistency, respect, clear communication, and appropriate follow-up help build patient trust.

Patient Confidentiality and Data Protection

Doctors may access sensitive personal and medical information through sureCova. This information must be handled responsibly and protected from unauthorised access or disclosure.

You are expected to:

• Access patient information only when it is necessary for providing or coordinating care.
• Keep patient records and clinical conversations confidential.
• Avoid sharing screenshots, consultation messages, prescriptions, investigation requests, or patient details with unauthorised individuals.
• Use appropriate authorised channels when communicating patient information to another healthcare professional.
• Take reasonable precautions when accessing sureCova on a shared or public device.
• Protect your login credentials and prevent other people from using your account.
• Report suspected unauthorised access, data exposure, or other confidentiality incidents through the appropriate sureCova support channel.

Patient information should not be used for personal purposes, unrelated business activities, or unauthorised marketing.

Where patient information must be shared for clinical coordination, share only what is necessary for the intended purpose and follow the applicable professional, legal, and sureCova requirements.

 Clinical Documentation

Accurate documentation is an essential part of safe, continuous care. It helps maintain a clear clinical history, supports follow-up decisions, and allows relevant healthcare professionals to understand the care already provided.

On sureCova, doctors must follow the platform's clinical documentation requirements described in Part 5.

Document every meaningful clinical interaction in accordance with sureCova policy, particularly when it involves:

• Clinical assessment or medical advice.
• A treatment decision or change to the care plan.
• A prescription.
• An investigation request.
• A referral or recommendation for in-person assessment.
• A significant change in the patient's condition or follow-up plan.

Clinical notes should accurately reflect the information obtained, your assessment, the decisions made, and the plan agreed with the patient.

Ensure that entries are factual, clear, and completed promptly. Do not record assessments, examinations, or actions that did not occur.

Where information is incomplete or a decision remains pending, make that clear in the record. Update the documentation when new information becomes available or the care plan changes.

For instructions on documenting consultations and adding follow-up updates, refer to Part 5.2 — Documenting Patient Consultations and Conversations.

 Emergency Situations and Escalation

sureCova supports ongoing care and communication, but it is not a substitute for emergency medical services.

Patients may contact you with symptoms that require immediate assessment. You must recognise when a situation cannot be managed safely through routine chat or remote follow-up.

When a patient describes symptoms suggesting a medical emergency:

1. Assess the urgency using the information available, without allowing remote communication to delay necessary care.
2. Advise the patient to contact the appropriate local emergency service or attend the nearest suitable emergency facility immediately.
3. Where appropriate, explain clearly why urgent in-person assessment is necessary.
4. Do not rely on a scheduled check-in, routine chat response, or future appointment when immediate assessment is needed.
5. Document the symptoms reported, your advice, and the escalation recommended.
6. Follow up when clinically appropriate, without allowing follow-up communication to replace emergency assessment.

Examples of potentially urgent presentations include severe difficulty breathing, suspected stroke, severe chest pain, loss of consciousness, uncontrolled bleeding, or rapidly deteriorating symptoms.

This list is not exhaustive. Use clinical judgement to determine urgency.

Doctors should also communicate their availability clearly. Patients must understand that messages sent through sureCova may not receive an immediate response and that emergencies require local emergency care.

 Clinical Boundaries and Appropriate Referrals

A Personal Doctor helps patients navigate their healthcare over time, but not every condition can be managed through chat or remote consultation alone.

You should provide care within your competence, professional authorisation, and the limits of the available clinical information.

An in-person consultation, specialist review, investigation, or referral may be necessary when:

• The patient's symptoms require physical examination.
• The diagnosis remains uncertain and further assessment is needed.
• Symptoms persist, worsen, or fail to respond as expected.
• The patient requires investigations that cannot be appropriately arranged or interpreted through the available information.
• The proposed treatment requires assessment beyond your competence or authorised scope of practice.
• The patient's condition requires urgent or emergency care.

When recommending further assessment, explain the reason to the patient and the next steps they should take. Where appropriate, document the referral recommendation and any relevant information needed to support continuity of care.

Do not continue managing a patient remotely when doing so would create an unreasonable risk or delay necessary care.

For patients receiving cross-border care, also follow the prescribing and local authorisation process described in Part 8 — Cross-Border Healthcare. In particular, every cross-border prescription must pass through the locally licensed Prescribing Doctor before it is authorised and delivered to the patient.

Maintaining Professional Standards on sureCova

By using sureCova, doctors are expected to maintain professional conduct, protect patient information, document meaningful clinical interactions, and prioritise patient safety.

These responsibilities apply whether you are responding to a routine question, reviewing a patient's progress, issuing a prescription, or recommending further assessment.

If you are uncertain about a clinical situation, the appropriate next step is to seek relevant professional guidance, arrange further assessment, or escalate the concern rather than proceed without sufficient information.

The guiding principle is simple: use sureCova to strengthen continuity of care while maintaining the professional judgement, accountability, and patient safety standards expected of a doctor.