ABSTRACT
The relationships between professional healthcare workers and between them and their patients are governed by the professional ethics and etiquette of medicine which have developed over the centuries, together with developments in medicine itself. Confidentiality places a constraint upon all those who work in the field of healthcare. The General Medical Council was established under the Medical Act of 1858 with the purpose of distinguishing between unqualified practitioners or 'quacks' and qualified medical practitioners. The Ethics Department of the British Medical Association plays a leading role in establishing ethical standards in the medical profession. It examines and advises on the increasing number of ethical matters in medical practice, and on the relationship between doctor and patient. The Human Rights Act incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into English law. In 2005 the Government published its revised Mental Health Bill in an attempt to reform the Mental Health Act 1983.
