The Government has published its response to Dame Fiona Caldicott’s review of information sharing, in conjunction with new guidance from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) on how personal confidential data is both used and shared.
The effective sharing of patient information as part of someone’s care is almost always essential and there is enormous potential for the legal use of this information to improve services and treatments. At the same time people should be given a much greater say over how their personal information is used beyond their care. Dame Fiona’s call for a “re-balancing of sharing and protecting information in citizen’s interests” has been widely welcomed across the health and care system.
Many of the 26 recommendations of the review resonate with the information strategy for health and care published in 2012 and with the focus on integration in the Care Bill which sets out a duty on local authorities to promote integration of care and support with health services.
Work will take place over the next 12 months to implement the recommendations, including work on access to information for commissioning to make sure the system can continue to function without compromising patient confidentiality. Dame Fiona’s Independent Information Governance Oversight Panel will report to Secretary of State annually on progress.
Information supplied by: Suzanne Lea- Programme Manager, Caldicott Review Response.