Health & Social Care Apprenticeships & Diploma Promote Good Practice in Handling Information 307 1

Objectives: Understand requirements for handling information in health & social care settings Be able to support others to handle information Be able to implement good practice in handling information. 2

Why do we record information about people? To learn how to support people better. To comply with legal requirements. To be accountable for and transparent about what we are doing. 3

Records you complete? Assessment reports Day book or handover book Medical records Accident book Bank account details and personal financial records Person-centred plans Support plans Review reports Monitoring forms 4

Confidentiality As It Applies in Your Work Not passing information on, unless there is appropriate reason to do so, keeping private information private. To maintain human rights, respect,privacy,to building trust in a relationship.

How Is Confidentiality Maintained? Follow organisational,policies & procedures. Lock filing cabinets. Do not leave files on desks. Hold phone calls & conversations in private. Use passwords on computers.

Good Record Keeping Fact and Opinion A fact is … something you know to have happened or to be true. An opinion is … a belief or judgement held without actual proof or what you think on a particular point. 7

Good practice in record Keeping; A good record is: legible signed and dated in clear language concise factual and accurate distinguishes between fact and opinion relevant fit for purpose adequate. 8

The Data Protection Act 1998 Provides 8 principles to underpin good practice and requires that personal data shall be: processed fairly, lawfully and confidentially obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purpose, and shall not be used for any other purposes adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to purpose or purposes for which it was gathered accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date

Cont’d 5. kept for no longer than is necessary for the purpose it was gathered for 6. processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under this Act 7. kept safe from unauthorised or unlawful use/accidental loss/ destruction/damage 8. Not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area,

Good Record Keeping Keeping effective and accurate records and reports is important to ensuring a person is supported properly. Keeping clear and accurate records is an important part of a support worker’s job. Workers and organisations must follow the requirements of the Data Protection Act and should adhere to the ‘Caldicott Principles’

The Caldicott Principles: overview Justify the purpose. Don’t use personally identifiable information unless absolutely necessary. Use the absolute minimum personally identifiable information that is necessary. Access to personally identifiable information should be on a strict ‘need to know’ basis. Everyone should understand their responsibilities Understand and comply with the law.

Legal Links Data Protection Act 1999 Human Rights Act 2000 Accurate Confidential Secure Available Accessible Amendable

In support services the law comes down to: 2 rights: To know what’s written about you. To know it’s kept safe. 2 wrongs: Libel if we write something damaging to someone and make it known to others. Damages if someone’s care suffers because of wrong records or failure to use written information

Task A Identify 4 legislations or codes of practice relevant to information handling. (4 marks) Identify how relevant legislations and codes of practice affect your work as a social care worker. (4 marks) Explain how you could help two other practitioners handle information securely. (4 marks) Explain two ways of helping practitioners to understand systems for recording and reporting in social care (4 marks)

Task B For this task you will need to prepare a set of guidelines to remind social care workers of the best practice in handling information. In these guidelines you must:   Explain how to maintain records so that they are up to date, complete, accurate & legible. Describe how to ensure records are stored securely. Describe how to ensure security when reading or making entries into records. Describe any special feature of different storage systems that help you to ensure security.