A refresher on information governance

A helpful reminder of the most important elements of information governance (IG) and your responsibilities in this area.

Data protection/confidentiality

The Data Protection Act controls how your personal information, and that relating to others, is used by all organisations. Through this Act we are all responsible for ensuring that any personal data held or collected is handled in a manner that protects the data protection rights and confidentiality of the individual.

For further information, please read the Trust’s patient confidentiality information leaflet, as well as familiarising yourself with the confidentiality code of conduct.

Safe haven fax machines

When using a fax machine to send sensitive, person-identifiable it is imperative that a safe haven fax is used. 

A ‘safe haven’ is defined as “an agreed set of procedures to ensure the safe and securing handling of confidential information. It can also be considered to be a location within the organisation where confidential information is both received and stored in a secure manner. Safe haven procedures should be in place in any location where confidential information is being received, held or communicated, especially where information is of a sensitive nature.” 

We are all responsible for the protection of such personal data and as such must ensure that the safe haven procedure is followed.

Remote access to Trust systems

The Trust supports remote access to our systems as a means of enabling staff to undertake their roles more efficiently and effectively. However such access does bring risks, and therefore it is the responsibility of those accessing these Trust systems remotely to ensure that they are doing so in a secure and appropriate manner. All staff should familiarise themselves with, and follow, the Trust’s remote access policy.

IG online training

It is imperative that all staff are aware of the confidentiality issues that affect the Trust, and how to manage these appropriately. We are all responsible for keeping ourselves up to speed with all of the IG related regulations, policies and guidance. A simple way to do this is to complete the online IG training on the Health and Social Care Information Centre site or the module in the Trust workbook.

Published 6th March 2015