Caldicott guardian

Last updated

The Caldicott Committee's December 1997 Report on the Review of Patient-Identifiable Information, [1] usually referred to as the Caldicott Report (named after its author Dame Fiona Caldicott), identified weaknesses in the way parts of NHS handled confidential patient data. The report made several recommendations, one of which was the appointment of Caldicott guardians, members of staff with a responsibility to ensure that patient data are kept secure:

Recommendation 3: A senior person should be nominated in each NHS organisation, including the Department of Health and associated agencies, to act as a "guardian". The "guardian" should normally be a senior health professional or be closely supported by such a person. The NHS IM&T Security Manual (Section 18.4) requires each organisation to designate a senior medical officer to oversee all procedures affecting access to person-identifiable health data. This role and that of the "guardian" may be combined, providing there is no conflict of interest. The Department of Health should take the development of this role forward in partnership with interested parties.

It is now a requirement for every NHS organisation to have a Caldicott guardian. The guardians are responsible for ensuring that their organisation adheres to the Caldicott principles. [2]

In 2005, the UK Caldicott Guardian Council [3] was established as the national body for Caldicott guardians.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Health and Social Care</span> Ministerial department of the UK Government

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. It oversees the English National Health Service (NHS). The department is led by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care with three ministers of state and three parliamentary under-secretaries of state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Institute for Health and Care Excellence</span> Non-departmental public body of the Department of Health in the UK

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an executive non-departmental public body, in England, of the Department of Health and Social Care, that publishes guidelines in four areas:

An NHS foundation trust is a semi-autonomous organisational unit within the National Health Service in England. They have a degree of independence from the Department of Health and Social Care. As of March 2019 there were 151 foundation trusts.

Clinical audit is a process that has been defined as a quality improvement process that seeks to improve patient care and outcomes through systematic review of care against explicit criteria and the implementation of change

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monitor (NHS)</span>

Monitor was an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health, responsible between 2004 and 2016 for ensuring healthcare provision in NHS England was financially effective. It was the sector regulator for health services in England. Its chief executive was Ian Dalton and it was chaired by Dido Harding. Monitor was merged with the NHS Trust Development Authority to form NHS Improvement on 1 April 2016.

A consultant pharmacist is a pharmacist who works as a consultant providing expert advice on clinical pharmacy, academic pharmacy or practice, public health pharmacy, industrial pharmacy, community pharmacy or practice, pharmaceutical analysis etc., regarding the safe use and production of medications or on the provision of pharmaceutical services to medical institutions, hospitals, universities, research institutions, medical practices and individual patients.

Professor Sir Bruce Edward Keogh, KBE, FMedSci, FRCS, FRCP is a Rhodesian-born British surgeon who specialises in cardiac surgery. He was medical director of the National Health Service in England from 2007 and national medical director of the NHS Commissioning Board from 2013 until his retirement early in 2018. He is chair of Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust and chairman of The Scar Free Foundation.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life(CSPL) is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government, established by John Major in 1994 to advise the Prime Minister on ethical standards of public life. It promotes a code of conduct called the Seven Principles of Public Life, also known as the Nolan principles after the first chairman of the committee, Lord Nolan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHS Scotland</span> Publicly-funded healthcare system in Scotland

NHS Scotland, sometimes styled NHSScotland, is the publicly–funded healthcare system in Scotland and one of the four systems that make up the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. It operates 14 territorial NHS boards across Scotland, supported by seven special non-geographic health boards, and Public Health Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiona Caldicott</span> British psychiatrist (1941–2021)

Dame Fiona Caldicott, was a British psychiatrist and psychotherapist who also served as Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. She was the National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care in England until her death.

The Caldicott Committee's Report on the Review of Patient-Identifiable Information, usually referred to as the Caldicott Report was a review commissioned in 1997 by the Chief Medical Officer of England due to increasing worries concerning the use of patient information in the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales and the need to avoid the undermining of confidentiality because of the development of information technology in the NHS, and its ability to propagate information concerning patients in a rapid and extensive way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Health Service (England)</span> Publicly-funded healthcare system in England

The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly funded healthcare system in England, and one of the four National Health Service systems in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest single-payer healthcare system in the world after the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde. Primarily funded by the government from general taxation, and overseen by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NHS provides healthcare to all legal English residents and residents from other regions of the UK, with most services free at the point of use for most people. The NHS also conducts research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

Healthcare in England is mainly provided by the National Health Service (NHS), a public body that provides healthcare to all permanent residents in England, that is free at the point of use. The body is one of four forming the UK National Health Service as health is a devolved matter; there are differences with the provisions for healthcare elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and in England it is overseen by NHS England. Though the public system dominates healthcare provision in England, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing and able to pay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Health Service</span> Publicly-funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom

The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, comprising the NHS in England, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales. Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland was created separately and is often locally referred to as "the NHS". The original three systems were established in 1948 as part of major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery—a health service based on clinical need, not ability to pay. Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, provided without charge for people ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom apart from dental treatment and optical care. In England, NHS patients have to pay prescription charges; some, such as those aged over 60, or those on certain state benefits, are exempt.

Ann Abraham is a public servant who was the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioner for England between 2002 and 2011.

The National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care (NIGB) advised the United Kingdom government on information governance between 2008 and 2013.

Healthwatch England is a committee of the Care Quality Commission established under the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which took effect in April 2013. Its role is to gather and champion the views of users of health and social care services, in order to identify improvements and influence providers' plans. The Healthwatch network is made of up of local Healthwatch groups in each of England's local authority areas, and Healthwatch England, the national body.

Direct care is the care of an identified patient by an identified clinical professional, used throughout the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.

The Freedom to Speak Up Review, also known as the Francis Report, was a review into whistleblowing in the NHS in England. It was announced on 24 June 2014 and it was chaired by Sir Robert Francis. The review was originally expected to report in November 2014 but took longer because of a huge volume of input material: 17,500 online responses and 600 postal responses.

The National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care is an independent, non-regulatory, advice giving body in England sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care. Dame Fiona Caldicott had held the position on a non-statutory basis since its inception in November 2014. She was appointed the first statutory National Data Guardian in March 2019 following the introduction of the Health and Social Care Act 2018, and remained in post until her death in February 2021. Dr Nicola Byrne was appointed to the role in March 2021 by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

References

  1. The Caldicott Committee: Report on the Review of Patient-IdentifiableInformation
  2. "CaldicottPrinciples". The UK Caldicott Guardian Council. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  3. "The UK Caldicott Guardian Council". The UK Caldicott Guardian Council. Retrieved 18 February 2020.