Council Meeting

10th February 2021

Present 

Dr Chris Bunch (Chair), Sandra Lomax (Vice-Chair), Dr Faouzi Alam, Carey Bloomer, Professor Martin Crook, Helen Dyer, Christopher Fincken, Andrew Harvey,  Mr Adrian Marchbank, Allison Newell, Dr Matt Noble,  Col Rob Russell.

Guests 

Jo Higginbottom (NHS Digital).

Observers

Dr Julian Collinson, Paul Houseman, and Diana Randall; Ross Thornton, Rajoo Veeren (Office of the National Data Guardian).

Apologies

Dr Alex Crowe, Professor Paul Dargan, Dr Arjun Dhillon, David Riley, Dr Cait Taylor.

Declarations

Conflicts of interest from Christopher Fincken and Sandra Lomax (as training providers) were noted.

Action log

There are currently two open actions and two ongoing reminders. Three actions have been completed since the previous meeting.

Chairman’s update 

The Chairman updated Council on his recent activities and meetings attended, including the regular meetings between colleagues from the Test and Trace team (including the Caldicott Guardian) and the NDG. Other regular meetings have included the National Data Guardian’s Panel, SIGN and NHSX briefings, DPO webinars and the Professional Records Standards Body meeting.

Vice-Chair’s update

The Vice Chair updated Council on the next set of virtual workshops, arranged by sector (acute, primary, social care etc.), that have been arranged for Caldicott Guardians across health and care.  The Vice Chair had also attended the i-to-I Information Sharing Network and has maintained engagement with the Police regarding the missing persons guidance.

Requests for advice

The Council discussed a recent request to an NHS trust from a government department wanting to pilot an audit of the quality of medical reports that had been submitted to the department by doctors working for the individuals concerned or for organisations representing them. The department had approached a trust for access to medical records on these individuals which the department wished to compare with the submitted reports, but without consent from the individuals concerned. The department’s aim was to improve the standard of reporting. 

Full details of requests for advice can be provided upon request and are often also available to view as discussion topics on the digital health Caldicott Guardian forum.

Covid-19 vaccination: use of personal data of those vaccinated and decliners

The Council discussed the current questions and challenges that have been raised nationally around the proposed collection of staff vaccination data, and how personal information where staff have declined the Covid-19 vaccination is handled.

NHS Digital Demographics team - high-level overview of Personal Demographics Service

Jo Higginbottom, a Business and Operational Delivery Manager from the NHS Digital Demographics and National Back Office team, gave a presentation to Council on the Personal Demographics Service (PDS), explaining workings of PDS, and in particular to hear about how PDS works and deals with sensitive records, and the ‘S-flags’ process. Members suggested it would be helpful for the PDS team to share guidance about PDS best practice, to ensure colleagues across health and care using PDS consistently and in line with national guidance.

National Data Guardian’s Caldicott Guardian Draft Guidance

Ross Thornton and Rajoo Veeren updated Council on progress with the draft Caldicott Guardian guidance. This has been reviewed by Dr Chris Bunch as Chair of the UKCGC, and DAC Beachcroft, the NDG’s legal advisers, and was published on the NDG’s webpages in early January with an invitation to stakeholders to provide feedback by the end of the month.

The NDG received a number of responses, which included suggestions for improving the guidance further.  Members discussed some of the key points from the feedback, including the relationship between the Caldicott Guardian and the Data Protection Officer, and whether Caldicott Guardian advise or make decisions.

Next steps include discussion at the Health and Care Information Governance Panel (HCIGP), a further legal review, and a final review by the National Data Guardian prior to publication.

Other business

The Secretariat reiterated the request for Council members to assist the development of e-Learning modules to support the implementation of the NDG’s Caldicott Guardian guidance, and to review and update the Manual for Caldicott Guardians in preparation for the launch of the new UKCGC website.  

The next meeting will be held virtually on 22nd April 2021.