Council Meeting
June 10th 2020
Present
Dr Chris Bunch (Chairman), Sandra Lomax (Vice Chair), Carey Bloomer, Prof. Martin Crook, Dr Arjun Dhillon, Christopher Fincken, Dr Marjorie Gillespie, Mr Adrian Marchbank, Prof. Alison McCallum, Alison Newell, Surg. Cmdr Powell, David Riley, Dr Cait Taylor, Dr Fenella Wrigley.
Guests
Dr Alan Hassey (NDG Panel).
Observers
Col. Robert Russell (Ministry of Defence), Ross Thornton (NDG Office), Debbie Topping (Leadership Through Data).
Apologies
Dr Faouzi Alam, Gill Bennett, Sandra Cornwall, Helen Dyer, Andrew Harvey, Stephen Hinde, Lucy Hubber, Dr Matt Noble, Gill Weatherill.
Declarations
Conflicts of interest from Christopher Fincken and Sandra Lomax (as training providers) were noted.
Action log
There are currently 3 open actions; 5 actions have been completed since the last meeting.
Chairman’s update
The Chairman updated Council members on his recent activities and the meetings he has attended. These included the Data and Cyber Security Programme Board, the National Data Guardian’s Panel and weekly virtual meetings between SIGN and NHSx. He also taught a module for the Leeds University MSC in Informatics course.
Work has continued to develop, manage and maintain the Caldicott Guardian mailing list, a second update was recently issued to all Caldicott Guardians in Trusts and GP practices regarding a corona virus cancer monitoring project.
Vice-chair’s update
The Vice Chair updated council members regarding her attendance at the police expert reference meeting, and informed those present of a recent interesting query regarding Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR) forms. The Vice Chair also reported on developing plans to host a virtual workshop for the regional networks during the summer.
Requests for advice
The Council discussed recent requests for advice that have been received by the UKCGC mailbox or raised on the Digital Health Caldicott Guardian forum. These included topics such as sharing staff information, use of photographic evidence, and proof of identity.
Further 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.
The National Data Guardian’s survey
Dr Alan Hassey a member of the NDG’s Panel, presented the outcome of a survey that he recently led. The NDG commissioned an online survey to help her better understand the perceived barriers to health and care professionals sharing information to support direct care and what educational initiatives she might usefully encourage to support appropriate information sharing.
Council members agreed that it is important to communicate that not sharing information is frequently riskier than sharing. They also discussed the complexities of the health and care landscape and the challenges of promulgating the messages regarding sharing information. It was agreed that raining is a vital component that enables heath and care staff to practically apply the Caldicott Principles.
The Council have agreed to submit feedback to Dr Hassey regarding the NDG’s survey and to test the direct care tool with the network of Caldicott Guardians.
NHS Digital update
Dr Arjun Dhillon, UKCGC member and NHS Digital’s Caldicott Guardian provided an update on recent NHSD projects being implemented to support the response to COVID-19. To assist the NHS response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it has been agreed that the inclusion of additional information in Summary Care Records for patients by default would be helpful, unless they have previously told the NHS that they did not want their information to be shared.
Dr Dhillon also covered the GP Connect service that has been enabled on the clinical GP systems EMIS and TPP to make appointment booking and sharing with the Covid Clinical Assessment Service (CCAS) possible. CCAS will pass patients suspected of suffering from coronavirus (COVID-19) out to primary care when appropriate, for further assessment and treatment.
Other business
Dr Chris Bunch and Sandra Lomax wanted to note their sincere thanks to Surg Cmdr. Catherine Powell for her much-valued contributions to the UKCGC over the last year. Council members wish Catherine well with her studies and welcome Col. Robert Russell as the new Ministry of Defence representative.
Ross Thornton asked council members to send any ideas for topics to be included in the next Caldicott Guardian newsletter to the UKCGC secretariat mailbox.