Council Meeting
10th December 2020
Present
Dr Chris Bunch (Chairman), Sandra Lomax (Vice Chair), Dr Faouzi Alam, Carey Bloomer, Prof. Martin Crook, Dr Arjun Dhillon, Helen Dyer, Raz Edwards, Christopher Fincken, Mr Adrian Marchbank, Dr Alison Metcalfe, David Riley, Colonel Robert Russell, Dr Fenella Wrigley.
Guests
Andi Blackmore (Health Education England)
Jenny Westaway (Office of the National Data Guardian).
Observers
Ross Thornton and Jenny Westaway (Office of the National Data Guardian)
Apologies
Gill Bennett, Prof. Paul Dargan, Dr Marjorie Gillespie, Stephen Hinde, Alison Newell, Dr Matt Noble, 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, two ongoing reminders and one action has been completed since the previous meeting.
Chairman’s update
The Chairman updated council members on his recent activities and the meetings he has attended including his attendance at a webinar on clinical safety presented by Professor Ben Wright, the Professional Records Standards Body (which reviewed and discussed PRSB’s strategy during the current Covid-19 pandemic), the National Data Guardian’s (NDG) Steering Group and Panel, and the Strategic Information Governance Network (SIGN) regular catch-up meetings with NHSx.
Vice-Chair’s update
The Vice Chair updated council members regarding her recent engagement with Data Guardians in Northern Ireland to establish stronger connections with the UKCGC, and the ongoing virtual workshops that have been delivered to Caldicott Guardians across health and care,
Requests for advice
The Council discussed a recent request for advice that have been received regarding the UKCGC missing persons guidance, that was developed in collaboration with the National Crime Agency’s UK Missing Persons Unit. It was agreed to establish a working group to review the guidance. 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.
NHSx update
Dawn Monaghan and Sean Kirwan updated Council on NHSX workstreams including the EU exit and its expected impact on health and care, the progress of Covid-19 and flu vaccination programmes and associated guidance.
Caldicott Guardian eLearning module
Andi Blackmore from Health Education England presented t the work of eLearning for Health, and how they might be able to help the UKCGC with the development of eLearning content to help support Caldicott Guardians and implement the anticipated Caldicott Guardian Statutory guidance, as outlined in the NDG’s consultation response (see below).
Andi showed council members examples of similar eLearning modules that eLearning for health have developed and discussed the content design process. Council members were interested to hear about the benefits of developing eLearning modules to both raise awareness with broader staff groups and to offer educational content and resources to Caldicott Guardians.
National Data Guardian consultation response
Jenny Westaway Head of the Office of the NDG presented the outcomes from a public consultation that the NDG ran to seek views on her intention to:
· revise the existing seven Caldicott Principles
· introduce a new principle about ensuring there are no surprises for patients and service users about the use of their confidential information
· issue guidance about the role of Caldicott Guardians using her statutory powers
The consultation response contains a revised – and expanded – set of eight Caldicott Principles and includes a commitment to issue guidance about Caldicott Guardians in 2021.
Council members discussed how best the Council and the NDG can work together to support the implementation of the NDG’s statutory guidance, and what tools and resources we can promulgate, for example the UKCGC website, newsletters, regional networks, virtual workshops, forum etc., to support Caldicott Guardians as the focus on the role increases during 2021.
Other business
Members were reminded to submit any questions for NHSx regarding the Covid-19 / flu vaccination guidance to the UKCGC mailbox so they can be collated and submitted to NHSx for a response.
Members were also reminded that there is the opportunity to undertake work packages on behalf of the UKCGC. There is currently a work package available to review and provide feedback on the online Caldicott Guardian manual.
Christopher Fincken raised the prospect of the UKCGC exploring public interest tests, and how these are defined and understood by staff, patients, and service users in health and care.
The next meeting will be held virtually on 10th February 2021.