Council Meeting

27 November 2025

Location: Hybrid meeting via Microsoft Teams and in person, Wellington House London. 

Meeting Chair

Helen Dyer (Vice Chair UKCGC) 

Council members in attendance (in-person)

George Fernie (Chair UKCGC), Dr Arjun Dhillon 

Council members in attendance (virtual)

Christopher Fincken, Dr Neil Bhatia, Professor Martin Crook, Darren Lloyd, Dr Matt Noble, Dr Erum Nomani, Sophie Reed 

Observers

Charlotte Karon, Andrew Latham (in-person), Liz Searle 

Apologies

Katie Thorn, Surgeon Commodore Jason E Smith, Allison Newell, Phil Koczan, Rhidian Hurle, Mathew Fry, Christopher Bunch, Adrian Marchbank 

Secretariat

It was agreed that the meeting would be recorded to aid note taking. The recording would be deleted once a record of the notes had been made.

1. Welcome and new declarations of interest

Introductions were made to the group. There were no declarations of interest.

2. Notes from previous meetings

Council reviewed the notes of the 24 September 2025 Council meeting and accepted them as an accurate record of the previous meeting.

3. Actions

The UKCGC Chair and Council members reviewed the action log. An update was provided by the Chair on the open actions.

Key items:

  • Evening Classes & Breakfast Clubs: Dates and topics agreed; volunteers invited to present.

    Action: To circulate to group dates of future breakfast club and evening classes.

  • Recruitment: Continued focus on social care, research, ICBs, dentistry, pharmacy.

  • Podcasts: Proposal complete; awaiting budget approval.

  • Caldicott Guardian Development Programme: To be initiated; ideas welcomed.

4. Chair and Vice Chair’s report

Summary of meetings attended since September, including engagement with NDG and progress on workstreams.

First working group session took place on 17 November 2025.

Action: Helen to circulate notes to group from first working group sessions.

Update on requests for advice: 19 since last meeting, including six from members of the public.

Common themes: Subject Access Requests, outsourcing Caldicott Guardians, data sharing without consent, access to records post-death, and training queries.

To monitor and share with group trends and volume of requests over time.

5. Discussion

Policy Debate: Definition of Direct Care

Members raised concerns about scope creep in shared care records and the change to the definition of the term ‘direct care’ for information sharing purposes.

Action: Helen to follow-up and potentially co-ordinate a query to NDG for clarification.

‍ 6. Safeguarding practices

Speaker: Kenny Gibson, NHS England

Emphasised duty to share data for safeguarding: “We can, we will, we must.”

Update on CPIS rollout (target 2029) and MultiAgency Child Protection Teams (planned for 2026).

Proposal for unified safeguarding referral template and Caldicott champions within MACPTs.

7. Confidentiality and disclosure: supporting adult strangulation patients

Speaker: Dr Cath White, Institute for Addressing Strangulation

Highlighted prevalence and serious health risks of NFS.

No mandatory reporting requirement; decisions remain case-by-case.

Factsheets and clinical guidance available; Council to consider signposting resources and including NFS in induction materials.

8. Any other business

Nothing raised.

Next meeting‍ ‍

The next meeting will be held virtually on Tuesday 27 January 2026, 13:00-16:00 on Microsoft Teams.