National Information Governance Board for Health Social Care

Annual Report 2012 (extracts)

Letter to the Secretary of State for Health (page 3)

We have sought to promote a cultural shift towards increased data sharing through promoting good IG as a facilitator rather than, as perceived by many, a barrier. This has included discussions at the Board on the requirement to promote social care worker access to key information needed from the health record to improve service delivery.

Board Report (page 9)

Director of Information Governance Policy, Department of Health, outlined a vision for information governance within the new system:

· Information flows need to be well governed across both health and social care services

· Every organisation and staff member needs to own and understand good information governance principles

· Service users and families need to be able to both access and understand health and social care records

· Information should flow freely to support patient/service user care whilst security and confidentiality and trust are maintained

NHS Future Forum Information work stream report and recommendations (p.11)

One of the strongest messages given by the Future Forum group was on the role of information governance against a background of greater transparency and information sharing:

‘Information governance should be seen as the enabler of responsible sharing and extraction of data in the interests of improving the care of individuals and of wider quality improvements’

Department of Health Information Strategy 2012 - The Power of Information: Putting all of us in control of the health and care information we need (p. 12)

The publication of the long awaited Department of Health information strategy which followed the previously published ’Information Revolution’ is intended to put the patient at the heart of the future flow of information, with the aim of improving outcomes and the standards of care. The strategy emphasises the need to ensure there are safeguards but also the need to balance confidentiality and trust with the effective use of information to improve quality of care. It also signposts a potential change in the NHS Constitution to address the ‘consent deal’ in using health and social care services and the quid pro quo of utilising information for the benefit of all members of society.

Information Governance: the challenges (p. 12)

These include:

· The sharing of health records will increasingly become the norm and this in turn leads to questions as to how Data Controllers will operate in this environment.

· The involvement of multiple agencies in data flows will require that robust access controls are in place but do not become a barrier.

· The independent and voluntary sectors need to be considered as part of the future informatics landscape and information access extended accordingly.

Source: http://www.nigb.nhs.uk/pubs/annual/annrep2012.pdf