Hello everyone, my name is Jawad Husain, Executive Medical Director and it is my pleasure to be the guest blog this week while Martin takes some well-deserved leave.
I'm going to dive into a topic that has been in the limelight recently – the safeguarding of personal information. You may have read or heard on the national news of the accidental data breaches by Police Services in Northern Ireland, Norfolk and Suffolk. The data released included personal identifiable information of police officers, victims, witnesses and suspects, as well as descriptions of offences, such domestic incidents, sexual offences, assaults, thefts and hate crime. As you can imagine that caused serious concerns for the safety and well-being of the individuals involved.
So, with this in mind I thought it an opportune moment to remind everyone of our responsibilities to protect our patients’ information and to outline the role of the Caldicott Guardian.
The term Caldicott Guardian is one that many people will have heard of, but perhaps not entirely know what it means or where it comes from. Even within ELHT, I’m most likely known as our Executive Medical Director, but many may not know I hold the role of Caldicott Guardian, which is vital in protecting the rights of patients.
Named after Dame Fiona Caldicott, who chaired a committee in the 1990s to review patient data protection, the Caldicott Guardian is a senior individual within an organisation entrusted with the responsibility of protecting patient information.
Out of the review, eight Caldicott Principles were formed, which are a set of good practice guidelines for using and keeping people’s health and care data safe. The principles are:
Justify the purpose(s) for using confidential information.
Use confidential information only when it is necessary.
Use the minimum necessary confidential information.
Access to confidential information should be on a strict need-to-know basis.
Everyone with access to confidential information should be aware of their responsibilities.
Comply with the law.
The duty to share information for individual care is as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality.
Inform patients and service users about how their confidential information is used.
You can read the principles in more detail here.
As Caldicott Guardian I use the principles to make sure the personal information of our patients is used legally, ethically and appropriately and that confidentiality is maintained at all times. I also provide leadership and informed guidance on complex matters involving confidentiality and information sharing, either inside the organisation or with external organisation and partners. You could say I act as the ‘conscience of the organisation’.
Beyond the ethical considerations, there are also legal obligations, such as the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which mandate stringent measures to safeguard patient data.
While the Caldicott Guardian plays a central role in championing patient data protection, the responsibility for upholding patient confidentiality extends to every individual within our organisation. From the Chief Executive to frontline clinicians to administrators, each and every one of us must recognise the significance of our actions and their impact on patient privacy. In fact, it is within our DNA of Safe, Personal and Effective!
There are many examples of where individuals have forgotten their responsibilities and through either a sudden rush of blood to the head or through intentional act, have accessed the records of patients who were either friends, family or celebrities.
You may remember when Sir Alex Ferguson was admitted to a Greater Manchester hospital with a life-threatening brain haemorrhage and his medical records were accessed by people without a clinical need or authorisation to do so. Their personal curiosity led to suspensions, a full investigation and the incident being reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Others in similar positions have faced legal action, hefty fines, and in some cases, dismissal.
Accessing medical records has become much easier with the advancement of technology and electronic patient records. We are quickly moving to a place where there is no longer the need to seek out the patients' heavy paper files, to store them securely and safely on wards or units and to ensure they are returned to the Medical Records Department in a prompt way – in case they are needed elsewhere in the hospital.
Thanks to the roll-out of our new electronic patient record (EPR) system, they are now at our fingertips on our wards, in A&E, at our community sites, at our office desks – wherever we need to access them. You may remember Martin writing about the many benefits to implementing the system in his earlier blogs, such as improved clinical decisions, more efficient workflow and communications, and reduced duplication.
This technological progression will not only help us in those regards but also by supplying a greater level of security and safeguarding. Medical records are tracked through the system, leaving a data trail each time there is an interaction with a patient’s record. It is tagged with the time, date and name of the person accessing.
We take the issue of information governance and data protection extremely seriously at ELHT, which is why access to the EPR system is only available for those colleagues who, because their role requires it, have been approved, authorised and trained appropriately. In addition, all colleagues are trained on information governance, with is mandatory and refreshed annually.
While on the subject of EPR, it would be remis of me if I didn’t mention the difficulties we have been facing since our go-live date. We always knew it would be the implementation of the system that would be the greatest challenge. Really getting to know and understand the system and the very different way in which we must now work.
The Executive and senior teams have been and continue to actively listening to colleagues about the inevitable challenges, and whilst many of us are starting to see the benefits of our new way of working, the system is still very new. However, this provides us with an opportunity to optimise it to perform in the very best way for us and our patients.
To support colleagues further, the Clinical Informatics team began a series of post go-live walkabouts this week with the aim to visit all Trust sites and departments over the next four weeks. I’d like to extend my gratitude to everyone for the warm welcome extended to the team during their visits at the Blackburn site this week. Starting next week, the team will embark on a journey to visit all C Wards, engaging in discussions to uncover any challenges or obstacles and to gather your further feedback.
I know your time is extremely valuable, and your feedback is just as valuable, if not critical, to ensuring we improve the system further. And it does make a difference, for example, the various technical issues we have been experiencing in radiology have been successfully resolved thanks to feedback given and the change requests that have been put into action.
The Trust will also shortly receive almost 1000 hours of one to one coaching from Cerner Oracle. While the specifics of this opportunity are currently being finalised, I'm confident that these intense training sessions will significantly enhance the support already being tapped into. The more we learn and extend our knowledge, the more the system develops and improve, will create a positive impact on the way we use our EPR system to provide safe, personal and effective care for our patients now and in the future.
In embracing these transformative possibilities, we will light a path toward a brighter future. So, let us stride forward together with optimism, armed with the insights we've explored and remembering every challenge is an opportunity in disguise.
Next week, Sharon Gilligan, Chief Operating Officer, will be taking up the role of guest blogger. Thank you for reading, I hope you found this blog interesting, please do let me know. For now, I will end wishing you all a weekend filled with joy and relaxation. If you are working, remember to carve out some time for yourself to rest and recuperate.
Jawad