Handling Information in a Care Setting

Carers, and others who work in a social care setting, tend to have access to a lot of personal information.  This makes it very important that this information is collected and stored correctly and only accessed by others where there is a necessity to share this data. Personal information in health and social care is frequently accessed by a wide range of people. It is crucial, therefore, to have sufficient social care training processes in place to ensure the protection of the service user’s privacy and prevent those without reason to access this information.

it is important to build positive relationships with care users. Confidentiality and the correct handling and recording of information are crucial for building trust. A breach of this trust may lead to a service user becoming unwilling to cooperate with their care providers.

This course is primarily intended for those who work in the social care sector, both in residential care homes and in the community. Health and social care workers are responsible for reporting on the safe practices and if required, they should follow the whistleblowing procedure.

There are several pieces of legislation that are relevant to handling information in a care setting, includin

• the Data Protection Act 1998
• the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
• the health and social care act 2008 and
• the national minimum standards care Standards Act 2000.

We look at each piece of legislation in turn to illustrate how they are used to protect those in receipt of social care services.  Understanding the legal position on how to collect, store and share this personal information is the first step in ensuring a strong culture of confidentiality exists.

The NHS guide “Codes of Practice for Handling Information in Health & Care”, details the legal obligations of organisations who handle information of individuals in the care sector.

We look at how to set up and maintain structures that align to the legislation on handling information in a care setting, through asking a series of questions to make decisions on information we become privy to.  Much of this process is used to determine on whether the information in needed to be able to effectively conduct the service we provide to the user.

The course also outlines a system to follow for when data protection is breached. When this happens, it is crucial to be transparent and not to attempt to conceal breaches of information.  This area of the course  provides the information to enable the learner create a template to follow for when the process of handling data goes wrong.

Our social care training concludes with a case study to help the learner understand how to put the knowledge from the course into practice and looks at a serious breach in the handling of information and how it was formally dealt with.