Introduction

Introduction

Welcome to the ‘Information Governance, GDPR, and Data Security (including Caldicott Principles)’ online training course.

This course is designed to give healthcare workers an overview of information governance and data handling legislation, including Caldicott Principles, GDPR laws, and the NHS Code of Practice for Confidentiality. It will also cover data sharing, data threats, and outline the Freedom of Information Act.

Information governance and data security is particularly important in the healthcare sector because of the use of extremely sensitive personal information, such as medical records. Information that could easily identify individuals needs to be handled with care and due diligence. There are numerous sets of laws and guidelines that healthcare workers, organisations, and agencies must adhere to.

The main types of data you may encounter as a healthcare professional are: NHS patient data, administration data (e.g. admission dates and times), or image data (from X-Rays, MRIs, and CT scans).*

You need to be aware of your own role in confidentiality, as well as the roles of others within the healthcare sector.

Once you have completed this course, you will be able to:

  • Understand the principles of data security in healthcare
  • Understand the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
  • Understand the 7 Caldicott Principles
  • Be aware of Caldicott guardians and their roles
  • Be able to provide patients and service users with a confidential service
  • Understand your responsibilities under The Freedom of Information Act
  • Know how to respond to a Freedom of Information request
  • Be aware of threats to data security, and how to avoid them
  • Know how to respond to data breaches.

This course has been aligned to the Skills for Health UK Core Skills Training Framework subject “Information Governance”.

© 2020 Healthcare Training Partners Limited

Any copying in whole or in part of the text of this training programme is strictly prohibited. Moral rights of the author under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 are asserted.

*Source: https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/access-to-health-data/types-of-health-data-we-use/

Back to