Council Meeting
9 February 2022
Present
Dr Arjun Dhillon (Chair), Dr Chris Bunch (Vice-Chair), Dr Faouzi Alam, Carey Bloomer, Helen Dyer, Christopher Fincken, Mr Adrian Marchbank, Alison Metcalfe, Dr Matt Noble, David Riley, Col Rob Russell.
Guests
Dr Claire Bloomfield (NHS DigiTrials/NHS England); Fiona Richardson and Helen Lancaster (Institute of Public Care, Oxford Brookes University).
Observers
Ryan Avison, Carl Beesley, Alex Crowe, Marjorie Gillespie, James Griffin, Dr Erum Nomani, Jonathan Osborne, Sophie Reed, David Roberts, Gaby Tamura-Rose, Ross Thornton, Debbie Topping.
Apologies
Gill Bennett, Prof Martin Crook, Dr George Fernie, Andrew Harvey, Mr Rhidian Hurle, Dr Julian Marks, Alison Newell, Prof. Robert McClelland, Dr Cait Taylor, Brig Duncan Wilson.
Declarations of interest
Can be found on register of interests. No new interests declared.
Action log
The action log was reviewed. Four actions remain open with updates provided on progress. There are also two permanent reminders on the action log. All other actions were agreed as having been completed prior to this meeting.
Chair and Vice Chair’s report
The Chairman and Vice Chair updated Council on recent activities and the key meetings they have attended including:
· regular meetings with Dr Nicola Byrne (National Data Guardian) set up to discuss priorities and assess how the UKCGC can support the NDG and her priorities;
· attended the National Data Guardian Panel meetings in January and February;
· UKCGC Breakfast clubs and workshops continue to be arranged for the year with the support of Council and the Secretariat;
· an initial meeting has taken place to consider how Council can work with the National Strategic Information Governance Network (see Projects below);
· E-learning programme ‘The Role of the Caldicott Guardian’ has been launched and work has continued on developing the module for senior managers.
Requests for advice to Council
Council discussed recent requests for advice. The Chairman noted that a number of misdirected queries had been received and invited views as to how we might communicate the role and remit of Council to avoid this. Sharing information with Commissioner’s, requests for information citing safeguarding legislation, and e-signatures were also discussed.
Full details of requests for advice can be provided upon request and are often also available to view as discussion topics on the Digital Health Caldicott Guardian forum.
UKCGC Projects – interviews, police, e-learning, workshops
Ross Thornton thanked Council for their input into the various ongoing workstreams and presented an update on progress for some key UKCGC projects:
Interviews
Seeking volunteers from Council who are willing to be interviewed about their thoughts and views on the role of the Caldicott Guardian with the view to sharing these interviews with the wider network via the UKCGC newsletter.
Police
Council feedback is being incorporated into existing guidance regarding proof of life disclosures to the police.
E-learning
Following the successful launch of the Caldicott Guardian e-learning module ‘The Role of the Caldicott Guardian’ work is continuing with the training for senior managers.
UKCGC Virtual Workshops
The workshops continue to be developed and Council discussed how best they can support these sessions throughout the year. The first workshop is planned for Thursday 24 February and will focus primarily on the role of Caldicott Guardians in care homes and smaller social care organisations.
Council was encouraged to get in touch with the Secretariat if there are any projects they would like to contribute toward.
Find Recruit and Follow-Up programme
Dr Claire Bloomfield (NHS DigiTrials/NHS England) presented an overview of the Find, Recruit and Follow-Up programme which aims to exploit the potential of data and digital tools to speed up identification, recruitment and follow-up of patients who are potentially eligible for specific clinical research studies. The presentation discussed benefits and achievements to date, the current data flows, and the future work of the programme.
the move from data release to data access (TREs) will involve considerable changes in current practice nationally and locally, which will need appropriate support.
Council was most interested to understand how the Caldicott Principles can be applied across national and sub-national schemes and would be interested in exploring how they could this work as it develops.
Council thanked Dr Bloomfield for taking the time attend and for providing a useful and informative presentation.
Better Security Better Care
Fiona Richardson and Helen Lancaster from the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University presented an overview of the Better Security, Better Care programme designed to improve data and cyber security in the adult social care provider sector. They were particularly interested in understanding how they can make the Caldicott Guardian role workable for very small social care organisations and how the Council could inform and support this work.
Council acknowledged the present difficulties faced by social care and the limitations this placed on their ability to ensure the Caldicott function is carried out effectively. Council provided helpful insights into its own experiences of ensuring adequate Caldicott oversight in smaller organisations.
Council thanked the team for attending to discuss this important issue, and outlined its eagerness to provide ongoing support to the programme.
Other business
Council was asked for views regarding a query received by a Council member regarding access to clinical systems to view confidential information about deceased individuals. The request had been for ‘wholesale’ access and while there might be a legitimate reason to access information, this should be on a case-by-case basis and there were concerns about the relevance and volume of the information that would be available.
Council agreed that it would be appropriate to consider Caldicott Principle 3 —that the minimum necessary confidential information should be shared for any given function.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be held virtually on Tuesday 26 April 2022.