Information Governance covers all information held, created or accessed by all staff or any other party, performing activities in their roles within BrisDoc.

It applies to ALL information relating to patients, staff and the BrisDoc organisation, regardless of how the information is used, held (paper or electronic) or transmitted (fax, email, post & telephone).

BrisDoc is responsible for:

• Monitoring, maintaining and improving compliance to policies, legal and regulatory requirements;
• Developing, maintaining and monitoring the integrity of information to ensure that it is of sufficient quality for use within the purposes it was collected;
• Ensuring information is available, safe and secure;
• Educating and continually raising staff awareness of their responsibilities in managing information appropriately

Staff are responsible for:

• Maintaining secure access to buildings and information whilst on duty;
• Maintaining security of patient/ staff /corporate identifiable information at all times;
• Ensuring they understand Caldicott and Data Protection principles;
• Attending training and induction sessions;
• Being aware of and behaving in accordance with policy;
• Reporting incidents and near misses to their line managers or IG / Caldicott Leads immediately.
• Only accessing the records (EMIS or Adastra) of the patient they are caring for.

Remember – Walls have ears!

It is essential to remember that any information relating to a patient is strictly confidential. If you need to discuss any details relating to a patient you must ensure that you cannot be overheard.

In particular be aware of the care to be taken when dealing with patients you may know personally. Even apparently harmless remarks like “Are you feeling better now?” could breach patient confidentiality.

Social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter must never be used to comment on patients, staff or other confidential work-related matters.

All BrisDoc information governance policies can be read on Radar.

Inappropriate access of patient records

The use of patient record systems such as EMIS and Connecting Care can greatly enhance patient care, but please be mindful that these platformsare for professional use only, and purely in relation to the patients being seen. Accessing your own records is an IG breach, as is accessing anyone else’s records for personal purposes, such as those of your spouse, child, friend or neighbour. Random audits are undertaken to check access. If either platform has been used to access records for personal purposes then disciplinary action will be taken.