You and your information
By law, everyone who works for us must keep information about you confidential.
We aim to deliver social care services that are focused on your needs. And we want to make sure that the widest range of services is available to you so you get the best possible social care. To help us do this, it is important that everyone providing services to you can share information about your health and welfare within safe guidelines.
We will keep information about you and the services we provide for you in your record folder or on our computer system.
The records may include:
- basic details about you, such as your name, address, date of birth and next of kin (the person we should contact in an emergency)
- all the contact we have had with you
- details about the services we may arrange for you.
We may use some of this information for other reasons, such as planning for the future, training our staff and answering for our actions.
The main reasons why we may need your information
We may need your information so we can:
- arrange the right services for you
- deliver combined health and social care services
- manage and plan services
- review, answer for and learn how to improve what we do.
No-one in the Adult Social Care should look at the information unless they really need to.
How does it benefit me?
We aim to deliver social care services that are focused on your needs. We want to make sure that the widest range of services is available to you so you get the best possible social care.
To help us to do this it is important that all the agencies providing services to you can share information about your health and welfare within safe guidelines. We may also use your information for other reasons, such as planning for the future, training our staff and accounting for our actions.
What are my rights?
We keep your information safe and secure. Before we can share your information we must get your permission, unless there are exceptional circumstances such as when the health and safety of others is at risk or if we have to pass on information by law.
You have the right to see these records under the Data Protection Act 1998. We have had an open access policy since 1985. This means that you can see your records to check that they are accurate and to reassure yourself that we are acting appropriately or recording your information properly.
We want to make our work with you as open as possible. You will not be able to see material from a different agency unless we have permission from the people it came from.
How can I see the information you have gathered about me?
If you would like to see information you think we hold about you, please complete a 'Subject Access Request Form' (below) and send it to us with two pieces of identification and a fee of £10.
Depending on the sensitivity of the data being released, we may ask for further documentation such as a passport or photo ID driving licence.
Once we have received your request, identification and fee, we must respond to you within 40 days.
