Promote Good Practice

Promote Good Practice in Handling Information in
Health and Social Care Settings



There are a number of acts regarding handling information that are relevant to the social care industry, such as the Data Protections Act, the Disability Discrimination Act, and the Freedom of Information Act, these acts dictate what information can be stored about a person, and whom is allowed access to this information.   There are also other parts of legislation that deal with confidentiality and peoples human rights.

There are legal requirements within these acts that require the information that is stored to be accurate, and up to date ensuring that personal information is only used for specific lawful purposes.   It is also stipulated that personal information should not be stored for longer than is necessary for its purpose, meaning that there is some information that will need to be stored for longer than others.   The data recorded about a person should also be relevant and not excessive for its purpose

All of this information has to be stored in a safe manner, and security measures need to be put in place to ensure that it is not subject to loss, theft, or accidental destruction or damage.

Information within my company is stored in both electronic and paper format, depending on the document type, for instance the daily journals for the residents are in a paper format, so that staff can access them and make entries on a daily basis, whereas items such as care plans are initially created in an electronic format, that is then stored so that relevant changes can be made to it, and a paper version printed so that staff can refer to it.

All of the information that is held electronically by the company can only be accessed by staff using a username and password, your username is linked into a secure system that only allows access to relevant documents, ensuring that other items are still blocked and may only be accessed by people with a higher authority.   The IT...