• Arrangements - How the Caldicott Guardian is supported in Council members' organisations
• Guidance manuals for Caldicott Guardians
• Job descriptions
• Queries - Issues raised by the Caldicott community
• Training

Background

The 1997 report of the Review of Patient-Identifiable Information, chaired by Dame Fiona Caldicott (the Caldicott Report), made a number of recommendations for regulating the use and transfer of person identifiable information between NHS organisations in England and to non-NHS bodies.

One recommendation was that every flow of patient-identifiable information should be regularly justified and routinely tested against the principles developed in the Caldicott Report.

• Principle 1 - Justify the purpose(s) for using confidential information
• Principle 2 - Only use it when absolutely necessary
• Principle 3 - Use the minimum that is required
• Principle 4 - Access should be on a strict need-to-know basis
• Principle 5 - Everyone must understand his or her responsibilities
• Principle 6 - Understand and comply with the law

Since then developments in information management in the NHS and in Councils with Social Care Responsibilities have added further dimension to the Caldicott role.

Therefore, we aim to build up a range of materials to assist health and social care staff to carry out this expanded role and to meet the wider concerns identified by the Caldicott community regarding the confidentiality and security of patient/client information and appropriate, legal information sharing.