Facilitator Handbook 2005 - PRIMIS

PRIMIS Facilitator Handbook
Information Governance
IM&T Security
The NHS and its partners handle vast quantities of sensitive information every day, including
both clinical and non-clinical information. Comprehensive policy and guidance on information
security and relevant risk management need to be in place, thereby ensuring that all
reasonable care and safeguards to protect both the physical security of information technology
and the data contained have been taken. This is often referred to as CIA – protecting the
Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of NHS systems and the data held within them.
Records Management
An organisation’s records represent the organisation’s corporate memory, providing evidence
of actions and decisions, while also supporting daily functions and operations. Records support
policy formation and managerial decision-making; they protect the interests of the organisation,
and also the rights of patients, staff and members of the public.
Information Quality Assurance
All health care is information-driven, be it for the provision of direct clinical care of the patient,
for disease surveillance, for medical research or for health care management. Any threat to the
quality of that information is therefore a direct risk to the quality of the service provided by the
NHS and those who access that service. Clearly, setting standards for assuring good data
quality is an important element of information governance.
The Information Governance Toolkit, which provides a route map for the achievement of best
practice in information governance for NHS organisations, makes it a requirement for general
practices to participate in a recognised scheme of data quality, such as PRIMIS, or to
undertake regular detailed in-house checks on data quality.
These five key areas, including the relevant legislation, policy and guidance, are covered in the
PRIMIS Information Governance training module.
Information Governance and the PRIMIS Process
Throughout the PRIMIS process, there are many aspects of the work where information
governance needs to be considered. These include:
• data quality - an important component of information governance
• confidentiality agreements with participating practices
• protocols for sharing named practice data
• confidentiality safeguards inherent within MIQUEST
• using report style MIQUEST queries run as a local enquirer, such as CHART
• records management policies
• access to the computers in general practice
• confidentiality and security of information held on computers.
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