Links to legislation and trusted advice

A good starting point for advice on any governance query you have is your local IG manager or service manager. We’d also be happy to chat to you about the cultural barriers to information sharing that you may be facing, and you can contact us via our contact us page. However, if your query is about governance or the legal side of sharing, and you can’t find an answer, we recommend that you contact one of the following;

• The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights, they also have a dedicated page to when is consent appropriate
• The ICO have created an interactive tool to help people identify which lawful basis they can use to share information – you can access it here: interactive guidance tool

Sharing of health and social care information:

• The Information Governance Alliance– the authoritative source of advice and guidance about the rules on using and sharing information in health and care;
• Understanding Patient Data – Understanding Patient Data’s aim is to explain how and why data can be used for care and research, what’s allowed and what’s not, and how personal information is kept safe;
• The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) – the Social Care Institute for Excellence improves the lives of people who use care services by sharing knowledge about what works;
• The UK Caldicott Guardian Council – the UK Caldicott Guardian Council (UKCGC) is the national body for Caldicott Guardians. A Caldicott Guardian is a senior person responsible for protecting the confidentiality of people’s health and care information and making sure it is used properly. All NHS organisations and local authorities providing social services must have a Caldicott Guardian, to find out who is your organisation’s Caldicott Guardian, or to find out who to contact in a partner organisation, visit the NHS Digital’s register of Caldicott Guardians.

Sharing of blue light services:

• College of Policing – Authorised Professional Practice (APP) is developed and owned by the College of Policing (the professional body for policing) and can be accessed online. APP on information sharing has been produced to assist forces with the statutory duty to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) when sharing personal information.

Legislation and documents which can help:

• ICO data sharing checklist
• The Data Protection Act
• Visit our page on getting prepared for the General Data Protection Regulation.

Not what you were after? Head back to our information governance page to see if the eight key challenges we’ve identified as the biggest and most common cultural challenges to getting an Information Sharing Agreement, an Information Sharing Protocol or a Privacy Impact Assessment off the ground, accepted and implemented, resonate with you.