NHS - Wirral Health Service - Freedom of Information

To view the publication schemes for each organisation click on the link below

About the Freedom of Information Act

Code of Conduct on Confidentiality

Bebington & West Wirral PCT

Birkenhead & Wallasey PCT

Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Trust

Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology

Wirral Hospital NHS Trust

Freedom of Information


	Caldicott Home

	Endorsements

	Background to Caldicott

	Principals of Caldicott

	Definitions

	Ensuring Confidentiality

	Disciplinary Proceedings and the Law

	Agreements to be signed

	Appx 1 - Data Protection Principals

	Appx 2 - Access to Information

Code of Conduct on Confidentiality
and handling personal identifiable information
March 2002

This is a generic Code of Conduct for all Wirral NHS staff and covers personal information concerning staff as well as patients.

Background to Caldicott

The Caldicott Committee, Chaired by Dame Fiona Caldicott, was set up by the Chief Medical Officer for Health following increasing concerns regarding the way information flowed, not only within NHS organisations, but to and from non-NHS organisations also. The resulting report, "The Caldicott Committee: Report on the Review of Patient-identifiable Information", was published in December 1997.

The Report made sixteen recommendations. One of the recommendations was the appointment of a Caldicott Guardian, who should be either a senior health professional or an existing member of the management board, for each organisation. The Guardian is responsible for agreeing and reviewing protocols for governing the disclosure of personal identifiable information across organisational boundaries.

The Committee also developed a set of 6 general principles for the safe handling of personal identifiable information and these Principles are the guidelines to which the NHS works. They work hand-in-hand with the Principles of the Data Protection Act 1998, which came into force on 1 March 2000. They both cover information held in whatever format - electronic, paper, verbal, or visual. (See Appendix 1 for the Data Protection Principles). The six Caldicott Principles must be adhered to when collecting, transferring, or generally working with personal identifiable information.