NHSX has set up a group to work on clearing up some of the confusion about information governance (IG) in the health and social care sector.
Dawn Monaghan, head of IG policy at the organisation, told the UKAuthority Data4Good conference on Friday that the first meeting had taken place the previous day.
The group has not yet been named, but she said it is a step towards NHSX – the recently formed group in charge of digital policy for care in the Department of Health and Social Care – becoming a ‘one stop shop’ for guidance on the issue.
Its chief executive Matthew Gould has been meeting with the information commissioner and national data guardian to sort out their respective roles, with the aim of NHSX owning the overall strategy for IG in health and care.
Collaborative approach
“We should work collaboratively together and it should all go out from one place,” Monaghan said, adding that the statutory functions of the organisations will not change and that, while guidance will have the NHSX branding, it will be pushed out through other channels and available through the portals of other bodies.
“One of the big issues has been there is far too much guidance from far too many organisations saying things that are similar but not the same and sometimes contradictory,” she said.
“The landscape is so complex. The Health and Social Care Act does not quite fit with the Data Protection Act which doesn’t quite fit with the other acts and codes.”
Among the issues on which the new body is working are a revised records management code of practice, a pseudonymisation code of conduct and the sharing of anonymised patient data.
