Data Privacy Week: our tips for care providers, staff and people who draw on care

January 24th 2024

This is international Data Privacy Week so it’s a great opportunity to remind care providers, their staff and the people who use services what they can do to keep data safe.

Here are our top tips.

Care providers

• Reduce the risk of a successful attack by cyber criminals. You should keep your organisation’s software up to date. Software and app updates contain vital security updates to help protect your devices. You should also install internet security software, such as anti-virus and/oranti-malware, on your devices and keep it up-to-date.
• Train your staff. Help them to understand their data protection responsibilities on paper, on digital systems and in person. You can use our free elearning course to train and assess their knowledge.
• Check and improve your data protection policies, procedures and practices using the free, comprehensive Data Security and Protection Toolkit – the self-assessment tool specifically for care providers.
• Contact our central team, or one of our local support organisations for help on data protection and cyber security.

Care staff

• Understand your responsibilities. Talk to your manager about training on data protection and cyber security – or complete our elearning course yourself. It’s free.
• Consider the type of information and why you need to share it. For example, if you have details of somebody’s medical condition and their GP requests this information so that they can provide care, that’s a good reason to share.
• Keep records safe – including paper records and digital records. Close down your computers or mobile devices, use strong passwords, and lock away paper records.
• Be careful about opening emails or clicking on links. Are they really from the person they seem to be from? You could be letting in a cyber criminal.
• Don’t send personal confidential information via email unless you are using a secure email system.

People who draw on care

• Ask your care provider how they use your data and how they keep it safe. They will need to share it with people who support you in order to ensure you get the help you want, but they need to do this securely.
• You could ask for the organisation’s Privacy Notice which explains how they use information.
• Ask if they have published their Data Security and Protection Toolkit and if it is up to date. If they have, it means they have considered what they need to do to keep information safe.

Better Security, Better Care supports care providers to check and improve their data protection and cyber security arrangements. Access free support from our central team, or your local support organisation.

Photo by Centre for Ageing Better on Unsplash