Care providers need to store and share information securely – on paper and digitally. We provide a range of free guidance, tools and advice services to help you to understand and improve your data protection and cyber security arrangements.
It is vital that people trust us to share and use their information safely and appropriately. The need for health and care organisations to show that we can share information safely has grown. This is due to a combination of regulatory, policy and legislative changes.
As a care provider, you should use the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to assess your data security compliance. Completing the Toolkit to Standards Met is the minimum compliance level that health and social care organisations must meet to access shared information though services such as Digital Social Care Records or proxy access.
Better Security, Better Care is the free national and local support programme to help care providers to understand their responsibilities, and to complete the DSPT. We are helping to coordinate this programme and strongly recommend that you access this support.
If you need additional guidance on information governance, we also recommend the NHS IG portal where you can easily find guidance which is relevant to social care.
