Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Chairman Dame Fiona Caldicott has been appointed as Chair of the NIGB from 1 June 2011. We look forward to working with Dame Fiona and maintaining our important role of providing advice and guidance to the Information Governance community in health and social care and the general public during the period of transition of the NIGB to the Care Quality Commission in April 2013.
Regarding the appointment, former NIGB Chair Harry Cayton said 'Dame Fiona has been a pioneer of information governance in health care. It gives me great confidence to know that the challenge of managing information in the new NHS will be taken forward under her guidance.'
Christine Connelly, Director General for Informatics said, 'I am delighted that Dame Fiona has accepted this important role advising the coalition government. Maintaining the confidence of the public in the ability of the health service to both protect and use information in the delivery of care is particularly important during this period of change'.
Dame Fiona commented on her appointment, 'I am delighted to have the opportunity to assist in continuing the work of the NIGB, and maintaining the appropriate use of data in people's care and support, as well as in clinical research for the benefit of the public.'
Dame Fiona Caldicott, DBE, FRCPsych, FRCP, FRCGP, FMedSci, is a psychiatrist and psychotherapist and previously was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. She was formerly a Pro Vice-Chancellor, Personnel and Equal Opportunities, of the University of Oxford. She is currently Chair of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust and is a past President of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. She was also President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists 1993 - 96. Dame Fiona chaired the original working group on the confidentiality of non-clinical patient data in 1996 which led to the publication of the Caldicott Report in 1997.
National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care
The NIGB is an independent statutory body established to promote, improve and monitor information governance in health and adult social care. Information governance is the term used to describe the principles, processes, legal and ethical responsibilities for managing and handling information. It sets the requirements and standards that the NHS needs to achieve to ensure it fulfils its obligations to ensure that information is handled legally, securely, efficiently and effectively. The NIGB regards information governance as essential for the lawful and ethical use of patient information both for the benefit of the individual to whom the information relates and for the public good.
The NIGB provides advice on the appropriate use, sharing and protection of patient and service user information. The NIGB also advises on the use of powers under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006 to permit the duty of confidentiality to be set aside, where other legal routes are not available. The NIGB provides this advice to the Secretary of State for Health, but also advises:
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patients
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service users and carers
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health and social care organisations and practitioners
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researchers
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others seeking to use patient and service user information.
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