SECURE — a straightforward and practical approach to understanding
information rights within prison healthcare
Mark Johnson and Damian Mitchell describe the
development of information-governance guidance for healthcare
workers in English and Welsh prisons.
keywords: confidentiality,
human rights, information governance, information sharing, prison
service, elearning.
abstract
No distinction is made in healthcare legislation between prisoners
and the rest of the community. Closer ties with the local healthcare
community will ensure that, in the not too distant future, patients
who are prisoners will benefit from equivalent standards of care.
Central to this is the implementation of an integrated approach to
information management and governance. An audit of all prison
healthcare staff in 2003 highlighted that while many were keen to
implement IT, their understanding of systems was limited. Also there
was a lack of clarity concerning directives, guidance, policies and
the whole agenda on consent, confidentiality, human rights and
information governance.
The SECURE package was developed as a standalone resource, to cover
six key themes, ranging from data-protection legislation to human
rights and Prison Service policy and procedures. It combines guidance
notes and CD ROM-based knowledge resources. The package will be
distributed as a knowledge resource for self-directed study following
regional launches in March 2004, and NHSU is planning to develop a
structured training programme to support SECURE later this year.
Discussions are already under way as to the most effective method of
delivering training, although it is anticipated that an elearning
model will provide the best platform for a large scale roll-out.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2004; 21(3): 22–5.
