We're asking holders of care records to commit to creating better records together

Introduction  

Access to personal information is a fundamental right, but it can be so much more to people with care experience. For tens of thousands of people who have care experience, records can be their biography. These records can hold forgotten memories, valuable parts of their identity or sometimes difficult answers behind traumatic life events.

Organisations that hold or create care records, and respond to requests for access to them, play a vital role as custodians of this information.  

However, we have heard from people that often they are waiting too long, or they are not getting what they want or need from their records. Delays, inconsistent redactions, and a lack of support and communication, risks causing harm to people. 

That is why we launched Better Records Together, a campaign calling for improvement in how records are handled, with new resources including our Better Records Together standards, based on research with people with experience in care and the organisations who handle care records.  

We know that many organisations are striving to make improvements whether that's implementing best practice, adopting or exploring the use of new technologies, or training and resourcing teams so they can meet the increasing demand and complexities of records requests and access.  

We are now calling on organisations handling care records to publicly commit to support Better Records Together. By making this commitment, your organisation is saying it will prioritise the handling of care records and take tangible steps to implement the Better Records Together standards, including the five steps for senior leaders.  

The commitment is a voluntary declaration by an organisation. It’s a demonstration of support for the standards and the action the organisation is taking.

Join other organisations across the UK in making a commitment to Better Records Together. 

What the commitment is, and what it isn’t

This a public commitment to support Better Records Together and to work to implement the measures set out in our standards. By making this commitment, an organisation is saying it will prioritise the handling of care records and take tangible steps to implement the Better Records Together standards, including the five steps for senior leaders.  The ICO will host details of organisations who have made this commitment on our website and will use this in our communications about the Better Records Together campaign.

This isn’t a legal commitment. Organisations are responsible for complying with data protection law whether or not they publicly commit to supporting Better Records Together. If people are concerned about how an organisation is handling their care record or subject access request, they can raise a concern with the organisation and with the ICO.

We will continue to undertake regulatory supervision of organisations handling care records on a case-by-case basis. An organisation publicly committing their support to Better Records Together does not prevent the ICO from investigating that organisation if we have concerns about their compliance, nor does it mean we will always investigate or take formal action if concerns are raised about an organisation who has publicly committed their support. We set out in our standards document how we will use the guidance in our regulatory activity.

For further information, or to share examples of good practice in your organisation, please contact [email protected].