Curtiss Green

The main reasons are: Ten years ago it was difficult but seemed to be manageable. Ten years later it seems to be extremely difficult but not as manageable.

A week later it ranges from IVF, death through to a query around surgery on someone backside. If you are using peoples data in the NHS you need to know who they are and what they are experiencing – you cannot do that if you just refer to them by their NHS Number. That is … Read more

Dealing with a large data incident – one of the things that is complicating it is the inconsistent data quality linked to staff names – literally lack of attention to how they are spelt. Key message in the NHS is that we have to care about the quality of the data to everyone who uses … Read more

That is one of my key phrases at the moment whether I see bad staff management, bad working practice or general people forgetting this is the 21st century. I may not agree with everything these days, certain generations are self-absorbed or come across as overly protected, but there is the point where previous generations need … Read more

…and people need to keep up with the times, whether they like it or not. The IG scene is not as nice as people think and there are real challenges keeping up with everything. I am not even sure if it is about keeping up or just about needing to be a little behind so … Read more

…internet, email has its use but all official correspondence would be sent by old fashioned mail. It is the great equaliser and makes sure that the person sending the mail and the person receiving it have the same timescales to respond.

The main problem is human error – that is the polite term for staff not checking the information that they are entering on systems about patients. Name and Date of Birth might be checked but a lot of the time there is a “computer says yes” approach if something immediately is matched but they do … Read more

Cut through the paperwork to allow the police to investigate a modern slavery case and also a possible murder. Sometimes you just have to put your name to something and just get on with dealing with something because it is only right to do so.

…and stand by it. With a lot to do with data protection you are not going to make everyone happy. The more complicated the organisation that you support, the more that shades of gray apply because the legislation does not really say what is right or wrong, more what you have to consider and then … Read more

One of the suggestions from the ICO is that if you are providing health care services – say a hospital – that you start advertising your privacy notice at bus stops around the area. The aim is fine – make sure that as many people get the chance to understand how you may be using … Read more