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COVID-19 and Information Governance

  • During the COVID-19 pandemic and the later transition to an endemic stage, we needed to continue managing and sharing information appropriately.
  • Health and social care services have been facing significant pressures due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
  • In such circumstances it could have been more harmful not to share health and care information than to share it.
  • As a result, since the start of the pandemic, the Information Commissioner has provided assurance that they cannot envisage a situation where they would take action against a health and care professional clearly trying to deliver care. You can read the statement from the Information Commissioner’s Office, alongside their Q&A resource. To that end, Health and Social Care regulators across the UK also published a joint statement. This assurance hasn’t changed in its principles, regardless at what stage of dealing with COVID-19 we are at.
  • From the outset of COVID-19 and at every stage, we needed to work fast, and in many cases this involved working in new and different ways. Our focus has been on what information needs to be shared (or processed or used) and who to share it with, with due regard being always given to how you share or process it.
  • In this section, you will find additional resources and guidance we have produced to assist during COVID-19 and for COVID-19 purposes. This advice sets out some of the tools you can use to support individual care, process information (including sharing) and communicate with colleagues during this time.
  • After completion of the transition to endemic stage of COVID-19, there is an expectation that Information Governance practices return to Business as Usual.

COVID-19 Privacy Statement

This privacy statement has been developed in response to COVID-19 and is intended to both inform and reassure you that your information is being shared appropriately within the NHS in Scotland and with our partner organisations.