What is it?
In a nutshell IG is about governing, looking after and being responsible for patient information.
For pharmacy, there will be a set of 18 standards which over a period of time will need to be complied with. PCT's will monitor for compliance.
What do I have to do?
- Read through the contractor workbook which will be sent by PSNC.
- Perform an online assessment of where the pharmacy currently is in respect of the 18 standards and submit this online by March 2010. For multiples, each pharmacy needs to be assessed.
- Produce an IG work plan and achieve Level 2 compliance in all standards by March 2011 for each pharmacy.
- Keep evidence for PCT monitoring.
18 Standards
- Pharmacy IG lead and IG Workplan
- Information Governance Policy
- Contractual Confidentiality Clauses
- Staff Awareness and Training
- Information Governance statement of compliance
- Monitoring Compliance with RA01
- Confidentiality Code of Conduct
- Mapping and Risk Assessing Information Flows
- Offshore Data Transfers
- Data Transfer Procedures
- Patient Consent
- Patient Awareness
- Access Controls
- Information Asset Register
- Physical Security of Premises
- Mobile Computing Systems
- Business Continuity
- Incident Reporting
Each standard has levels of compliance from 0 to 3.
Level 2 must be achieved by March 2011.
For more details on each of the standards refer to the IG contractor workbook. A draft version is available on the PSNC website and once published the final version will also be published on their site and sent to contractors.