Adult social care, quality assurance and safeguarding service team privacy notice

1 Council contact details

1.1 West Northamptonshire Council

Registered Office:
One Angel Square
Angel Street
Northampton
NN1 1ED

The Data Controller is West Northamptonshire Council.

Adult social care services includes the following areas:

Community teams
Learning disability teams
Inclusion teams
Care home review and continuing health care team
Customer service centre
Hospital adult social care team
Safeguarding team
Approved mental health professionals
Deprivation of liberty team
Commissioning and quality team
Brokerage
Financial assessment team and personal budget support service.

These are the main contact points for anyone to request adult social care support or to request advice and information regarding social care.

2 Information that we hold

2.1 What personal data do we need from you?

Name and contact details
Social care ID
NHS number
Family details
Lifestyle and social circumstances
Goods and services
Financial details
Housing needs
Case file information
Visual images, personal appearance and behaviour

What 'special' types of personal data do we need from you?

Physical or mental health details
Racial or ethnic origin
Religious or other beliefs of a similar nature
Social care support outcomes
Criminal proceedings, outcomes and sentences
Offences (including alleged offences)

3 How the information is obtained

3.1 Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

Requesting advice regarding adult social care services;
Requesting an assessment for support from adult social care services; and
Requesting advice and support to assist because you are at risk of abuse or neglect

We may also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources:

Family members
Friends
NHS agencies
GPs
Hospitals
Ambulance
Health visitor
Commissioned support providers
Police
Other Local Authorities

In the following scenarios:

Information to complete your assessment
To request an assessment on your behalf
Due to safeguarding concerns

3.2 There are a number of reasons why we need to collect and use your personal information:

Health and social care treatment
Health and social care management
Provision of support and services
To safeguard you

Our lawful basis for using your personal data is to meet our statutory duties to you as outlined in legislation such as the Care Act, Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act.

4 What we do with the information

4.1 The Care Act 2014 places a duty on us to work closely with health colleagues to ensure the best level of care is delivered to our citizens. It also requires us to consider whether any universal preventative services or other services available locally could help adults and older people stay well for longer.

We use the information we have about you to assess your care needs, to draw up a plan of support with you, manage and monitor the quality of our services and to make our statutory statistical returns to government.

We collect only the information that we need to carry out these functions and we ensure that it is used and stored safely and securely.

All staff who have access to information about you will have received training on data protection and information security and they work to a code of conduct which requires them to respect the confidentiality of the information about you that they have access to in order to do their jobs.

4.2 Who else might we share your data with?

In line with the best practice outlined in the Care Act we will always ask you who you are happy for us to share your information with. We record what you say about this in our case files, so that we can comply with your wishes wherever possible. In order to provide you with the best service possible we will ask to share information about you with people and agencies who know you or who might be able to help you. This may include:

North Northamptonshire Council, if we are providing a service on their behalf under a hosted arrangement
Health providers
NHS agencies (GPs, hospitals, ambulance, health visitor)
Domiciliary care providers
Residential care providers
Education providers
Advocacy services
Day care providers
Mental health services
Government agencies (Department of Health, Department of Work and Pensions)
Local government
Police
Substance misuse agencies
Advocacy services
Fire and rescue services
Prepaid card providers
Direct payment support services
Housing associations
Careline
Voluntary sector organisations

All information sharing is done in accordance with council policy. We require anyone we share information with, or who uses it on our behalf, to adhere to the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. We may need to share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities, which we will only do if required by the applicable law.

The sharing of information in health and social care is guided by the Caldicott Principles.

Use of your NHS Number in Adult Social Services

If you are receiving support from adult social services, then the NHS may share your NHS number with us. This is so that the NHS and adult social services are using the same number to identify you while providing your care. By using the same number, we are able to work together to improve your care and support.

We will use this number in an integrated care record system across a number of support services including GPs, hospitals, community matrons, district nurses and social care practitioners.

5 How long we keep your information for and how we securely dispose of it after use

5.1 We keep your personal information for all aspects of processing in line with the council’s retention schedules.

We will stop using your data after we no longer have a statutory reason to use your information, this may be when your services have ended, and we are no longer required to use your information for service planning or improvement purposes.

Your data will be deleted 7 years after we stop using it where a service has been provided or 5 years after we stop using it where we have only provided you with advice and information.

5.2 We will securely dispose of your information in line with retention periods.

6 How we store your information

6.1 Your information is securely stored on the council’s systems.

7 Your data protection rights

7.1 The law gives you a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how we can use it. Please see section 15 of the council’s Privacy Policy for further information.

7.2 Please be aware that your rights may differ depending on the lawful basis for processing your personal data.

7.3 You can say that you do not want the Council to share your personal information with other individuals or organisations at any time. You can refuse this at the start of our contact with you, or you are able to change your mind at any time. It is important to remember that if the council are not able to pass your information to other organisations, this may then reduce the options available, delay, or on occasion prevent you from getting the help you need.

If you wish to exercise this right, please contact the Data Protection Officer detailed in section 8.1 below.

8 Who to contact

8.1 If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8.2 If you are still dissatisfied once you have contacted the Data Protection Officer, you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Completion and review dates

This privacy notice was completed on 18 March 2021.
The privacy notice review date is March 2022.

Last updated 29 September 2021