The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has a new campaign. It is called Better Records Together. The ICO wants to make it easier for people to get their care records. The ICO makes sure that organisations look after information properly. This article tells you more about what the ICO is doing.
Care records are important because they can help people understand their past. Care records can include things like:
- Photographs of friends and family
- Memories people might have forgotten
- Reports written by social workers
- Answers to questions about what happened in someone’s life
But sometimes it can be hard for people to get their records. They might face problems like:
- Long delays
- Parts of records being blocked out (this is called ‘redacted’)
- Not getting enough help
The ICO wants to help make this better. They have made a new guide for people with care experience. The guide tells you:
- How to ask for your care records
- What your rights are
- What to expect when you try to get your records
- Where to go if you have a concern or if you need support
The guide is based on what care experienced people said was important to know about
getting their records.
Find out more
Visit the ICO website to find out more about Better Records Together. You can:
- Read and download new guide for people with care experience.
- Watch videos from people who have already got a copy of their care records.
- See the new guidance for organisations. This tells organisations how to respond to requests for care records. And how to do this in a sensitive way.
- Learn more about what the ICO is doing to help people to get their records.
Future Pathways is pleased to support Better Records Together, the latest campaign from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Better Records Together calls for urgent improvements to support people accessing their care records. This campaign follows two years of engagement and research into how services can better support people to access their records and understand their history.
To help tackle issues and encourage systemic change, the ICO has created a suite of practical resources including new standards for organisations, clear guidance for people accessing their records, and videos and case studies amplifying the voices of people with care experience.
These new resources are vital in ensuring that care experienced people can access their records in a supported and sensitive way. We encourage everyone to join the collective effort in empowering people to exercise their rights and access their records.
Standards for Better Records
See the new set of good practice standards created by the ICO for organisations who hold care records. These aim to provide clarity, drive change and raise the standard so that people can access their records in a timely and supported way.
Short guide for people with care experience
This bitesize guide covers all the key information around accessing care records, rights under data protection and how to raise a complaint. The guide reflects what care experienced people said was most important about accessing their records.
Videos and case studies
Gain a deeper understanding of how it feels for people to access their records. These videos and case studies highlight the experience of people who have encountered barriers in accessing their care records.