The third sector in Leeds is broad and diverse with approximately 1,500 registered charities and a further 2,000 new, emerging, un-constituted, or otherwise informal, organisations also within the sector. The third sector is increasingly seen as an integral part of the broad health and social care system in Leeds, and makes an invaluable contribution to delivering care and support to people in their communities.
Many parts of the sector are now embedded within transformational plans for the city, which seek to embrace and integrate the third sector offer. Integration is multifaceted, requiring system and cultural change to support this holistic approach; but a key component of change is a move towards cross sector data sharing, communication between service delivers, and working collaboratively with all multidisciplinary agents involved with peoples care.
Since June 2020, the City Digital Partnerships Team, which is hosted in Leeds City Council has commissioned and funded a Principal Information Governance Officer (Dani Mistry) to work with third sector organisations, delivering ‘direct care’ around Information Governance (IG). Supported by Forum Central (a network of health and social care third sector organisations in Leeds) the project aims to prepare and support organisations to apply for access to Leeds Care Record (LCR). Working with an initial cohort of 13 organisations identified as delivering ‘direct care’, (based upon initial assessment and criteria to access LCR) Dani and the team have amassed knowledge and understanding of IG compliance within parts of the third sector in Leeds.
To date Dani has conducted an IG audit on each organisation and assisted them through the NHS Digital Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to provide evidence for data protection compliance. Organisations who successfully progressed through the IG audit, and have all the prerequisites for the LCR application are being supported to complete the LCR application. To date two organisations have been granted approval to access Leeds Care Record and a further eleven are working toward this.
This session provides an overview of Dani’s work to date as well as reflection on some of the intended and broader impact of her work; opportunities and challenges for the health and care system; and implications for the third sector in accessing patient data.
Dani Mistry has in-depth knowledge and experience in Data Protection compliance, having implemented GDPR for Bradford Metropolitan District Council. She has a real skill in making the complex world of Information Governance clear and manageable for those who find this area of work well outside their comfort zone. Dani recognises that the third sector plays a pivotal role in delivering health and wellbeing services and support, something which has been particularly notable during the COVID-19 crisis. This understanding has informed Dani’s belief that the third sector needs to be integrated into the wider community healthcare system, and why it is so important that organisations are given controlled access to information to enable them to work in a coordinated and joined up way with the broader health and care system across Leeds.
