Adult Social Care privacy notice

For a summary version of this notice please use the Easy Read version (92 KB)

About Your Information

This page provides information for adults and carers about data which is held and used by Staffordshire County Council and about your rights.

Why we keep your information

We use personal information about adults, carers and family members or friends who are important to the adult, to enable us to provide services to them, and to carry out specific functions for which we are responsible.

This could include:

• Basic Personal information, eg name, contact details or address
• Data revealing racial or ethnic origin
• Political opinions
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Sex life data
• Sexual orientation data
• Gender reassignment data
• Health data
• Financial data, eg information to inform your financial assessment
• Identification records e.g. passport where this is required for your services such as authorising a Direct Payment card
• Criminal convictions or offences

We also use statistical information to inform decisions and plan the provision of services appropriate to the needs of the people of Staffordshire. The data also helps us to monitor and improve our performance in providing services and carrying out our job.

We record information about the needs of adults and carers and the care and support they have received to help plan their care in future. It helps them and us to have information about the contact we have with them, and it helps us to build up a picture of what services are needed.

We also have to give the Government information about how we provide our services.
All information we record, and hold is handled securely, and in accordance with the law (Data Protection Legislation 2018)

How long we keep your information

The length of time we keep information varies. This may be because of government regulations. Generally we retain information for 6 years following the provision of care or support, including the provision of information, advice and guidance.

However for adults in receipt of mental health support records are retained for 20 years following the provision of care and support, or 8 years after the adult’s death if the adult died while receiving treatment

You can see how long we keep certain types of records in a document called our retention schedule. When records reach the end of their retention period, they are destroyed securely.

Who we share your information with

We will share data with partners to support the assessment and provision of your care and support, and to investigate any safeguarding concerns. Sometimes we have a statutory reason for sharing information, but where appropriate, we will discuss the benefits of sharing information with you and ask for your consent before sharing your data.

It is important to note that the suppliers of our ICT systems have access to our records and systems only when necessary to complete system updates.

We also store some information about adults who have a social care involvement on our secure Geographical Information System, Cadcorp. This data includes name, address, provider details and a risk rating. The purpose for this is so that we are able to identify and make contact with at-risk residents in emergency situations rapidly in line with our emergency planning obligations.

In certain circumstances, when we feel that you or others are at risk, we may share your information without your consent. Any data that is shared is done so in line with the law, and is governed by information sharing protocols.

Our Partners include:

• Health Partners (including Midlands Partnership NHS University Foundation Trust, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, University Hospital of North Midlands)
• Police and criminal justice agencies
• Other local authorities
• Providers of care and support (for example your Care home or home care provider)
• Providers of Childrens services where young people are transitioning to adulthood.

On request we must send information to government departments such as:

• Department for Health & Social Care
• Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

When required, we also have a legal obligation to share data with the police or agencies such as benefit agencies to assist the prevention of crime or fraud.
We may also share data with our partner agencies in order to provide better co-ordinated services. An example of this is our One Health and Care Record.

Our lawful basis for processing

Under Data Protection Law, we are required to have a Lawful Basis for any processing activity involving personal data. In most cases, the Adult Social Care service process data with a lawful basis of either:

(e) Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

Or

(f) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party, unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)

However, there may be times when we rely on another basis, such as consent, vital interests or legitimate interests. We will always ensure that processing is carried out with an appropriate lawful basis identified in advance.

We are also required to have an Article 9 condition when processing special category data. In most cases, the Adult Social Care service will rely upon Article 9(h): Health or social care (with a basis in law) but may occasionally process special category data using a different condition.

Your Rights

The Data Protection Legislation 2018 gives you rights about how organisations handle information about you. More detail about your rights is on the Your information rights page.

How do I request my information?

Requesting your personal information is known as making a subject access request. If you want to find out how to access files held by Adult Social Care, see the Request personal information page.

Further Information

Further information about how we process personal data, such as how to make a complaint and how to contact the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), can be found via our main privacy notice.