Information Governance in Mental Health

Good information governance in a health or social care organisation is essential for maintaining the safety and effectiveness of care, efficiency and trust. In a good organisation, information about patients and those seeking care will be shared appropriately among members of the team responsible at every stage of the care pathway. There will be no improper use of confidential personal data; patients and service users will be able to confide in the professionals without fear of unauthorised disclosure. And in a good health and social care system, there will be strict rules to allow data to be used for other purposes such as research and planning better services without breaching confidentiality…Bringing about appropriate sharing of information at every stage of the care pathway required a fundamental change in professional and organisational culture. It was not realistic to expect that this would be achieved within a single year…. in too many organisations across England, the necessary change in culture has not been apparent” Information Governance Oversight Panel, January 2015