How we use your personal information for RCT Short Term Care and Support Team (Adult Services) purposes
The Council provides services for local communities and the people who live in them. Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services. Because we collect and use personal information about individuals we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with.
We have summarised in this privacy notice some of the key ways in which we use your personal information at RCT Short Term Care and Support Team (Adult Services)for assessment and commissioning purposes. This information should be read in conjunction with the Council’s corporate privacy notice.
1. Who we are, what we do.
The Short Term Care and Support Team has been developed to undertake an assessment and provide equipment or commission services to meet your needs.
Following a referral to the Short Term Care and Support Team either from the Council’s Single Point of Access or from other professionals the Short Term Care and Support Team will contact you and either:
- Arrange a visit to you to;
- Provide information, advice or assistance, and/or equipment;
- Undertake an assessment of your needs or your carers needs, which may result in recommendations for other services such as community services, domiciliary care or care home services.
Sometimes other professionals will contact us such as hospital staff, district nurses, GP’s or the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) where they have concerns the person may need additional support to help them with daily living.
Mainly, people contact us for additional support when they find it difficult to manage their care and support needs because of disability, illness or frailty or because of advancing age.
Carers contact us when they require information, advice or assistance with their caring role
2. What and whose personal information we hold?
The information that we collect about you, your family and friends includes (but not limited to):
- name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email address.
- name, address and contact details of family members and friends who are involved in your day-to-day care.
- name, address, contact details of your G.P.
- details about your care and support needs and how these are to be met.
- details about the help and assistance that is needed to maintain or improve your independence, safety and wellbeing.
- details of the outcome of any risk and manual handling assessments undertaken.
- details about any difficulties that you, your carers or our staff may have had when meeting your needs.
- details about any accidents and incidents that have occurred when our staff are meeting your needs.
To ensure that we have an understanding of all your needs, we may ask you, your family and other health and social care professionals for some very personal and sensitive information about your:
- disability, condition or illness.
- sight, hearing and communication needs.
- continence needs.
- mental health and cognition.
- mobility, dexterity and the need for aids and equipment.
- medication requirements.
- dietary requirements and preferences (if appropriate).
- social interests, religious and cultural needs (if appropriate). .
- home and how it meets your needs.
- family involvement and how they support you.
3. Where does the service get my information from?
The main source of information we use is provided to us from:
- You or your family, carer or friends initial call and any subsequent contact
or from
- Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to include GP’s
- Domiciliary Care, Care Homes, Housing or other provider services
- Other Council services such as the First Response Team, RCT Single Point of Access. MASH or Housing etc.
We will also collect information from our discussion with you and others who support you. We keep a record of the assessment, equipment provided and the outcomes that we have helped you to achieve and a record of the things you may have asked us about, such as:
- requests for information and advice.
- requests additional for an assessment or care and support including equipment.
- compliments and complaints.
4. What we will do with your personal information?
We will use the information to provide you with an assessment and to commission appropriate services.
Sometimes the services the Council provides are not the most suitable to meet your outcomes. In those cases we may share your information with other providers or services who may be better placed to provide you with support.
By way of example, this may include:
- Undertaking an assessment of your needs:
- Processing your referral
- Undertaking an assessment of your personal needs for a further assessment or to commission services.
- Provide you with equipment
- Work with other Council services and organisations to gather the information needed to make an accurate assessment of your needs or recommendations for adaptations to your home.
- Record how we have met your outcomes and any difficulties we may have had with meeting those outcomes.
- Keep a record of our involvement and contact with you, your family and other organisations involved in your care.
- Review your assessment and review how the service has met your outcomes/needs and to ensure your satisfaction with the services that we provide.
- Identify your needs and develop your outcomes.
- Arranging for support services as identified in your assessment:
- Work with other Council services and partner organisations to arrange the care and support that you require.
- Commission any third party care and support services that may be required.
- Arrange access to a care home (e.g. on a step up/down or respite basis) (where required).
- Monitor how well providers are providing services
Please note that we may also use this information to produce management information and reports to help us improve our services and ensure that we are running our services properly. Typically, these reports will contain facts and figures and will not contain any information that identifies you, but we may use personal information to arrive at those figures.
We may also use this information to undertake case file audits and case studies as part of our training and supervision process.
5. What is the legal basis for the use of this information?
Data Protection law says that we are allowed to use and share personal information only where we have a proper and lawful reason for doing so.
Our lawful basis for processing personal information in order to provide you with support at home services and to meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is as follows:
Personal Information:
Article 6 1.(c),(e) - to fulfil our legal and statutory obligations under the:
- The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
- The Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- The Care Standards Act 2000
- The Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016.
Special Category Information ((i.e. information about a person’s race, ethnic origin, politics, religion, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health, sex life or orientation):
Article 9 2.(g) - to fulfil our legal and statutory obligations under the:
- The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014
- The Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- The Care Standards Act 2000
- The Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016.
Article 9 2.(h) – To support the provision of preventative or occupational medicine, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care treatment or the management of health and social care systems and services
Please note that whilst we may ask for your consent (under the common law Duty of Confidentiality and the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014) to share your personal information with others who are involved in your care, consent is not the lawful basis for processing your information under data protection law.
6. Who does the service share my personal information with?
The information that you and others share with us will be recorded in your assessment and your plan. Some of this information will be shared with the staff who may need to undertake a further assessment or provide you with support.
Sharing the information in your assessment reduces the need for you to provide the same information again and again to the staff or agencies who are involved in your care and support. This does not mean that we will share everything that you and others have shared with us. We will only share the information that is required to provide you with safe and appropriate care and support or community services.
We will only share your personal information with other Council departments or external organisations that work in partnership with the Council and its Community and Children’s Social Care Services. This could be but is not limited to:
- Your Social Worker
- Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub
- Equipment providers
- Housing providers
- Care Provider
- GP
- Nurse
- any person or organisation that can help meet your care and support needs
7. How long will my information be kept?
Records relating to Adults are kept for a minimum of 7 years after their involvement with any social care service has ended, for administrative purposes.
Records about a person’s health needs are kept for a minimum of 10 years from the date their involvement with any social care service ended.
8. Your information, your rights
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you important rights, including the right to access the personal information that the service holds about you.
View further details on your information rights and how to exercise them..
9. Contact us
If you have any concerns or would like to know more about how the service using your personal information please contact us in one of the following ways:
By email : socialservices@rctcbc.gov.uk
By telephone : 01443 425527
In writing: Adult Social Care Services, Ty Elai, Dinas Isaf East, Williamstown, Rhondda Cynon Taf. CF40 1NY