General News

IG Baseline Assessment Due by 31st March 2010

By 31 March 2010, all community pharmacies are required to complete an online baseline assessment against the requirements in the Information Governance Toolkit. Key steps to do this are:

Step 1: Appoint an Information Governance (IG) Lead(s). Hints and tips can be found on page 6 of the Information Governance Pharmacy Contractor Workbook.

Step 2: IG Lead needs to take time to understand the requirements, for example by reading through the Information Governance Pharmacy Contractor Workbook.

Step 3: Register for access to the online Information Governance Toolkit (https://www.igt.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/). Guidance can be found in Appendix 2 of the Information Governance Pharmacy Contractor Workbook.

Step 4: Login and record the pharmacy’s current level of compliance on the Online Information Governance Toolkit – simply record an honest evaluation of the pharmacy’s current position in regard to each requirement.

There are 18 information governance requirements for community pharmacy. The levels of achievement within each requirement range from zero to three. For many of the requirements, whilst pharmacies already have processes in place that ensure the secure handling of information, these may not be fully documented. This means that pharmacies may not currently have the evidence needed to meet Level 1 or 2 of the NHS requirements. It is therefore accepted that for many pharmacies some or all of the requirements will need to be base-lined at ‘Level 0’.

By 31 March 2011, community pharmacies will be expected to attain Level 2 against each of the pharmacy information governance requirements.

A pharmacy contractor workbook was sent to all pharmacies during January. If you didn’t receive a copy, please contact PSNC’s Office on 01296 432823 or info@psnc.org.uk. This provides a guide to entering information on the online Toolkit and information on all of the resources that are available to support pharmacies in meeting the requirements. Technical support in using the online Information Governance Toolkit is available from the DH Informatics Helpdesk (0113 394 6540).

For more information, click on the links below:

Download the Pharmacy Contractor Workbook

Frequently Asked Questions

Note, these requirements apply to England only. Different arrangements apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Highlighted FAQ

I currently don’t use any mobile computing systems in my pharmacy. There is no ‘Not Applicable’ option on the Toolkit, how should I record this requirement?

If the pharmacy does not use any mobile computing devices i.e. there are no laptops and PDAs, nor any portable device used to hold or transfer personal information (e.g. USB sticks and CDs/DVDs), 'Level 3' can be recorded but the pharmacy should insert a comment in the text field that states the requirement is not applicable, and that their policy is that they have no mobile computing devices. For example: "Requirement not applicable, this pharmacy does not use removable or portable computing equipment including CDs/DVDs and USB sticks." The pharmacy should ensure that staff do not use mobile computing devices in their role.

NB: This guidance has recently been updated. Some contractors have been informed that Level '2' should be declared in this situation. If 'Level 2' has been declared and the 2010 baseline declaration already submitted, there is no need to contact the PCT to update to Level 3.

More FAQs can be found in the IG Section of this website.

Posted 25 March 2010

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