Data security roles

 The lead persons looking after data security.

The superintendent pharmacist is in overall control of the management of a pharmacy, including its professional and clinical management and management of the administration of the sale and supply of medicines.

The National Data Guardian advise that health and social cares may appoint a Caldicott Guardian to look after data security matters within their organisation.

Some types of organisation should appoint one. However, it is not mandatory for pharmacy contractors to appoint a registered Caldicott Guardian, though they may choose to do so if this makes sense for their organisation. There should already be somebody at a high level within the organisation – which might be the IG lead – who takes responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of service users’ health and care data and making sure that it is used appropriately. The Caldicott Guardian manual can be a useful resource to assist in this job role and the Caldicott Guardian Council can provide help and guidance. A Caldicott Guardian could also be appointed for multi pharmacies.

The DPO may, or may not, be a member of staff. The DPO has responsibilities set out in the GDPR – past guidance may be found: ‘GDPR Data Protection Officer’. The DPO should advise you on your obligations under the GDPR and should have expert knowledge of data protection law. You may want to appoint a DPO even if you are not required to do so.

This is a formally assigned responsibility for data security to the relevant individual. It could form part of their job description or be an email from the appropriate manager in your organisation.

Community Pharmacy England recommends an internal DPO for their local knowledge but the reasoning for staff selection and any later conflicts can be noted as per advice: NHS England has advised Community Pharmacy England:

“ICO advice is when a Pharmacy Manager (or staff member) becomes a DPO, the decision and reasons behind it should be documented and retained as part of the ‘accountability’ that GDPR requires. They also said, where possible, that any conflicts of interest between a person’s current role and that of DPO should be recorded along (again where possible) with mitigating measures to reduce or even eliminate such conflicts. Where they have to deal with a small public authority with the requirement for a DPO to be appointed, they intend to be as pragmatic as they can be.”

Pharmacy contractors may wish to download, adapt and use:

Data security (DS) and IG template 21: Data security roles (see DS templates webpage).