You have a legal requirement to keep any personal data secure. As a support worker this means you must know about and follow your organisation’s policies and procedures. Take a moment to see if you can quickly find the following policies or procedures. Your CQC inspector might ask you about them if they talk to you during their next inspection.
If in doubt check it out and ask your manager
Follow your organisations policies, procedures and agreed ways of working
Handy hints and tips to keep you covered
Almost everyone works flexibly and uses computers and mobile devices on a daily basis. It makes life easier and this course is a great example of how you can benefit by using any device to access online content wherever you are.
Whether you work from home or have a meeting in a coffee shop, you need to be careful and make sure you don’t come unstuck and avoid these data disasters.
Password security
Insecure passwords
Secure passwords should be a minimum of 6 characters and include:
- -capital letter
- -lower case letter
- number
- -special character !?$£%
Don’t use the same password as you do for your personal accounts.
Don’t write them down or share them with anyone.
Do use a different password for each account.
Using personal devices
Don’t use your personal devices for work unless your manager tells you it’s allowed. If you do use your personal device:
- -Do make sure it has a password or pin-code.
- -Do encrypt or password protect USB drives
- -Don’t take photos of individuals or their property
- -Don’t use your personal email account for any communications about them
- -Don’t save information or photos from work WhatsApp groups or emails
Working at home
Sometimes we have to take work home with us. This could be a print-out of a rota with information about the individuals we support or your work laptop.
Some organisations will not allow you to take any data home! Always check with your manager before taking information home and if you do, make sure you keep it safe and secure in a locked cabinet or drawer.
Don’t allow your family or friends to see it!
Secure your office and physical data
It can be easy to forget that information isn’t just online nowadays.
Make sure your office, files and IT equipment are secure and that any visitors and contractors are properly monitored and don’t have access to the data you hold.
- Make sure your screen isn’t overlooked and your phone calls can’t be overheard.
- Clear your desk and don’t leave any confidential information out if you leave your desk.
- Always lock your device when you are not using it:
- Windows key + L on your computer
- Power button on your mobile
Accessing information about friends and family
You should only look at the information you need to do your job and support the individuals you are caring for.
Do not search the database or records to see if anyone you know is on there. There will be a log to show what you have accessed. You could be disciplined by your employer for not following their procedures if you do look at something that you are not supposed to.
If you do see something that you think you shouldn’t have seen then tell your manager as soon as possible. They will be able to help!
Data deletion
Make sure you follow your
organisation’s policies and procedures to securely erase any information you need to.
- Do shred paper documents.
- Do shred electronic documents – you need to do more than just delete them. Most antivirus software will allow you to permanently delete files.
- Don’t put files in the recycling.
- Do follow your organisations email procedure to make sure information in emails is managed properly and deleted if required.
- Do empty your electronic trash bins to if you have deleted an email.
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