Diabetic Screening Practices and Information Governance Compliance- 15/04/2016

You will recall an email from Helen Jones sent to the Alert Centre on Optomize on 15 February, advising of the need for all optical practices participating in the Staffordshire diabetic eye screening programme to complete an Information Governance assessment, via the on-line IG Toolkit Version 13 (2015-16).

Staffordshire LOC has recently had discussions with the LOC Support Unit (LOCSU) about the stated requirement for screening practices to complete the IG Toolkit.  LOCSU questions if it is really necessary and proportionate for every single subcontractor optical practice of a provider to complete the IG toolkit, providing that the prime provider is IG Toolkit compliant (in this case Staffordshire DESP), and providing that there is sufficient contract assurance around Information Governance.

This afternoon, Staffordshire LOC informed Helen of LOCSU’s position regarding optical practices and the IG Toolkit requirement.  Helen has duly noted this, and kindly promised to pass it on to the Information Governance Lead at SSOTP.  We are hoping that the IG Lead will contact Helen with her response next week.

Until such time as it has received the necessary clarification, Staffordshire LOC advises all screening practices not to proceed with the IG Toolkit just yet.  As soon as SSOTP’s LG Lead has provided the definitive answer on this matter, we will let you know what is required in order to achieve compliance.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Regards,

Staffordshire LOC Chair and Officers.