A set of All Wales Policies have been developed for use by Primary Care Service Providers by the Information Governance Support for Primary Care service. These policies are supplementary to the All Wales Policies issued under the All Wales Information Governance Policy Framework and are maintained by Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) on behalf of all NHS Wales organisations.
The policies are divided in to two categories. The first set comprises of the:
NHS Wales Email Use Policy for Primary Care Service Providers must be implemented where staff have been given access to the NHS Wales Email Service. In-line with best practice organisations should request for their staff to acknowledge that they have read and understand the policy. All new starters must do so prior to being given access to the Email Service.
All Wales Internet Use Policy for Primary Care Service Providers must be implemented where staff have been given access to the NHS Wales internet facilities via the NHS Wales network infrastructure. In-line with best practice organisations should request for their staff to acknowledge that they have read and understand the policy. All new starters must do so prior to being given access to the internet facilities.
The second set comprise of the:
All Wales Information Governance Policy for Primary Care Service Providers available for organisations to adopt as best practice, rather than developing their own, if they wish.
All Wales Information Security Policy for Primary Care Service Providers available for organisations to adopt as best practice, rather than developing their own, if they wish.
Prior to adoption the Organisation should familiarise themselves with the content of the policy(ies) to ensure they are able to comply with them. The policy(ies) should then be agreed and signed off by the highest level of management within the Organisation, for example the Practice Management Team or Senior Responsible Person. As part of the policy(ies) implementation, the Organisation should also notify patients and staff that they are working to these national policies and the policies should be circulated and made easily accessible to staff.
Should you require further information or have any questions regarding any of these polices please contact the Information Governance Support for Primary Care service by emailing: dhcwinformationgoverance@wales.nhs.uk