Data Protection Act 1998

The data protection act of 1998 was implemented in march 2000. Personal data qualifies as any information that relates to an individual in which everybody has a right to access their own. The data protection act allows individuals to feel secure and protected and deprived of any worry or stress by leaving the responsibility of their personal information in the hands of a professional. The data protection act meets legal and regulatory requirements, including record keeping. Personal data stored on computers or in an organised paper filing system. organisations using computers to store and process personal information had concerns such as, who could access this information, could it be easily copied and was a record kept of any changes made
Forms of legal entity provide the protection of limited liability to patients, it is important for service providers to ensure they have an understanding of how important record keeping is. Service providers must be aware of how to deal with certain situations. To carry out their responsibilities successfully, service providers must work under the policies and regulations suited to the organisation. Standards serve a number of functions; they provide a vision of ideal practice. Accreditation standards may be more prescriptive, with descriptions of practices that a competent professional or provider organization should be able to meet. Licensing standards provide basic protections by the State for the well-being of patients. Standards provide benchmarks for measuring how well current performance meets the required or desired practice. Compliance in meeting legal requirements, with and fulfilment of legal and regulatory requirements. Legal and regulatory compliance is essential for all organizations. Consent, wherever possible obtain consent before using personal data. Personal data should contain a statement explaining what the information is to be used for and who it may be disclosed to. Sensitive data, staff should be particularly careful with sensitive personal data such as, religion or sexuality. This information should only be held and used where strictly necessary. Always obtain the consent of the individual concerned. Individual rights are an important thing to consider, wherever possible be open with individuals concerning the information being held about them. When preparing reports or appending notes to official documents, remember that individuals have the right to see all personal data and could therefore read any comments made about them. Disposal of records, when discarding paper records that contain personal data treat them confidentially. Similarly, any unnecessary records should be