When you come to us here at Concept Care for help, regardless of what your specific needs are, one of your top concerns will, no doubt, be our record-keeping practices and procedures.
This is entirely understandable, as confidentiality in health and social care is an absolute must – and you need to know that your data and information is protected, shared only among those with whom you have a certain level of trust
Concept care record-keeping practices
We ensure that we maintain accurate, up to date and secure records of medication for any of our clients receiving this kind of support, ensuring that they’re legible, are signed off by all relevant staff and workers, and bear the correct dates and times as appropriate, with no jargon or abbreviations to ensure continuity of care between different teams.
Typically, all medicine administration records are kept for a minimum of eight years after your care (or that of a loved one) has ended with us. After this, we review the records and if they’re no longer required, we destroy them in accordance with local policies.
Medication aside, we also record the date and time of every visit we carry out at your home, with all records kept in the property at all times.
Other records we provide (where appropriate) include financial transactions that are carried out on your behalf, details of any changes in your circumstances, care needs or health/physical conditions, and any accidents that take place (however minor) to either you or the support worker in question.
Who can access our home care records?
All records are accessible to you as the patient and we also ensure that you have the opportunity to help maintain these records.
Note that while the information in these records is confidential, as health and social care professionals, we do have a duty to share said information if it’s in the best interests of you or your relative/loved one.
Failing to share this information can potentially put you at risk – and lives have been put at risk in the past when medical information pertaining to a vulnerable adult hasn’t been shared.
But rest assured that only people who have a clear and strong need to know the information will receive it, as there are still legal rules regarding confidentiality and privacy that must always be adhered to.
Where family members are concerned, we will discuss with you what information you’d be comfortable with sharing, under what circumstances and with whom. Confidential information should be shared only when explicit and informed consent has been given and when the recipient in question consents to be told.
Further, if the client or patient in question does not have the capacity to provide valid consent, confidential information should only be shared with family members/carers if it’s in the patient’s best interests to do so.
We hope that this information puts your mind at ease regarding our record-keeping practices and how we approach it – but if you’d like to find out more, get in touch with the Concept Care team today.
