Telecare

  • Service Area: Directorate of Social Services
  • Work Area: Adult Services
  • Contact Details: Jo Williams, Assistant Director, willij6@caerphilly.gov.uk,  01443 864611
  • Privacy Notice Name: Telecare Services
  • Description of Privacy Notice: This privacy notice will explain how Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Telecare Services will use information you have provided about yourself (personal data) when you contact the service directly or a contact/referral has been made to Caerphilly County Borough Council by another organisation/individual.

How we will use your information

Source and type of information being processed

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Telecare Services will store any details relating to your situation in a way that will assist the Council in supporting you to meet your and / or your family’s needs.

This section will explain the categories of personal data that could be shared with us and the types of organisations/individual that may provide us with information.

Categories of personal data obtained

Telecare Services may obtain and hold the following categories of your personal data:

  • Address
  • DOB
  • Gender
  • Contact Details
  • National Insurance number (your unique identifier)
  • Your social services account number (where applicable)
  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Religion

Telecare Services may also obtain, hold and process more specific information including:

  • Recordings of any visits or contact you have made or we have made with you, this includes voice recordings of all calls made to and from the control centre.
  • Recordings of any activations or notifications from your Telecare equipment, including voice recordings where applicable.
  • Information about other members of your household
  • Details of family relationships in and outside of your household
  • The names and contact details of your close relatives and/or carers
  • The names and contact details of other people who you, or your advocate has nominated as a contact or personal responders (for example a friend or neighbour)
  • Details of your GP, and any other health practitioners that provide support to you, for example District Nurses.
  • Details of your utility and communications providers, and what type of phone line you have (analogue or digital).
  • Details of your registered social landlord
  • Details of any other services you are receiving
  • Details about your needs in all areas of your life (e.g. your care & support needs)
  • Details of your physical health.
  • Details of your mental health and capacity
  • Details about your medication
  • Details of your wellbeing
  • Information used to assess your situation, such as assessments and reports
  • Things that other organisations (such as health or care homes) and individuals that support you (personally and professionally), tell us to help us understand your situation and needs and co-ordinate your care services more effectively
  • Any additional needs or disability
  • Details of your personal outcomes
  • Details of your lifestyle information
  • Access information for your home, including key safe locations and codes
  • Information about any potential risk to people visiting your home (for example a protective pet)
  • Financial information
  • Criminal record
  • Restorative Justice
  • Deprivation of Liberty
  • Information about your property and tenure
  • Information about absences from the home, for example holidays or visits to hospital.
  • Your correspondence preference.
  • Information about why you want or need the Telecare service, and how the service benefits you, including responses to service reviews and satisfaction survey feedback.
  • Information relating to our maintenance of your telecare equipment
  • Your reasons for ending the service.
  • Analysis of your use of the service to identify further support needs
  • Records of onward referrals to other departments and agencies to provide support.  

Source of the personal data

Caerphilly County Borough Council Telecare Services receives and records information from a variety of sources on you. This information could be received from:

  • Yourself
  • Family Members
  • Your personal contacts / support network (nominated by you or your advocate)
  • Emergency Services
  • Other departments and databases within Caerphilly County Borough Council
  • Other Local Authorities
  • Health Authorities / Healthcare professionals
  • Registered social landlords
  • Department of Work and Pensions
  • Court of Protection
  • Utility Companies
  • Communication providers
  • Regulatory bodies – Care Inspectorate Wales/Health Inspectorate Wales
  • Legal Representatives
  • Care Professionals
  • Funeral Directors
  • Partner agencies

If you would like further information on the source of information we hold, please contact Caerphilly County Borough Council.  This may require you to apply for a Subject Access Request under Data Protection Legislation.

Purpose and legal basis for using your information

Purpose of processing and Legal basis for processing

Telecare Services

Telecare Services provides Telecare equipment and a response to calls generated by that equipment, to eligible service users.  The equipment enables service users to contact our Control Centre to seek support, including assistance for medical or social emergencies.  The equipment may also include sensors that automatically trigger a call to the Control Centre when a parameter has been met (for example, smoke sensors detecting a potential fire, or fall sensors detecting a potential fall). Control Centre operators will use information provided by the service user and / or sensor, along with information held about that service user and their personal responders in order to determine and make the most appropriate response.  It may sometimes be necessary to consult with personal contacts or responders, or professionals supporting the individual to determine the most appropriate response.  Where other services or agencies are required to facilitate support, your personal information will be supplied to them, but only the information necessary for them to make the response.

Other purposes Telecare Services may process and share your information for includes, but is not limited to the following:

  • Register and process applications for the service
  • Install and maintain the equipment installed for the purpose of carrying out the service
  • Ensure the information we hold about you is accurate
    • We will contact you or an advocate to review your data
  • Ensure your equipment is working, this may include
    • An annual birthday call and / or letter requesting that you test your equipment.
    • Contact with you, or your personal or professional support network to check or test your equipment either as part of a routine check or following an event that could impact on your equipment, for example a power outage.
  • Manage the financial side of our contract with you
    • To send invoices
    • To manage payments, including non-payment
    • Notifying you about changes in charges
  • Manage our relationship with you
    • To notify you about changes to the service, terms and conditions or privacy policy
  • To ask you to provide feedback or complete a survey to help us improve the service
  • Ensure the quality of the service
    • To ask you to provide feedback or complete a survey to help us improve the service
    • To conduct quality checks on calls to feed into service review and staff reviews.
    • To manage complaints
    • To produce management and key performance indicator reports
    • By providing information to auditors
  • Analysis of your use of the service to identify further support needs

We may also share details of your landline telephone number and the Telecare Alarm unit you have installed, with communications providers in order to ensure your Telecare service is not impacted by the analogue to digital switch, and also to prevent any delay to your switch to analogue to digital where there would be no impact on your Telecare equipment.

If it is believed at any stage of the process that an adult may be at risk then the Protection of Vulnerable Adults Procedures will be followed, which may result in a formal investigation and assessment.  This may involve several agencies such as the police or health. 

In order for the processing of personal data to be lawful under the General Data Protection Regulations 2016 (GDPR), a valid condition from Article 6 of the Regulations must be identified, which is outlined below:

1(b) processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract.

Data Protection legislation provides extra protection for certain classes of information called 'special category personal data'. If any information falls within the definition of special category personal data then an additional condition from Article 9 of the Regulations must be identified.

Data Protection legislation also provides extra protection for personal data in relation to criminal convictions and offences. If any personal data falls within this category then an additional condition from Article 10 of the Regulations must be identified.

The condition detailed below is both an Article 9 and an article 10 condition for processing.

2 (1) This condition is met if the processing is necessary for health or social care purposes.

(2) In this paragraph “health or social care purposes” means the purposes of—

(a) preventive or occupational medicine,
(b) the assessment of the working capacity of an employee,
(c) medical diagnosis,
(d) the provision of health care or treatment,
(e) the provision of social care, or
(f) the management of health care systems or services or social care systems or services.

Who will have access to your information

Identity of Data Controller and Data Protection Officer

The Data Controller for your information is Caerphilly County Borough Council. The Data Protection Officer is:

Other Data Controllers may also be responsible for your information, depending on the specific circumstances. Please contact the Service area for further information.

Details of main users of your information

The main users of your information will be Caerphilly County Borough Council Telecare Services. 

If your case requires further action or involvement from Social Services, your information/data will be transferred to a team within Adult Services to receive the appropriate services or support.  These teams may include:

  • Older People teams
  • Occupational Therapy Team
  • Physical Disability & Sensory Impairment Team
  • Learning Disabilities Team
  • Substance Misuse Team
  • Mental Health Team
  • Supporting People Team
  • Community Support Services
  • Children with Disability Team
  • Adult Accommodation Teams (Supported living, Shared lives and Respite)
  • Commissioning Team
  • Residential & Day Care Services
  • Home Assistance & Reablement Team (HART)
  • Joint Hospital Discharge Team
  • Adult Safeguarding/POVA Team
  • Client Finances Team

Your information/ data may also be transferred to a team within Children Services where there are children living with you in circumstances where the sharing of information is essential for them to receive the appropriate services or support.

In addition to the above the following teams may also have access to your information:

  • Caerphilly County Borough Council Housing Department – if you are a CCBC Housing tenant and the support you require is housing related
  • South East Wales Emergency Duty Team -  If referral is made out of hours
  • Complaints and Information Team - If the case escalates to a complaint
  • Legal Services - If the case involves the court process
  • Council Tax / Benefits Team – in order to check your eligibility for a subsidised charge for the service
  • Financial Services Team - If your case is being assessed for financial assessment
  • Insurance Services - If there is a claim against the Authority
  • Health & Safety Team - If a risk assessment is required
  • Corporate Finance/ Internal Audit teams - If an audit is required

Details of any sharing of your information within Caerphilly County Borough Council

Your information will be stored on a Caerphilly County Borough Council Telecare Services database (UMO) and also the Welsh Community Care Information System (WCCIS), which is a joint system for providers of Social Care, Community Health and Mental Health services in Wales. 

Access to your information will be controlled, allowing relevant practitioners access to the required information to support the safe delivery of care to citizens of Wales.

Your personal information (name, address, contact numbers) may be used on spreadsheets to help manage and monitor the following

  • Applications for the service
  • Equipment maintenance management
  • Annual data review returns
  • Cancellation of service and collection of equipment
  • Deleted records list

Details of any sharing of your information with other organisations and individuals.

Our actions in response to the information received will be proportionate to the information and there may be times when we need to speak or consult with colleagues externally.  This may include but not limited to:

When you or your equipment contacts us, the Telecare Services operator may pass your information/data to a third party in order to facilitate the immediate service or support you need.  In some cases, we may also pass your information / data to a third party in order to facilitate ongoing support.

These third parties may include

  • Emergency Services
  • Your personal contacts / support network (nominated by you or your advocate)
  • Your GP or other healthcare professionals
  • Carer or Care agencies
  • Registered Social Landlord or Housing Team staff
  • Alarm equipment engineers
  • Translation services
  • Other Local Authorities
  • Department of Work and Pensions
  • Court of Protection
  • Utility Companies
  • Communications provider
  • Family Members
  • Health Authorities
  • Regulatory bodies – Care Inspectorate Wales/Health Inspectorate Wales
  • Legal Representatives
  • Care Professionals
  • Funeral Directors
  • Partner agencies

Sometimes your needs will require a non-statutory intervention.   In these cases a referral will be made to relevant organisations on your behalf, such as Citizen’s Advice Bureau or other support groups etc.

In the event that a member of Telecare Services staff is unable to respond to calls, for example due to a major emergency in the control room, we have a contract in place to divert the service to another control centre to ensure continuity of service.  This contract centre will have access to the UMO Call handling platform for the duration of the divert period.

If other contracts need to be set up with an external provider, to provide a relevant service or support, all relevant information will be shared with the provider to ensure this service is successfully delivered.

All sharing of your personal data with other organisations will be carried out in compliance of data protection legislation requirements.

If you move outside of Caerphilly County Borough area your personal data may be shared with your new local authority to continue supporting you to meet your and /or your family’s needs.

Requests for information

All recorded information held by Caerphilly County Borough Council may be subject to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Data Protection Legislation.

If the information you provide is subject to such a request, where possible Caerphilly County Borough Council will consult with you on its release. If you object to the release of your information we will withhold your information if the relevant legislation allows.

How long will we retain your information

Details of retention period

How long Caerphilly County Borough Council retains information is determined through statutory requirements or best practice.  Your information will only be kept for a specific period of time, after which it will be securely destroyed according to the Directorate’s Record Retention & Disposal Policy.

The nature of information we hold, will determine the length of time we hold it for. 

 

Personal Information Record
Call Records
Service Level Agreements and VAT forms

Retained for the duration of the contract and for a minimum period of 7 years after termination of the contract.
 

Voice recordings

Held for 2 years

Spreadsheets to manage referral, installation, maintenance and collection of equipment, and review

Held for 7 years.

Your Rights (Inc Complaints Procedure)

Your rights under the Data Protection legislation

Data Protection gives data subjects (those who the information is about) a number of rights:

  • The right of subject access – Application forms for this process are available on our website: SAR Form
  • The right to be informed
  • The right of rectification
  • The right to erasure
  • The right to restrict processing
  • The right to object
  • The right to data portability
  • Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

Further information on your rights is available from: www.ico.org.uk. 

To enact your rights please contact the service area detailed on the top of this form.

Complaints Procedure

If you are unhappy with the way that Caerphilly County Borough Council has handled your request / information, you have the right of complaint. Please contact the Service Area detailed at the top of this document outlining your issues.

If you remain unhappy you also have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office.