Last month we:

• responded to 71 enquiries
• made 53 decisions
  • 22 community care grants
  • 31 crisis grants
• upheld 45% of community care grants and 10% of crisis grants
• signposted an additional 86 applicants to other sources of assistance 
• received 11 calls from councils seeking advice...

Concerned foster families address the CHR about the scope and security of personal data collected and processed in the register of custodial data created under the Family Support and Foster Care Act.

As of 1 February 2023, Article 38d was added to this Act by the Act of 7 October 2022 amending this Law, which includes a list of various groups of persons related to foster care. The register is maintained by the starost, the organizer of family foster care, the provincial marshal and the voivode using an ICT system provided by the Minister of Family, which enables the register to be maintained, data to be transferred to it, data to be deleted from it and data to be made available from it. The problem is that the scope of the data collected in the register of foster families includes, inter alia, marital status, occupation, place of employment, source and amount of income. This is excessive to the purpose of the register and contradicts the general principles for the processing of personal data in Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation. The case is similar for children. There are concerns about the security of these data, as many authorities are entitled to obtain them. As a result, there is a risk of disclosure of sensitive data and violation of the right to privacy.

Jan Nowak, President of the Office for the Protection of Personal Data, replied, pointing out that "(...) the issues raised in your letter were of concern to the authority responsible for the protection of personal data at the stage of giving its opinion on the draft law (...)". He also stressed that the Office is an independent body, outside the sphere of government administration, and its influence on the legislative process is limited to giving an opinion on draft laws submitted to it. The opinions of the authority responsible for the protection of personal data on these drafts are of an expert nature and the drafters are not obliged to accept the objections raised in these opinions.

Hundreds of people across England with drug and alcohol dependencies who have been prescribed Valium long-term, will have their cases reviewed following an Ombudsman investigation.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Change Grow Live (CGL), on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council, has been prescribing benzodiazepines to people long-term, against national guidance. The company also provides drug and alcohol services for 50 other councils.

Benzodiazepines – including diazepam (Valium) - are a class of medicines that can relieve nervousness, tension and other symptoms of anxiety and should usually only be prescribed short-term.

CGL’s policy explains people use them for anxiety, insomnia, to enhance opiate effects, to deal with mental health issues, improve confidence and to reduce psychotic symptoms like hearing voices. However, if they are prescribed for too long, they can have significant negative effects including dependence, withdrawal symptoms and drug-seeking behaviour.

People on these medicines should have their prescriptions reviewed regularly, and those reviews should consider the benefits and risks of continuing with the current dose, reducing or stopping it, with a management plan put in place after each review.

However, the Ombudsman’s investigation found CGL were either not reviewing people’s prescriptions regularly enough or not keeping proper records of those reviews.

Across the country, CGL has 343 clients who are on long-term prescriptions. Its medical director has since started a national clinical audit focusing on benzodiazepine prescribing across the country.

Nigel Ellis, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Chief Executive, said:

“Clinicians need to weigh up the benefits and risks for patients who are taking these medicines long-term and should have a clear rationale for continuing to prescribe.

“I am pleased that patients in these vulnerable groups will now have their cases reviewed more regularly and comprehensively following my investigation.

“Both CGL and the council have co-operated fully with our investigation, and I welcome their ready acceptance of our recommendations.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case CGL and the council have agreed to provide the Ombudsman with a report of the national clinical audit CGL is currently doing.

The council has also agreed to ensure CGL improves record keeping, updates its policy to include recent guidance from NHS England and completes yearly audits of Cambridgeshire CGL clients who are on long-term prescriptions of benzodiazepines.

Article date: 23 August 2023

Queja número 22/4583

En esta Institución se ha tramitado expediente de queja a instancia de parte, en el que la persona interesada manifestaba su desacuerdo por habérsele denegado la reducción de jornada para cuidado de hijo con cáncer o enfermedad grave, que tenía concedida antes de cambiar de centro de trabajo en el Servicio Andaluz de Salud.

Recibido el informe solicitado a la Dirección General de Personal, ésta nos comunicó que se le había concedido a la persona promotora del expediente de queja el permiso reclamado.

Concerned foster families address the CHR about the scope and security of personal data collected and processed in the register of custodial data created under the Family Support and Foster Care Act.

As of 1 February 2023, Article 38d was added to this Act by the Act of 7 October 2022 amending this Law, which includes a list of various groups of persons related to foster care. The register is maintained by the starost, the organizer of family foster care, the provincial marshal and the voivode using an ICT system provided by the Minister of Family, which enables the register to be maintained, data to be transferred to it, data to be deleted from it and data to be made available from it. The problem is that the scope of the data collected in the register of foster families includes, inter alia, marital status, occupation, place of employment, source and amount of income. This is excessive to the purpose of the register and contradicts the general principles for the processing of personal data in Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation. The case is similar for children. There are concerns about the security of these data, as many authorities are entitled to obtain them. As a result, there is a risk of disclosure of sensitive data and violation of the right to privacy.

Jan Nowak, President of the Office for the Protection of Personal Data, replied, pointing out that "(...) the issues raised in your letter were of concern to the authority responsible for the protection of personal data at the stage of giving its opinion on the draft law (...)". He also stressed that the Office is an independent body, outside the sphere of government administration, and its influence on the legislative process is limited to giving an opinion on draft laws submitted to it. The opinions of the authority responsible for the protection of personal data on these drafts are of an expert nature and the drafters are not obliged to accept the objections raised in these opinions.

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