Data protection - toxic social worker in the family

[ImontheTRAIN]

Hello there. I have a very toxic member of the family who has just started a job as a social worker with the local council. I have had previous involvement with social services (through no fault of my own - DV and mental health) and don't want this person to have access to my records, as she is known for gossiping and spreading rumours. Despite the confidentiality rules around her employment I am pretty certain she will try and access my records. I really don't want her to have access. The case is closed now, but a lot of the information is sensitive and I don't want the other family members to know.

Is there anything I can do to prevent her searching my notes? Are there any audits on who accesses confidential data or can any social worker access the notes even without legitimate cause to do so?

Thanks in advance.

She shouldn't be accessing your records, hopefully, they will have an electronic system that audits who is accessing what. If I were you, I would contact the council's data protection officer for some reassurance as to how they deal with their social security records (although their privacy statement should have all the info though saying that). If you suspect she's accessed them, report it immediately, there should be an audit trail.

Not sure if it's nationwide but there's a check if a SW opens records of someone who wasn't on their caseload on our LA system. It may not flag up unless there's reason why it should (eg. If a complaint got made, they'd have a record who accessed that data). People who cover Duty/On Call obviously access records that aren't on their caseload as they tend to be cases that are unallocated but need attention there and then. GDPR rules are quite strict so
I guess if you heard that family now knew your confidential information, you could request that they investigate who recently accessed your record (if you suspected that this had been done by your family member).

They should be able to lock your notes so that only authorised persons can read them. I would ring and request that and say you have a family member who now has access to those systems. This happens at my work when people who work at the council also have social services involvement. They can see what you've accessed and she'd be very silly to do that unless she had a reason directly linked to her own work.

Notes can be shielded on computer systems so they can’t be opened by anyone except allocated workers and their managers. However, do not underestimate how serious it would be if she did look, or attempt to look. There’s an electronic footprint on every file and there’d be no hiding it if she did look. It’s gross misconduct and a striking off offence. I know by then it’d be too late for you, though, so speak to the data protection officer at the council to see if the records can be shielded.

Thanks very much, I will contact the Data Protection Officer and see if they can put some kind of lock on the notes.

They should be able to lock your notes so that only authorised persons can read them.

Which implies that normally they aren't locked

Reassuring ...

Which implies that normally they aren't locked

Well no, but only social workers have access to the system, and as I’ve said there is an audit trail on every record.

It’s not like anyone in the council can get on to it.

I work for a LA in children and family services, as admin rather than as a social worker. Lots of details which may/ may not reassure you.
I can access everyone’s online records, including historical records, in my service as could a social worker. Cases which have restricted access are usually because the information eg address details are restricted from being shared with a partner. When undergoing training it was emphasised to us the seriousness of seeking out information - sackable offence. There is a digital footprint of everyone who accessed any online records, for restricted records I have to input a reason why I need access to the particular record, usually updating information or closing a client to a particular social worker. Again this request is recorded, access is permitted though so it would only be checked if someone were to complain.
I could if I choose to, have certain records closed completely to me, I have extended family in the system and friends etc. I don’t because I wouldn’t dream of snooping.
In the legitimate course of my work I have come in contact with the records of people I know, I just step away and ask another admin person to do what is required.
There are other paper records, being phased out, and departmental records which do not have the same level of protection. So for example a social worker could access another social worker’s ( within the same dept) records, usually to help a client if their actual SW wasn’t available, and there would be no trace of this to help if someone was reported.
All the staff I know take their responsibilities very seriously and it would only be relevant staff who had access for example gardeners working for the council couldn’t access social work records, this bit doesn’t help you as your relative is a SW.

Meanwhile ...

www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/11/police_database_security/

It would be gross misconduct if she accessed your record. She would also be struck off as a social worker if it was reported to the HCPC.

In my local authority children's services and adult services have different systems so she might not even use the same system depending which team she works in.

The likelihood is though is that no one will be actively checking what she is looking at unless a complaint is made.

It should only take a few clicks of a button to protect your record from being accessed by her. It shouldn't need to be protected though because anyone with any common sense would know it was a ticket to unemployment accessing a relatives record.

As others say, your notes can be restricted and if you're not open to social services at the moment then there's no reason anyone should be accessing them. You could ask for them to check if they have been accessed already and then ask for restrictions to be put on them. There are a lot of malicious reports about social workers but all reports are thoroughly investigated in case they are true and there's been a spate of rogue SW in the not too distant past not too far from me as reported by the media-