Drug and alcohol death reviews service area privacy notice

1 Council contact details

1.1 North Northamptonshire Council

Registered Office:

Sheerness House
41 Meadow Street
Kettering
NN16 8TL

2 Information that we hold

2.1 We currently collect and process the following information for the real time drug related deaths surveillance management system will record a range of personal data on deceased individuals, who have died in relation to drugs and alcohol. Data covers demographic information, location information, substance information and history of the individual including what is known by partner organisations and their families. This can include the following:

Location of death type
Substance type
Problem substance
Sexual orientation
Physical health conditions
Mental health conditions
Multiple disadvantages
Marital status
Religion
Occupation
Known services involved
Known to be in treatment
Previous non-fatal overdose
Circumstances of death
Next of kin details to signpost to bereavement support (this is only data on the living and is based on their consent to contact)
Was this person known to be misusing substances
If a drug user, were they injecting
Were you aware of any suicidal intent
Service or organisation contact and engagement
Prescription or medication
Possible vulnerabilities - personal situations or factors
Timeline of contact with services or organisations
Final death conclusion

3 How the information is obtained

3.1 Most of the personal information we process is provided to us through one of the following means by NHS Digital under section 42 (4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, as amended by section 287 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002.

3.2 There are a number of reasons why we need to collect this personal information. Generally, we collect and use personal information where it is necessary to improve public health.

3.3 We process this personal information under:

UK GDPR Article 6 (1)(e) processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller, in line with Public Health England’s Drug alerts and local drug information systems.

Access to civil registration data (mortality, births and vital statistics) DARs is to help local authorities understand their local population so that they can provide evidence-based interventions to improve public health and reduce health inequalities as directed in the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

In respect of special categories of personal data, the applicable UK GDPR Article 9 ground: (h) processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of [domestic law] or pursuant to contract with a health professional and subject to the conditions and safeguards referred to in paragraph 3.

4 What we do with the information

4.1 We use the information shared with us in order to support statutory public health duties, such as:

Duty to improve public health: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the local authority under Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to take appropriate steps to improve the health of the population, for example by providing information and advice, services and facilities, and incentives and assistance to encourage and enable people to lead healthier lives
Duty to support Health and Wellbeing Boards: Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the local authorities and Health and Wellbeing Board(s), under Section 194 of the 2012 Act to improve health and wellbeing, reduce health inequalities, and promote the integration of health and care services; the data will also be used to support the statutory duty of Health and Wellbeing Boards under Section 206 of the 2012 Act to undertake Pharmaceutical Needs Assessments
Duty to produce Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies (JHWBs): Analyses of the data will be used to support the duty of the local authority under Sections 192 and 193 of the 2012 Act to consult on and publish JSNAs and JHWSs that assess the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the local population
Duty to commission specific public health services: Analyses of the data will be used to support the local authority to discharge its duty under the Local Authorities Regulations 2013 to plan and provide NHS Health Check assessments, the National Child Measurement Programme, and open access sexual health services
Duty to provide public health advice to NHS commissioners: Analyses of the data will be used by Local Authorities to discharge its duty under the 2013 Regulations to provide a public health advice service to NHS commissioners
Duty to publish an annual public health report: Analyses of the data will be used by Directors of Public Health to support their duty to prepare and publish an annual report on the health of the local population under Section 31 the 2012 Act

4.2 We may share this information with:

West Northamptonshire Council in order to support the statutory duties of the Director of Public Health and enable the provision of evidence based Public Health services across both Unitary Authority areas
Northamptonshire Drug and Alcohol Related Death (DARD) panel member and signatories, ad-hoc members, appointed service leads, advisors to the DARD panel and External Experts - information shared will be relevant to the case review, treated in a sensitive and confidential manner to maintain the privacy of the deceased and their family - all reports relating to the panel will be anonymised before being shared beyond the membership of DARD panel

4.3 We do not use automated decision making for equalities processing. Automated decision-making is where decisions are made without any human influence on the outcome.

4.4 There is no profiling undertaken in relation to equalities processing. Profiling is where you analyse parts of an individual’s personality, behaviour, interests, and habits to identify their preferences, make predictions or decisions about them.

5 How long we keep this information for and how we securely dispose of it after use

5.1 We keep this information for purposes stated above for 6 years in line with the council’s retention schedules. A copy of the retention schedule can be requested through the council’s website.

5.2 We will securely dispose of this information in line with retention periods.

6 How we store this information

6.1 This information is securely stored on:

the council’s systems, in which the servers are UK based
an external system called QES to store and manage the information of deceased individuals involving DARDs

7 Data protection rights

7.1 The law gives a number of rights to control what personal information is used by us and how we can use it. For further information, please see section 15 of the council’s ‘Corporate Privacy Notice’ on our website.

8 Who to contact

8.1 If you would like further information about how we use your personal information, or you wish to exercise one of your data rights or you wish to complain about the use of your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer.

8.2 If you are still dissatisfied once you have contacted the Data Protection Officer, you have the right to complain to the ICO.

The ICO’s address:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

9 Changes to this privacy notice

9.1 Privacy notices are live documents, which will be updated or revised in line with legislation.

9.2 This privacy notice was last updated on 5 December 2024.

Last updated 05 December 2024