Last modified on Sun 21 Mar 2021 16.57 EDT
The invasion of information technology into healthcare brought the ancient principle of confidentiality between doctor and patient into conflict with opportunities to store and share data collectively.
Fiona Caldicott, who has died aged 80, devoted the last 25 years of her life to resolving this issue within the UK National Health Service. She chaired three government reviews of information governance and in 2014 became the first National Data Guardian, appointed to “advise and challenge the health and care system to help ensure that citizens’ confidential information is safeguarded securely and used properly”.
Caldicott was a private person, rarely in the public eye: as one writer put it, “she knew outcomes were more important than headlines”. Trained as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist, she would ask searching questions, listen intently to the answers, and respond with thoughtfulness and insight. In 1996, having completed he
Dame Fiona Caldicott tribute
A tribute to Dame Fiona Caldicott, the first National Data Guardian, whose work over many years leaves a lasting legacy for patients and service users.
From:
15 February 2021
It is with great sadness that we learned today of the death of Dame Fiona Caldicott.
As members of the team who supported Dame Fiona in her work as National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care (NDG), we are full of sorrow at losing our inspirational colleague. She led us with unswerving integrity, modesty and a commitment to doing her best for patients and service users. Her name is well known across our sector and beyond, but we had the added privilege of knowing her personally and holding dear the thoughtful, compassionate person behind the public profile.