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Health and Adult Services

What we do

Health and Adult Services will work with you to promote your health and wellbeing, designing services to maintain your independence and dignity. We make sure you have as much choice and control as possible over how you live.

We provide a comprehensive range of services including:

Social care and safeguarding

Multi-agency safeguarding via the Greenwich Safeguarding Adults Board (GSAB). This is a statutory service which exists to make sure that all member agencies are working together to help keep Greenwich adults safe from harm and protect their rights.

Assessments in the community to provide appropriate support and intervention to help with your care needs. This also includes anyone who has caring responsibilities.

Assessments and support to assist with discharge from hospitals and a variety of care units that provide rehabilitation and reablement support. This is done in conjunction with health colleagues across the borough.

A joint Community Learning Disability service provides advice, assessment and services for anyone diagnosed with a learning disability and their family.

Commissioning and resources

The Performance Team analyses all the data and intelligence of our service activities to ensure appropriate services are in the right place at the right time.

We commission, alongside our health partners, a range of services to deliver appropriate care to anyone over 18 years of age in the borough. We ensure, via a robust monitoring process, that all of our care providers meet national standards of care provision. We work closely with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which is the governing body that oversees all care provided.

Our Customer Care and Complaints Team deal with a variety of comments, and suggestions from or relating to residents of the borough.

The Interpretation and Translation team use a scheduling system provided by Introworld Technology Ltd. Authorised staff may, with the council's permission, access the system to carry out essential maintenance when required.

Why we need your information and how we use it

The sharing of information facilitates a joined up approach with partner agencies, to provide you with the best possible care and support.

We use your personal information to:

  • create a secure and comprehensive record of all of the work that we do with and for you
  • promote your health and wellbeing in partnership where applicable with the NHS and Oxleas NHS Trust using details contained in your care records
  • arrange short and long term care solutions
  • liaise with agencies, companies and charities on your behalf
  • keep you safe from harm
  • process complaints and compliments regarding the services we have provided
  • request and arrange installation of specialist equipment for you
  • assess your financial contribution to your care
  • work with you or your representative to create a Care and Support Plan.
What is our power to obtain and use personal data?

The main law that covers service delivery is the Care Act 2014.  Under the Care Act 2014 local authorities have a statutory obligation to provide relevant social care services for:

  • service delivery
  • service planning/improvement

We also provide services under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.  This means that your data is processed as part of our legal obligations and tasks in our official authority.  Any 'special category' data (such as health data) is processed under the provision of health and social care.

We may also use your data for the prevention or detection of fraud/crime or research. When it is for research purposes it will be anonymised data only.

Remember if we cannot use your data we would not be able to assess social care needs or be able to arrange or provide social care services.

What type of information we collect

In the course of working with you, we may collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

Personal data

  • personal information, for example your name, address, telephone number, date of birth
  • contact details for members of your family and support network
  • information about your finances, for example bank details, income, benefits
  • photographs, for example to help inform an occupational therapy assessment.

Special categories of personal data

  • your racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical belief and your sexual orientation
  • health conditions or disabilities that may apply to you
  • you and your circumstances
  • relevant health and safety concerns
  • your needs and wishes.

This list is not exhaustive.

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way.

We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

Who we may share your information with

Where necessary or required, we may share your personal information with the following parties:

  • Advocates, deputies, persons with legal power of attorney
  • Borough councils, housing associations and landlords
  • Care Quality Commission (CQC)
  • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
  • External providers
  • Other departments within the Council only where it is both necessary and appropriate to do so
  • Internal teams, such as children services (we share a database), housing and finance
  • Greenwich Safeguarding Adults Board (GSAB)
  • Legal representatives, such as solicitors
  • Local Government Ombudsman
  • NHS South East London Integrated Care Partners
  • The Department of Health for social care development
  • NHS providers, such as GPs and hospitals
  • Other professionals
  • Partner agencies, such as volunteer organisations and statutory organisations.

Some of the above organisations may access your data via the London Care record. You can object to sharing your information through the London Care Record by using the Individual Rights Request form.

This data sharing enables us to personalise your care and ensure that you are receiving the best support possible. This would only be when relevant or required by applicable law.

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by law. There may be occasions when we are required to share information, for instance if there is serious risk to you or someone else.

Certain information is used to complete statistical returns to Government departments and is also used to help us develop and improve our services. No personal information is included.

How long we keep your information

Records will be retained for no longer than ten years from the last involvement with adult social care before being securely destroyed.

Version date
June 2023