Fiona Caldicott

Dame Fiona Caldicott, DBE, FMedSci, FRCP, FRCPI, FRCPsych, FRCGP (née Soesan; 12 January 1941 – 15 February 2021) was a British psychiatrist and psychotherapist who also served as Principal of Somerville College, Oxford^[1] She was the National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care in England until her death.

Dame Fiona Caldicott DBE FMedSci
Caldicott in 2014.
Born	Fiona Soesan (1941-01-12)12 January 1941 Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland
Died	15 February 2021(2021-02-15) (aged 80) Warwick
Education	City of London School for Girls
Alma mater	St Hilda's College, Oxford
Occupation(s)	Psychiatrist, psychotherapist, lecturer, academic, and administrator
Known for	Caldicott Report
Spouse	Robert Gordon Woodruff Caldicott
Children	2

Early life and education

Caldicott was born on 12 January 1941 in Troon, daughter of barrister Joseph Maurice Soesan and civil servant Elizabeth Jane (née Ransley). Her paternal grandparents were greengrocers who were unenthusiastic about education; her father left school in his mid-teens, but subsequently completed a chemistry degree at night school and a law degree by correspondence.^[2] Caldicott was educated at City of London School for Girls, then studied medicine and physiology at St Hilda's College, Oxford, qualifying BM BCh in 1966.^[3][4][5]

Career

Fiona Caldicott was Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, from 1996 to 2010 while also serving as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Personnel and Equal Opportunities, of the University of Oxford and chairing its Personnel Committee. She retired from her 10-year term as Chair at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust in March 2019, having steered the organisation to Foundation Trust status.^[6][7] A past President of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, she was a Consultant and Senior Clinical Lecturer in Psychotherapy for the South Birmingham Mental Health NHS Trust from 1977 to 1996.

She was the first woman to be President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (1993–96) and its first woman Dean (1990–93). From 2011 to 2013 she was Chair of the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care. Caldicott was Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges from 1995 to 1996.^[8]

Caldicott was a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, and a Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners,^[9] as well as being appointed a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 1998.^[10]

Caldicott Committee

A review was commissioned by the Chief Medical Officer of England and Wales owing to increasing concern about the ways in which patient information is used in the NHS of England and Wales and the need to ensure that confidentiality is not undermined.^[11] Such concern was largely due to the development of information technology in the service, and its capacity to disseminate information about patients rapidly and extensively. In 1996, guidance on "the protection and use of patient information" was promulgated and there was a need to promote awareness of it at all levels in the NHS. It did not affect Scotland originally but they have recently adopted it. A main committee was set up under Caldicott's Chair and there were four separate working groups; the committee was known as the Caldicott Committee, responsible for reviewing all patient-identifiable information, which passes from NHS organisations to other NHS or non-NHS bodies for purposes other than direct care, medical research, or where there is a statutory requirement for information.^{[citation needed]}

The committee was to consider each flow of patient-identifiable information and was to advise the NHS Executive whether patient identification was justified by the purpose and whether action to minimise risks of breach of confidentiality was desirable—for example, reduction, elimination, or separate storage of items of information. The report was published in December 1997.^[12]

Every NHS trust has a "Caldicott Guardian" to ensure that standards of patient confidentiality and the Caldicott principles are upheld.^{[citation needed]}

National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care

Caldicott became the UK's first National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care in November 2014.^[13] In December 2018 the Health and Social Care (National Data Guardian) Act 2018 passed into law, and in April 2019 she was appointed the first statutory position holder^[14] by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, a position she held until her death in February 2021.

Awards and honours

• Honorary Fellow, Somerville College, Oxford^[15]
• Honorary Fellow, St Hilda's College, Oxford, 1996^[16]
• Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 15 June 1996.^[17][18]
• Lifetime Achievement Award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, November 2018^[19][20][21]

Personal life

In 1965, she married Robert Gordon Woodruff Caldicott, who ran his family's wine merchant business;^[22] they had two children.^[23]

Caldicott died on 15 February 2021 in Warwick,^[24] aged 80.^[25][26]

References

1. . Somerville College, Oxford. Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
2. Women's Voices in Psychiatry: A Collection of Essays, ed. Gianetta Rands, Oxford University Press, 2018, 3. The Entry of Women into Psychiatry
3. "Debrett's People of Today: Fiona Caldicott". Debrett's. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
4. "List of Registered Medical Practitioners (The online Register)". General Medical Council. Retrieved 18 July 2011.
5. "Caldicott, Dame Fiona, Principal, Somerville College, Oxford, 1996–2010; a Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Oxford University, 2001–10 (Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Personnel and Equal Opportunities), 2005–09); National Data Guardian for health and care, since 2014". Who's Who. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U9883. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4.
6. "Dame Fiona Caldicott tribute". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
7. "Oxford hospitals boss steps down after a decade". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
8. "Dame Fiona Caldicott tribute". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
9. "Dame Fiona Caldicott". Somerville College Oxford. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
10. "Dame Fiona Caldicott | The Academy of Medical Sciences". acmedsci.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
11. Crook, M A (June 2003). "The Caldicott report and patient confidentiality". Journal of Clinical Pathology. 56 (6): 426–428. doi:10.1136/jcp.56.6.426. ISSN 0021-9746. PMC 1769982. PMID 12783968.
12. Caldicott Report 30 September 2003 at the Wayback Machine
13. "National Data Guardian appointed to safeguard patients' healthcare information".
14. "Dame Fiona Caldicott appointed as the first statutory National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care". GOV.UK. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
15. "Dame Fiona Caldicott". Somerville College Oxford. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
16. "Dame Fiona Caldicott DBE (1941-2021) - Physiology, 1960 and Honorary Fellow". St Hilda's College Oxford. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
17. . Somerville College, Oxford. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
18. "No. 54427". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 1996. p. 8.
19. "Dame Fiona Caldicott wins Lifetime Achievement Award - Oxford University Hospitals". ouh.nhs.uk. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
20. "RCPsych awards 2018". RC PSYCH ROYAL COLLEGE OF PSYCHIATRISTS. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
21. "Dame Fiona Caldicott receives Lifetime Achievement Award — Somerville College Oxford". some.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
22. Women's Voices in Psychiatry: A Collection of Essays, ed. Gianetta Rands, Oxford University Press, 2018, 3. The Entry of Women into Psychiatry
23. Caldicott, Dame Fiona. www.ukwhoswho.com. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U9883. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
24. Geoff Watts, 'Dame Fiona Caldicott', The Lancet, Volume 397, issue 10279, p.1056, March 20, 2021, [1]
25. "Dame Fiona Caldicott tribute". GOV.UK. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
26. "Dame Fiona Caldicott". Somerville College Oxford. Retrieved 15 February 2021.

External links

• BMJ information

Academic offices
Preceded by Catherine Hughes	Principal Somerville College, Oxford 1996-2010	Succeeded by Alice Prochaska