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Records retention schedule

Date: May 2021

Review date: May 2021

Version May 2021

Care services and research

Record type Service/Directorate Retention period commences from Retention period Notes
Adult Care Records Mental Health and Psychology (significant treatment cases) Discharge or patient last seen 20 years or 8 years after the patient has died Review and if no longer needed destroy.
Adult Care Records Mental Health and Psychology (mild cases where patient has made a full recovery) Discharge or patient last seen 8 years Review and if no longer needed destroy.
Adult Care Records Gender Identity Discharge or patient last seen Permanent This retention period reflects that gender identity is an emerging service.
Children’s Care Records Mental Health and Psychology Discharge or patient last seen Until the patient’s 25th birthday or, if patient was 17 at discharge, until their 26th birthday. Clinical case review and if no longer needed destroy.  For patients who move on to the adult services, the record should transfer to adult services and the adult care record retention period will apply.  If the patient transfers to another provider, ensure the required referral or transfer documentation has been received by patient’s new provider.
Children’s Care Records Gender dysphoria Discharge or patient last seen Until the patient’s 25th birthday or, if patient was 17 at discharge, until their 26th birthday. Clinical case review and if no longer needed destroy.  For patients who move on to GIC services, the record should transfer to the GIC and the adult care record retention period will apply.  If the patient transfers to another provider, ensure the required referral or transfer documentation has been received by patient’s new provider.  If patient does not move to the GIC, consent to retain the record beyond the patient’s 25/26th birthday will be required.  If no consent is obtained, the record may be retained if anonymised.
Clinical audit All service groups Creation 5 years Review and destroy if no longer needed
Clinical trials and research files (authorised trial information) Research Closure of research 30 years Review and consider transfer to a Place of Deposit or if of no archival value destroy.
Clinical trials and research datasets Research End of research 20 years Review and consider transfer to a Place of Deposit or if of no archival value destroy.
Clinical trials and research ethics documentation for research proposal/protocol Research End of research 5 years Review prior to destruction. Data should be held for sufficient time to allow any questions about the research to be answered.  For more significant research, a Place of Deposit may be interested in holding the research data.
Clinical protocols All care services Creation 25 years Review and if of archival value consider transfer to a Place of Deposit.  T
Destruction certificates/metadata All service groups Date of destruction 20 Years Electronic destruction data
Referrals not accepted All service groups Date of rejection 2 years If care record created, delete care record if patient referral was not accepted.
Forensics (Portman clinic) All care services Discharge or patient last seen Permanent May be transferred to a place of deposit

 

Corporate records

Record type Service/Directorate Retention period commences from Retention period Notes
Press releases Communications Creation 6 years Review and consider transfer to a Place of Deposit. Press releases may form a significant part of the public record of an organisation which may need to be retained
Public consultations Communications Creation 6 years Review and consider transfer to a Place of Deposit
Patient information leaflets Communications End of use 6 years Review and consider trnasfer to Place of Deposit
Board Meetings and Commitees included in the Scheme of Delegation Corporate Governance Calendar year of creation 20 years Under the Public Records Act, records cannot be held by individual public bodies for longer than 20 years, but may be transferred to the Public Records Office after that.
Board Meetings and Committees (not included in the Scheme of Delegation) Corporate Governance Calendar year of creation 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy. Includes minor meetings, project boards and departmental business meetings.
Serious Incidents – all adverse incidents, including clinical, health and safety and information governance that are assessed as serious Corporate Governance Date of incident 20 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Other Incidents – all adverse incidents, including clinical, health and safety and information governance that are not assessed as serious Corporate Governance Date of incident 10 years
Policies, strategies, operational procedures and business plans (that include liability) Corporate Governance Creation Life of organisation plus 6 years
Policies, strategies, operational procedures and business plans (that do not include liability) Corporate Governance Creation 6 years Most policiy and procedural documentation falls within this category.
Complaints and PALS records Corporate Governance Case closure 10 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
FOI and EIR requests and Internal reviews Corporate Governance Close of request/review 3 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
FOI and EIR appeals to ICO Corporate Governance Closure of appeal 3 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Fraud investigations Corporate Governance Case closure 6 years
Litigation records Corporate Governance Case closure 10 Years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Copyright/IPR licence/patent Corporate Governance End of lifetime of licence/patent Lifetime of software Review and if no longer needed destroy
Software licences Corporate Governance License period License period Review and if no longer needed destroy
Subject Access Requests (SARs) – log Corporate Governance Date sent 3 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Subject Access Requests (SARs) – Appeals log Corporate Governance Closure of appeal 3 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Court reports for third parties where the Trust provides expert witness statements Corporate Governance Completion of report 1 year Review and consider transfer to Place of Deposit.
CCTV footage Estates Capture Up to 28 days Review and if no longer needed destroy. The length of retention must be determined by the purpose for which the CCTV has been deployed. The recorded images should only be retained long enough for any incident to come to light (e.g. for a theft to be noticed) and the incident to be investigated.
Asbestos records Estates Completon of monitoring or test 40 years
Inspection Reports Estates Date of report Lifetime of installation Review and if no longer needed destroy.
Leases Estates End of lease 12 years Review and if no longer needed destroy.
Photos of estates, events and activities Estates Date image captured Up to 20 years Main purpose for retaining is for historical legacy of the running of an organisations.  However, photographs may have a subsidariy use, such as for legal enquiries.
Minor building works Estates Completion of works 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy.
Building plans, surveys and records of major building work Estates End of lifetime of installation or building Lifetime of building or disposal of asset plus 6 years Review and consider transfer to a Place of Deposit
Equipment maintenance logs Estates Decommissioning of the equipment 3 Years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Inspection of equipment records Estates Decommissioning of equipment 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Contracts – sealed or unsealed Finance End of contract 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Contracts – financial approved suppliers documentation Finance When supplier finishes work 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Tenders – successful Finance End of contract 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Tenders – unsuccessful Finance Award of tender notification 3 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Final annual accounts report Finance Creation Up to 20 years Transfer to place of deposit if not transferred with Board papers.
Expenses Finance End of finanial year 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Petty cash/ receipts Finance End of financial year 2 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Debtor records cleared Finance Close of financial year 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Debtor records not cleared Finance Close of financial year 6 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Donations Finance Close of financial year 6 Years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Private Finance initiative (PFI) files Finance End of PFI 10 Years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Salaries paid to staff Finance Close of financial year 10 Years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Commissioning Funding requests not accepted Date of rejection 6 years Review and consider transfer to Place of Deposit.
Staff records Human Resources End of financial year 6 years after end of employment or until 75th birthday, whichever is sooner. Review and if no longer needed destroy. This includes (but is not limited to) occupational health, training, recruitment information (including evidence of right to work, security checks and recruitment documentation for the successful candidate).
Industrial Tribunal (Staff) Human Resources Case closure 10 years Review and if no longer needed destroy.
Salaries paid to staff Human Resources End of financial year 10 years Review and if no longer needed destroy
Superannuation/pension records Human Resources End of financial year 10 years Review and if no longer needed destroy

Education

Record type Service Group Retention period commences from Retention period Notes
Enrolled students Admissions and enrolment End of student relationship Permanent Individual student record held in SITS
Unsuccessful applicants Admissions and enrolment End of current academic year 1 year Records of unsuccessful student applications held in SITS
Student registrations Admissions and enrolment End of current academic year 5 years Summary reports and analysis of student registration data
Student recruitment Admissions and enrolment End of current academic year 5 years Records containing summaries/analyses of enquiry, recruitment and retention data
Admission criteria Admissions and enrolment Until superseded 10 years
Student recruitment Admissions and enrolment End of campaign 5 years Campaign data
Student admissions Admissions and enrolment End of academic year 5 years Data on overall student numbers
Past students (alumni) Communications Completion of studies See Notes Graduates asked to opt in to receive communications.  Delete details from alumni database if individual opts out of communications
Research Degrees Committee Governance End of current academic year 6 years Agenda and minutes
External examiner recruitment Governance Termination of apointment 1 year
Research Councils Governance End of current academic year 6 years Bids, correspondence.
Academic appeals Governance Case closure 6 years Student appeals
Complaints Governance Case closure 6 years Student complaints
Disiplinaries Governance Case closure 6 years Students
Induction programmes Governance End of academic year 5 years Students
Programme delivery Teaching End of programme 10 years Course design
Programme/degree review Teaching End of academic year 5 years Internal and external review
Research degrees Teaching End of student relationship 1 year Examiner reports