The municipality of Hoogeveen says it will pay more attention to the sharing of personal data of Wmo users. The policy will be examined and the working method will be adjusted immediately.
The alarm bells at the town hall went off after questions from the VVD faction. The party is concerned after signals came in that a lot went wrong at the Social Support Act (Social Support Act) department at a client.
Councilor Erica Blenkers presented Alderman Mark Tuit with a case of a man who repeatedly had problems with communication when applying for domestic help via the Social Support Act. When an acquaintance of the man contacted the municipality, confidential information was shared. “The aforementioned acquaintance received information about the file, names of consultants et cetera without further ado,” says the VVD. “It was only later during the conversation that it was asked whether home care was calling and what the relationship with the client was.”
The mayor and aldermen say they are aware of the situation. “In the described case, we should not have shared such data by telephone. And we should have checked whether the person was calling on behalf of the Wmo client.” A city spokesperson further said that this is an incident. “We handle personal data with care. As a result of this incident, we are extra alert.”
Tuit is taking measures in response to the case. “We are going to review and fine-tune the process for providing personal data to third parties. We will do this within three months. Immediately, in any case, in the event of a telephone request from a third party, permission will be requested from the client before we process data. provide.”
The Commission regrets that more went wrong in the example presented by the VVD, including in communication. A customer satisfaction survey shows that the majority of Wmo users are satisfied. “The survey shows that 84 percent of the clients who completed the questionnaires feel that they are taken seriously and are therefore satisfied with the services provided by the Social Support Act.”
The man from the VVD example eventually received the desired help. His indication was extended by telephone, and that worries the VVD. Because doesn’t the ease with which that happens encourage fraud? The municipality is keeping a close eye on fraud signals. “We temporarily extended the indication in the outlined case without a so-called ‘kitchen table discussion’, that is correct. We did this to prevent the care being stopped now that the client’s indication expired. We did this from the point of view of services.”
However, the college recognizes that it is not always easy to do everything right. “When extending indications, we maintain a balance between service provision on the one hand and control/fraud alertness on the other. Both can go together but are at odds with each other.”