DPDP for the HR head in Healthcare

Snooping on VIP, celebrity, colleague or neighbour records is a common problem. Give access by role, mark sensitive records, ask for a reason before opening them, allow break-glass access in emergencies, and review those logs every week.

Rule 6 requires access control and monitoring. Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(6) · Rule 7

1. Flag VIP, staff and sensitive records.
2. Ask for a reason to open them.
3. Allow break-glass with review.
4. Review logs weekly.
5. Act on misuse consistently.

• Flag settings
• Review records
• Action records

• Everyone can see everything
• Break-glass never reviewed
• No action on misuse

• Who should be able to see personal data in our systems?
• Which logs must we keep, for how long, and where?
• Which records need extra protection under other health laws?

Usually not for normal employment purposes. Section 7(i) lets you process employee data for employment, such as payroll, attendance, safety and preventing corporate espionage. Anything beyond that, such as wellness apps, photos for marketing or sharing with a bank for offers, needs consent.

Staff health and vaccination records are sensitive; keep them apart from HR files.

Section 7(i) covers employment purposes and safeguarding the employer from loss or liability. Notice, security, retention and rights still apply to employees. Section 7 · Section 5 · Rule 3 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8 · Sections 11–14 · Rule 14

1. List what you collect from staff and why.
2. Mark which items are employment purposes and which are extra.
3. Take consent for the extras, separately.
4. Give staff a short employee privacy notice.
5. Set retention for ex-employee records.

• Employee data list with basis
• Employee privacy notice
• Consent for extras

• A blanket consent clause in the offer letter
• Keeping candidate data forever
• Sharing staff data with vendors without terms

• Are contract and agency workers our responsibility?
• What about CCTV, visitor registers and biometric attendance?
• How long can we keep personal data?

Their data is your responsibility when you decide why and how it is used, for example gate passes, attendance, biometrics and safety records. The agency holds payroll and personal files, so your contract with the agency must cover how it protects that data.

Housekeeping, security and ambulance staff are often agency staff.

Section 7(i) covers employment purposes. Section 8(1) and 8(2) make you responsible for processors such as manpower agencies working on your behalf. Section 7 · Section 8(1)–(2) · Section 8(5) · Rule 6

1. List what you hold about contract workers: ID copies, photos, biometrics, attendance, medical fitness.
2. Decide who is the Data Fiduciary for each item: you or the agency.
3. Put data terms in every manpower contract.
4. Give a short notice in the workers' language at the gate or induction.
5. Delete gate and ID records on a schedule.

• Contract-worker data list
• Agency contracts with data terms
• Notice at the gate

• Photocopies of Aadhaar kept in open files
• No terms in the agency contract
• Biometric data with no deletion date

• Do we need consent for employee data?
• What about CCTV, visitor registers and biometric attendance?
• What must a vendor contract say about personal data?

All three are personal data. Put a clear notice where people are recorded, collect only what you need at reception, keep footage and registers for a set period, and protect biometric templates carefully. Do not keep copies of ID documents unless you must.

CCTV must not cover examination or changing areas; put notices at entrances.

Section 5 needs notice. Section 8(5) needs safeguards. Section 8(7) needs erasure after the purpose. For staff, Section 7(i) can cover security and attendance. Section 5 · Rule 3 · Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(7) · Rule 8 · Section 7

1. Put notices at CCTV points and reception, in the local language.
2. Ask visitors only for name, phone and whom they are meeting, unless security needs more.
3. Set a period for footage and registers, then delete.
4. Restrict who can view footage, and log viewing.
5. Check the vendor contracts for CCTV, guards and attendance systems.

• Notices in place
• Retention settings on the recorder
• Viewing log

• Photocopying visitor IDs as routine
• Footage kept until the disk fills
• Biometric systems with vendor default passwords

• Are contract and agency workers our responsibility?
• How long can we keep personal data?
• What must a vendor contract say about personal data?

Keep data for as long as its purpose needs, or as long as a law requires, and then erase it. Every organisation must keep personal data and logs for at least one year under Rule 8(3). Write a retention schedule by record type, with the law or reason against each period.

Indoor records at least 3 years (2002 regulations), PCPNDT 2 years, MTP 5 years, Schedule H1 3 years.

Section 8(7) asks for erasure when the purpose is over, unless a law requires retention. Rule 8(3) sets a one-year minimum for personal data, traffic data and logs. Section 8(7) · Rule 8 · Section 8(5) · Rule 6

1. List the record types you hold.
2. Write the period for each, with the law, regulator rule or business reason.
3. Set a trigger for the period to start: end of relationship, date of transaction, exit date.
4. Automate deletion where you can; for paper, schedule shredding.
5. Keep a deletion log.

• Retention schedule approved by Legal
• Deletion log
• Shredding or disposal certificates

• 'Keep everything forever' because storage is cheap
• Deleting before the legal minimum
• Forgetting email, shared drives and backups

• Someone asks us to delete their data. Must we?
• Does deletion have to reach backups and test copies?
• Where does personal data live in our organisation?

Everyone who handles personal data needs short, practical training on what to do in their own job. Front-line staff need examples from their counter or desk. Managers need to know the clocks and their own duties. Management needs to know what to ask.

Short sessions with real examples: wrong sends, whiteboards, printouts.

Section 8(4) and 8(5) ask for appropriate technical and organisational measures. Training is part of showing those measures work. Section 8(5) · Rule 6

1. Group staff by what they handle: front line, back office, IT, managers, management.
2. Write three to five real scenarios for each group.
3. Keep sessions short: 20 to 30 minutes.
4. Test with a few questions, and record attendance.
5. Repeat every year, and at joining.

• Training plan by group
• Attendance and test results
• Scenario material

• One long legal lecture for all
• Training once and never again
• No record of attendance

• Staff share personal data on WhatsApp and personal email. What do we do?
• Something has gone wrong. What happens in the first 72 hours?
• Someone asks what data we hold about them. What do we send?

Sending personal data to the wrong chat or a personal account is one of the most common breaches. Banning messaging rarely works. Give staff an approved tool that is easy to use, set simple rules, and make it safe to report a wrong send at once.

Reports and images on WhatsApp groups are the most common hospital breach.

Section 8(5) asks for reasonable safeguards. A wrong send is a breach under Section 2(u), and Section 8(6) applies. Section 8(5) · Rule 6 · Section 8(6) · Rule 7

1. Ask teams how they actually share files and photos today.
2. Provide an approved tool for that job.
3. Set three simple rules: approved tool, no personal accounts, report wrong sends.
4. Teach the rules with real examples from your own work.
5. Treat a quick report as good behaviour, not a disciplinary case.

• Approved-tool policy
• Training record
• Incident reports of wrong sends

• A ban with no alternative
• Punishing people who report
• Ignoring group chats with vendors

• Something has gone wrong. What happens in the first 72 hours?
• Who needs DPDP training, and what should it cover?
• Who should be able to see personal data in our systems?

Contain it, then tell people. A reportable cyber incident goes to CERT-In within six hours of being noticed. Under DPDP, each affected person and the Data Protection Board must be told without delay, and the Board needs a detailed report within 72 hours. Sector regulators may have their own clock too.

A ransomware attack on the HIS needs a CERT-In report in six hours and the DPDP messages.

Section 8(6) and Rule 7 set the DPDP steps. The CERT-In Directions of 28 April 2022 set the six-hour report. A breach includes accidental disclosure and loss of access, not only hacking. Section 8(6) · Rule 7 · Section 8(5) · Rule 6

1. Name one incident lead and a back-up, with phone numbers that work at night.
2. Write the first-hour steps: isolate, preserve logs, tell the DPO and the incident lead.
3. Keep ready-made drafts for CERT-In, the regulator, the Board and affected people.
4. Decide in advance who signs off each message.
5. Rehearse once a year with the people who would actually be called.

• Incident plan with clocks
• Rehearsal record
• Incident log with times of each step

• Waiting to finish the investigation before telling anyone
• Treating a wrong email or a lost laptop as 'not a breach'
• Only IT knowing the plan

• Which logs must we keep, for how long, and where?
• What must a vendor contract say about personal data?
• Does deletion have to reach backups and test copies?