Transcriber FAQs
Accuro Data Security FAQs
Accuro’s responsibilities
Accuro has an obligation to ensure we apply appropriate technical and operational measures to ensure that data is not disclosed to anyone who shouldn’t see it. Accuro’s transcription process has been designed to be as secure as possible, using the best levels of encryption on the data. Accuro is responsible for making sure all transcribers are trained to understand how important these procedures are. If you are ever in any doubt about a process, or how to handle data, you must ask a member of Accuro’s staff or our Data Protection Officer immediately.
Your responsibilities
As a contractor to Accuro, a business which provides transcribing services to the legal and medical sectors, the data processed by you often falls into the category of sensitive personal data and must be processed absolutely in accordance with GDPR. It is also noted that you are required by the terms of your Terms of Engagement with Accuro to comply with all data protection legislation. The contract between you and Accuro restricts you from disclosing the content of any transcript which you have seen or listened to as a result of your work for Accuro.
You will notify us if you plan to move outside of the UK and will not request transcription for completion when outside of the UK.
This note is for guidance only and you remain personally responsible for ensuring you understand and comply with your obligations under data protection legislation.
Your PC or laptop
You must use a strong password to log in to the computer you use to transcribe documents and change such password at least monthly. If you share a PC with another family member, they should not be able to access your profile.
Every computer you use to produce transcribed documents must have firewall and anti-virus software installed and these must be updated at least monthly.
If you leave your computer for any period of time whilst undertaking any transcription on behalf of Accuro, you must lock your computer screen.
Using Accuro-Express
You must never disclose your user credentials for Accuro-Express to a third party. If you think that a third party has accessed your user credentials, you must immediately change your password and inform Accuro of the situation.
Passwords should be carefully selected so as not to be easy to guess. For example, don’t use the name of your children, pet, etc.
Please refer to the guides in the FAQs section for how to use Accuro Express. If you have any issues, please use the FAQs page. Accuro-Express will automatically remove all data from your PC once the task is complete. Do not try to save copies anywhere else on your PC.
Use of email
Email is not a secure method of transferring personal data. Email is never to be used to send transcripts back to Accuro unless you have advanced, written instruction to do so from a member of Accuro’s staff. Written instruction will be in the form of an email from Accuro. Use the reply function to attach the transcript. For additional security, you must password protect the transcript and send the password in a separate email. Inability to upload a completed transcript onto Accuro Express is not a valid reason for returning a transcript by email; if this happens, always contact the Accuro team for advice.
Printing and saving
If you are undertaking copy typing from a document provided by Accuro, you may print a copy of the document to be copy typed but must destroy the printed copy of the document once you have transcribed the document. You should destroy paper documents by shredding them (ideally cross-shredding them). Apart from printing copies of documents for copy typing, you must never copy, forward or save onto any laptop or flash drive, CD or other mobile media any digital voice file, associated document or any scanned document provided to you by Accuro or any document you have transcribed on behalf of Accuro.
Working with Accuro
The questions we're asked most often by transcribers joining our panel; from kit and workload to invoicing and payment dates.
Where can I buy a digital transcription kit?
Digital transcription kits are widely available and we'd encourage you to shop around before buying. For specialist advice, Speechwrite are well established in this market and can be reached on 0121 236 2626, though plenty of other suppliers stock the same equipment.
We use the Olympus transcription kit and find it straightforward to work with. There's also free software available to download called Express Scribe, though you'd need to buy a compatible foot pedal to use alongside it.
Most voice files we send out are in DSS, WAV or WMA format, so do check that anything you buy handles all three.
What sort of work will I be sent?
You'll be sent work suited to your experience. Our workload includes medico-legal reports, GP and specialist clinic letters, occupational health reports, and legal documents; mainly letters, file notes and telephone notes.
Transcriptions range from a couple of minutes to over half an hour, depending on the expert and specialism. A template and a sample document are available on our website for each document type you transcribe.
How do I ask for work?
Submit a work request through our website. Work is defined by the number of minutes of dictation you'd like to transcribe each day, and you can enter your availability for up to the next seven calendar days.
If we don't receive a request, we'll assume you're not working that day.
How will I receive my work?
Work is sent through our website, and occasionally by email. Where it comes by email, you'll receive one message per document with the claimant or patient name in the subject line.
Attached to each email you'll find a Word template, the voice file, and an example report if you haven't worked for that expert before.
What does Accuro expect from me?
Once a transcription is assigned to you, you're agreeing to return the completed document by the agreed deadline - 9am the following morning unless we've specified otherwise. Work allocated on a Friday morning is due back by 9am the following Monday.
If anything is likely to affect that deadline, please tell us as soon as you can. Where we aren't given notice, we may not be able to pay for a late transcription.
How do I get paid?
Keep a record of every transcription you type for us. Using the invoice template we supply, submit one invoice per month covering the first to the last day of that month.
Email your invoice to invoices@accuro.co.uk. Please use only that address, invoices sent elsewhere can be missed.
When do I get paid?
We pay contractors by BACS during the second week of each month, though exact dates can vary slightly.
Invoices must reach us by the end of the first day of the following month, so an invoice for June's typing needs to arrive by the end of 1st July. Anything received after the cut-off is added to the following month's payment.
How much work will you send me?
You can request as much or as little as you can manage each day. There's no obligation to request work daily, and you'll stay on our list of contractors even if we don't hear from you for a while.
As you're self-employed, you're free to take as much holiday as you like. Where you can, please email pre-planned dates to holidays@accuro.co.uk so we can plan workloads around them.
Accuro is under no obligation to meet requests for work, and work is allocated entirely at our discretion.