This appeared in the UK yesterday.
Jeremy Hunt plans sale of confidential patient medical records to private firms
Confidential medical records may be offered to private companies for as little as £1, according to plans drawn up by officials.
2:20PM BST 18 Aug 2013
The new General Practice Extraction Service will consolidate NHS patient records sent to a central database by GPs around the country.
The project has been described by campaigners as an "unprecedented threat" to medical confidentiality, and doctors do not have to inform patients that their records are being passed on.
The records will include details of medical conditions and patient identifiable information including a patient's NHS number, postcode and date of birth, reports the Daily Mail.
Private firms such as Bupa are able to purchase the records for research by applying to the Health Service.
The project is being driven by NHS England but has been championed by Jeremy Hunt.
It is hoped that sharing GP records with universities and private companies could give a boost to NHS coffers as well as providing a valuable tool for medical research, monitoring flu outbreaks and screening for common diseases.
Mr Hunt also believes that providing easier access to health information will attract pharmaceutical companies and life sciences firms to the UK.
However, privacy campaigners have expressed reservations over the data sharing plans.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "The more people who have access to sensitive data, the greater the risk that it will not be protected properly. We’ve seen that on umpteen occasions in the past.
"And when there’s a financial element involved, it introduces all sorts of incentives that are not necessarily about protecting privacy."
More here:
All I can say is that both the Government and Opposition should rule this sort of information abuse out immediately.
We all know DoHA hope to mine the PCEHR information to assist managing the health system and if done with proper safeguards doing this may JUST be acceptable - not that I think it is - but the UK plan is totally over the top!
This has to be a very, very good reason never to contribute any sensitive information to the PCEHR as we all know politicians cannot be trusted not to abuse our trust.
This has to be a very, very good reason never to contribute any sensitive information to the PCEHR as we all know politicians cannot be trusted not to abuse our trust.
Oh dear, oh dear.
David.
4 comments:
This is something that I have been banging on about for the past 18 months, but no one in health wants to listen about privacy in a big data environment and who has access to it.
Hopefully others will realise this now and object, object, object...
How could it not go that way.
Slippery slope here we come..
step 1. Make massive billion dollar investment and declare victory (for all the hard work)
step 2. establish meaningless use metrics to declare victory #2
step 3. realise cost benefit analysis of big central government system ain't going to cut the mustard
step 4. have all clinicians abandon system and hand over the self serving bonus hungry bureaucrats.
step 4. sell sell sell baby!!!! How could the polies refuse.
I'm sure employee #5 and FFF have it all planned out already.
Why would you not TRUST your Government and Bureaucracy with YOUR own precious private health information?
Should YOUR information be used and abused resulting in prejudicial treatment for you and your family whatever the severity of the adverse outcomes, YOU can always phone the well-known PCEHR Helpline for resolution and file for a compensation claim.
Failing this, you can always write to your local Federal member to represent YOUR interests and resolve YOUR unfortunate healthcare information related outcomes...
Because if you cannot TRUST your Government in this day and age, well WHO the hell can YOU TRUST!
From the UK example, the answer to whom you can trust your health information is obviously your treating doctor and no-one else!
End of story.
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