NHS patient data to be made available for sale to drug and insurance firms

[maureenho]

NHS patient data to be made available for sale to drug and insurance firms
Privacy experts warn there will be no way for public to work out who has their medical records or how they are using it

    Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor
    The Guardian, Sunday 19 January 2014 21.34 GMT

Drug and insurance companies will from later this year be able to buy information on patients – including mental health conditions and diseases such as cancer, as well as smoking and drinking habits – once a single English database of medical data has been created.

Harvested from GP and hospital records, medical data covering the entire population will be uploaded to the repository controlled by a new arms-length NHS information centre, starting in March. Never before has the entire medical history of the nation been digitised and stored in one place.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014 ... panies-buy

[chenrezig]

I tweeted this this am, it seems you are damned if you do e.g. personal info, or damned if you don't e.g. in an emergency  its important to have access to medical info.

[annie]

I'm not happy about this

[Honey]

i got a leaflet through the post today from the nhs
better information means better care it states.
it tells people to read the leaflet carefully.
it says if you don't want your information to be shared you must contact your gp and tell them, otherwise they will go ahead.
http://www.hscic.gov.uk/patientconf
x

[JaneJ]

I will risk telling them to get off my records!!

I don't have any medical problems that would hamper help in an emergency so that helped with the decision. i really don't like the fact the average joe could know about my medical history and drugs.

It is bad enough when government agencies leave our personal information lying around. Imagine something a s personal as your doctors prescription details getting out!

[Alun]

It is worrying that the transfer of data to a private organisation under the guise of public research can be undertaken without consent. My GP did not inform me direct of this decision, I only found out by reading it in a local newsletter, and then I only had a limited amount of time to object, that was back in October 2013, The leaflet from the NHS arrived last week so would have been too late for me to do anything about!

I found this site below which has a template Opt out form you can send to your GP, even though they say your name isn't published they do send your postcode and NHS number, not too difficult these days to find out your name!

http://www.upwellhealthcentre.nhs.uk/im ... ,59056.htm