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"Hidden Use of Medical Records"


Mr Q

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Found this interesting piece about our medical information that we thought may be private...

Everything about us, from how use of the internet and now it appears to be our medical history seems to be used as a way to make money, it is absolutely disgusting.And although it is often put out there as a wild "what if", what if it all fell into the hands of the wrong political group.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-Your-Medical-Confidentiality-ACT-NOW/330345503401?v=info

http://www.nhsconfidentiality.org/?page_id=6

There is a hidden use of your medical records that the Department of Health does not tell patients about.

Every time you attend a hospital as either an outpatient, inpatient or an A&E attendence, all your personal and clinical details are sent to BT WITHOUT your consent. Even sensitive procedures such as abortions/terminations are sent to BT.

BT acts as a clearing house and sends your hospital a records to your Primary Care Trust, Strategic Health Authority, the Department of Health and even ‘Dr Foster’.

Your personal and clinical details include your postcode, date of birth, NHS number, GP details, consultant details, hospital, clinic your attended, procedure/operation, when you were admitted to hospital, the date of your discharge and whether you will be seen at the hospital again. As there are only 3 or 4 addresses to a postcode, with a date of birth it is easy to identify someone. See ‘Helen’s story‘ for further information.

If you attend a mental health clinic or are mental health inpatient this means that even more detailed personal and clinical information will be collected on what is known as a “Minimum Data Set” and sent to BT.

When the new NHS Care Records are fully operational this will also mean your GP records and any Sexual Health/GUM Clinic you have attended will be available for the Department of Health to use for these secondary purposes. At the present time your GP records do not leave your GP surgery, nor do your Sexual Health/GUM Clinic attendence medical records leave the clinic. In future, even if you choose to lock down your medical records or place sensitive information in sealed envelopes, this will all still be sent to the private comapny and distributed without your consent.

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I work with NHS bodies and I'm forced to reply; no sh*t. BT do the IS work for most PCTs, NHSTs and NHSFTs. It doesn't even say anybody is making any money off it in the article it says that IN THE FUTURE it will be sent to private companies which is most likely just part of deregulation. As usual with this scaremongering stuff, the headline doesn't match the truth which is carefully worded in the article to confuse people.

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That website is f*ck*ng retarded. They're complaining about a big centralised database which will streamline the way the NHS shares information WITHIN the NHS.

Your Summary Care Record is part of your NHS Care Record. The plan is to ultimately make it available to anyone in the NHS with a ‘need to know’—this would includes pharmacists, ambulance staff, District Nurses, staff in community clinics such as Family Planning Clinics, Sexual Health Clinics, hospital staff including nursing staff, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians, mental health teams… and anyone else the NHS thinks may find your information useful.

Please tell me who on this list should not have access to medical files!

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Better luck next time with what exactly.

It is controversial because of the apparent difficulty people have had in opting out, and surely your information should be only given to people who you have had contact with and give permission to, not ANYBODY working within the NHS.

Doctors have complained about the plans and there have been complaints in certain councils and from a lot of people about the security of the way the information is stored.

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Better luck next time with what exactly.

It is controversial because of the apparent difficulty people have had in opting out, and surely your information should be only given to people who you have had contact with and give permission to, not ANYBODY working within the NHS.

Doctors have complained about the plans and there have been complaints in certain councils and from a lot of people about the security of the way the information is stored.

do u really give a f*ck? as long as its not a nigerian in lagos having access to the records

nor are the records used to detemine wether u can buy goods at a store, drinks at a bar, buy or rent a house, or get on public transport or buy/lease a whip

ok so u may get some junk mail..but really..WHAT IS THE BIG f*ck*ng DEAL?

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You have to have good reason if you work in a hospital to access medical records anyway Q.

It's not some nurse who fancies being a bit nosy can go and check someones details.

Like Eks said, ignorance breeds fear.

I don't know, its similar the whole DNA database argument, if you're innocent you have nothing to hide etc, and that the information is only going to be available to the "right people". But, I just think people should have a choice about how their information is stored.

And, its more the fact that people should know about it than anything else.

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In regards to the bit in the article, people CANNOT have a choice about whether their records are sent to BT or not. Why? Because those records are actually being used for something, not just being sent around for fun. How the hell does the commissioning side of a PCT know how much to charge a provider if no details are sent of who's been treated how and for how long!? It's necessary.

The future plans for a database aren't related to the quote that you posted. It's stuff like that that makes it so ridiculous. They talk about one thing trying to scare people then actually mention the real proposal in one sentence and everyone thinks it's some big scam. When in fact the proposal is merely for streamlining. People want to protect their informaiton over their own lives!? You would rather opt out then go to the hospital with a life-threatening condition that needed immediate action and have the hospital staff not know any of your medical history!?

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