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More than half of family doctors say they won’t upload a patient’s record onto an NHS database unless full consent is given by the patient. In a show of defiance to the government, 51% of GPs say they may refuse to e-file because the Spine – an electronic warehouse to house the records- is not safe. The system, which is part of the £12.4bn IT upgrade of the NHS, is vulnerable to public officials who may abuse the information or be blackmailed by criminals. Two-thirds of practicing GPs also believe uploading sensitive patient data will create a goldmine for computer hackers, given the temptation to access the lives of 50million people. The figures are based on a poll for the Guardian, by Medix – an online health company the government has previously used to gauge medical opinion. Overall, doctors support the principle of e-filing, but four out of five believe the process, without consent, will erode the trust of the doctor-patient relationship. The poll was conducted online this month, about a week after a newspaper inquiry found a lack of safeguards against access to medical records on the Spine. Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP Committee, said: “The BMA prefers an approach that is based on obtaining patients' explicit consent rather than the system of implied consent favoured by Connecting for Health “Doctors fear that uploading clinical data without explicitly asking the patient could jeopardise the trusting relationship so valued by patients and their doctors.” In light of the findings, Connecting for Health has promised to implement “strict and robust” safeguards to protect the patient’s security and confidentiality. “Access to records will be controlled by the use of Smartcards. These use chip and pin technology and have to be inserted into a card reader attached to a computer before the user is allowed access to patient records,” the group said. “How much they can see of the records will depend on their role in the NHS organisation. Smartcards are issued only after stringent identity checks.” Next year, public sector organisations will be handed a code of practice to help them share the appropriate information, in line with the Data Protection Act. The guidelines, to be published by the Information Commissioner, have been tabled amid “substantial growth” in the information held about children on government databases. Jonathan Bamford, assistant commissioner, added: “Just because technology means that things can be done with personal information, it does not always follow that they should be done. Public trust and confidence will be lost if there is excessive unwarranted intrusion into family life.” Nov 24, 2006 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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