NHS Sharing of our data - this affects us all

[Beate]

NO, it's the same thing. They are dressing it up nicely though. Only positives mentioned.

[canadian_turtle]

Thanks for the form Beate. Do I need to give this to my GP or send it elsewhere? To be honest I'm lucky that I rarely am ill and have only been to my GP twice in all the years I've been here (both of which were years ago) so I'm not exactly familiar with the practice.

[Beate]

Send it to your GP or hand it in at your surgery.

If people want more info, google "Summary Care Record" together with "opt-out" and you will find many interesting articles including this one from a Suffolk practice who are not at all happy about it:
http://www.christmasmaltings.co.uk/info.aspx?p=4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_Care_Record

http://www.thebigoptout.com/how-to-opt-out/

[RickyRaj]

I guess it was only a question of time before the health care system got involved with what I see as 'Big Data', which has been a corporate buzzword of the last couple few years.

Like others I can see the benefits but have concerns around how my data will be used, by whom, under what authrorisation, what quality checks will be made to detect for unauthorised reading of my information etc, etc.

[Beate]

Yeah and for the record, I am not telling anyone to opt out if they don't want to or don't see the benefits. Make up your own mind but I personally have opted out.

[Allsinging]

I think some of you are missing the point. This has nothing to do with co-ordinated care for you. Your data is collected so the state gets a better general picture about people's health, not so some doctor in London knows what your ailments in Manchester are.

This is what my Carers Centre newsletter and a follow-up email said:

Protecting the Privacy of Your Own Personal Health Information

As some of you may know from the news in the last few weeks, every GP is now required by NHS England to extract patient data from their records & pass this on to NHS Health Information Centre without your explicit consent to do so. This data will be pseudonymised i.e. personally identifiable data is blanked out however what NHS England failed to tell everyone is that the personally identifiable elements can be put back in again by purchasers of that data. Those companies can include your insurance companies, commercial health providers, drug companies, pension providers, mobility products suppliers etc. This is a money making exercise for the NHS yet it is your confidential & private information which is at stake. Your surgery can’t refuse to provide your information unless you complete the opt out form (attached).

Thank you Beate, this is what I was worried about...and if there are lots of us that don’t know about it image how many there are as a country!

[June]

Thank you Allsinging and thank you Beate for the information and form, I'll be completing this and submitting my opt out. What worries me is how would we know if our data was being sold on even after our opt out?

[Beate]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... aring.html

[steve9872]

I found this link for opting out form
http://medconfidential.org/wp-content/u ... rifold.pdf
It seems to be directed at the secondary uses.

[June]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... aring.html

Thanks Beate, yes the GPs are right to be worried, I for one feel a huge lack of confidence in the "system".