Records system could be bad medicine
You reported on May 31 that a computerised £280,000 NHS patient records system is to be introduced in Sandwell.
You reported on May 31 that a computerised £280,000 NHS patient records system is to be introduced in Sandwell.
This was portrayed as a very positive step.
But is it?
This is a similar system to the proposed and delayed national NHS database and has the same inherent problems.
An unknown number of NHS officials and government bureaucrats will have access to your medical records and also your name, address, GP details and phone numbers.
You can only have them hidden in special circumstances if the police or social services request it if, for example, you are a celebrity or on a witness protection scheme.
Many public and private sector workers will have access to your address and phone numbers, from social workers to pharmacists.
This is fine if you agree to it but there does not appear to be any facility for opting out of the scheme.
The same problems of security and confidentiality are present as in the ID card database.
This government doesn't seem to have mastered encryption and other basic IT security techniques.
How can we trust Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS trust to be any more advanced? It is only recently that the details of 25 million people were calmly placed on a CD and lost.
Some people will be very worried about the confidentiality of their health records and yet another erosion of their civil liberties.
It is the policy of the doctors' own professional organisation (the British Medical Association) that patients should give their individual consent prior to their information being transferred to the national database.
I shall be writing to my GP asking for my details not to be entered on the Sandwell database.
I will do this because at a later date, this will no doubt be transferred to the national database, again without permission.
The traditional GP surgery will close and impersonal polyclinics will open without your permission.
Why not 'scupper' the scheme by writing to your GP and registering your refusal to have your records uploaded.
Those who wish to know more about the choices available should visit www.thebigoptout.org or ring 01494 882458.
Gill Chant, Grove Hill Road, Handsworth, Birmingham.
