Connecting for
Health is planning to begin the implementation of the Care Record Service (
A spokesperson for CfH, the agency in charge of England's NHS National
Programme for IT (NPfIT), told GC News that trusts acting as early
adopters are likely to begin using the
"There's a
process to go through in identifying early adopters," the spokesperson
said. "There will probably be a number announced through the year.
A guidance
document published in February 2007 says the early adopters are being
selected on the following criteria:
- a suitable community
that has a critical mass of a single GP system supplier;
- a critical mass of
practices meeting data quality standards and technology requirements;
- a suitable acute sector
or unscheduled care provider that is willing to participate in the initial
stages of the implementation.
Connecting for
Health is now advising that the Summary Record Advisory Group take the 93C3
code to mean that a patient has explicitly refused to have their records
uploaded to the Spine.
For those who have not already done so, (use the letter in the link), it is
vitally important that you write to your GP now.
What are the risks of not opting out.
Your medical
confidentiality is at risk from this new database, as over a million NHS
employees and central government bureaucrats will have access to not only your
medical records but also your demographic details—name, address, NHS
Number, GP details, phone number (even if it’s ex-directory) and mobile number.
If you fail to
opt-out, 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 otherwise have access to your address and phone
number, from social workers to pharmacists.
You will
eventually be allowed to ‘lock down’ some of your medical details (though the
security mechanisms haven’t been built yet).
But although you
can keep some of your medical details confidential from some of the doctors
involved in your care, they can override this if they think it’s necessary, and
there is no way for you to keep your information confidential from civil
servants.
You will no
longer be able to attend any Sexual Health or GUM (Genito-Urinary Medicine)
Clinic anonymously as all these details will also be held on this national
database, alongside your medical records.
For the first
time everyone’s most up-to-date and confidential details are to be held on one
massive database.
Patient Doctor confidentiality gone forever.
