NHS records pilots set to run
Concerns over access to patient information leading to compromises
The first pilots of the national electronic health records system will go ahead in the spring, against a backdrop of compromises over patients’ security concerns.
The control of access to centrally-held information has been an ongoing issue for the £6bn National Programme for NHS IT (NPfIT). Login to the database is controlled by a high-security smartcard and only clinicians with a ‘legitimate relationship’ will be able to see health data.
But concerns remain over patient control of their information. Following a report from an independent taskforce, patients will now be able to check, and potentially veto, the data being uploaded to the central data spine. Those not actively opting out will be considered to have consented.
NHS IT director general Richard Granger, who is responsible for the technology programme, says security concerns must not be allowed to undermine the improvement of patient care.
‘Concerns about data security may be marshalled by an active lobby of healthy sceptics to the detriment of the ill, and avoidable fatalities will result,’ he said.
The debate highlights continuing communications issues between clinical groups and the central programme.
The British Medical Association says a lack of early consultation with doctors is at the root of the confidentiality concerns.
‘Doctors have not been involved at an early stage, which has raised uncertainty about how it will operate,’ said a spokeswoman for the association.
‘There is unease that the electronic system will enable much greater access than is allowed with paper records, so there needs to be a proper consultation before the system is put on an opt-out basis.’
Access concerns are hard to allay because the programme relies on new technology not widely understood by the general public, says Teresa Jones, senior research analyst at Butler Group.
‘It is very easy to whip up anxiety, particularly where it seems like a Big Brother state,’ she said.
‘In some ways the electronic system is probably far more secure because only authorised people will be able to access it.’
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