Hands off my medical records, Jeremy!*

The two-fingered salute: Jeremy *unt displays his high regard for the NHS patients whose details he wants to steal and sell to private business.

The two-fingered salute: Jeremy *unt displays his high regard for the NHS patients whose details he wants to steal and sell to private business.

Conservatives. They think they own everything – including your medical records.

If you live in England, Jeremy ‘The Misprint’ *unt wants your doctor to send your confidential patient record to a national database, from which it will be sold on – sold on to make money for him, mark you – to “approved” private companies and also universities.

The system is called the General Patient Extraction Service (GPES) – although exactly who it serves is entirely up for debate. You may also see it described as the care.data scheme.

He thinks this gross abuse of patient confidentiality is a good idea. But then, he’s a Tory and therefore thinks he has a God-given right to take anything, from anyone, if they have less filthy lucre than himself.

According to the Daily Mail – and you know the Tories have lost the plot when even the Heil weighs in against them – the *unt wants us to believe that the information will be valuable for medical research and screening for common diseases.

And an NHS England spokesman told the paper, “The programme will provide vital information to approved organisations about the quality of health services.”

Oh really?

So in fact this information could be used by private health companies as evidence of failures by the National, publicly-funded, service, yes?

How would it help in screening for common diseases? This information becomes freely available without any data having to be sold – how else would we know when an epidemic breaks out?

And how is this valuable for medical research – beyond the possibility that the now-infamous ‘job offer’ for people to take part in human medical experimentation may be targeted at particular individuals, according to medical records that they thought were only available to their own, trusted GP?

Doctors say Mr *unt and NHS England have failed in their duty to publicise the plan in a proper and reasonable way, that patients are not getting an “informed” choice about the matter, and that patients could be identified from the data with any information other than that on common conditions – which, we’ve already established, becomes public knowledge anyway.

Some Local Medical Committees (LMCs) are already discussing whether to opt out of the system – and this blog would urge all the others to do the same.

If you are concerned about this gross invasion of your privacy, you can contact your own LMC and request that they opt out. Contact details can be found on the British Medical Association’s website here.

*In fact he won’t be able to get his filthy hands on them anyway because I live in Wales. The title is for effect.

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25 Comments

  1. Thomas September 25, 2013 at 10:37 pm - Reply

    How low can they go? I’m unemployable and probably uninsurable as it is, if they make my medical records available I’ll be even more so.

    • Chris Rippington September 26, 2013 at 9:30 am - Reply

      Something tells me we haven’t seen the bottom yet. Scary times.

  2. Noctilu Centish (@Centish) September 25, 2013 at 11:13 pm - Reply

    Looky who is administrating the Patient Data/Medical Records collection.. Well who’da thunk eh..

    http://uk.atos.net/en-uk/industries/healthcare/business-intelligence/gp-extraction-service/default.htm

    • Karen M September 27, 2013 at 5:51 pm - Reply

      Surprise, surprise

  3. thelovelywibblywobblyoldlady September 26, 2013 at 12:12 am - Reply

    Glad I live in Wales too Mike

  4. shane selfe September 26, 2013 at 1:25 am - Reply

    I HAVE JUST E MAILED MY LOCAL LMC AND URGE ANYONE WHO READS THIS TO DO THE SAME AND MAKE THIS KNOWN AND I WILL BE GOING TO MY DOCTORS AND ASKING THEM TO GO AGAINST THIS IDEA AND I WILL BE INFORMING PATIENTS

  5. Peter Holt September 26, 2013 at 4:43 am - Reply

    Confidentiality must also be respected when talking to relatives. They do not have an automatic right to know. If feasible, ask permission from the patient first.

  6. Peter Holt September 26, 2013 at 4:46 am - Reply

    I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know.

    • Karen M October 5, 2013 at 5:37 pm - Reply

      Code of good practice. The information being disclosed to third parties means details of conditions and treatments are public knowledge so if (as in my case) the patient has a very rare combination of conditions and records of unusual treatments the identity of the patient is more likely to be disclosed. The only thing to do is for the patient is to opt out.

      My practice has not sent me opt out details or a form so I will have to use up some of the precious 10 minutes form filling..

  7. […] Hands off my medical records, Jeremy!*. […]

  8. […] Conservatives. They think they own everything – including your medical records. If you live in England, Jeremy 'The Misprint' *unt wants your doctor to send your confidential patient record to a na…  […]

  9. pitzagirl September 26, 2013 at 6:50 am - Reply

    I should have known ATOS was involved somewhere along the line,when my hubby was given a medical by them they spent 30Mins looking at the wrong HIP,tolld me his wife to shut up and stop asking questions,as she would only answer questions from my hubby,but at the time he was suffering with S.A.D (Seasons affected Disoder)which he suffers from 24/7 365 day of the year (well 95% of the time) further more the woman he saw was NOT EVEN A DOCTOR but a NURSE PRACTITIONER,

  10. Steve Wollington September 26, 2013 at 6:56 am - Reply

    …..and then some twat of a civil servant goes and leaves all the data on a disc on a train.
    Surely that can’t happen can it?
    Hang on though…….

  11. fedupdisabled September 26, 2013 at 7:47 am - Reply

    Whatever happened to the Data Protection Act? How DARE he think he can get away with this sort of crap? F*** off Hunt

  12. Editor September 26, 2013 at 8:16 am - Reply

    Reblogged this on kickingthecat.

  13. Anna September 26, 2013 at 9:26 am - Reply

    I would advise everyone to get a copy of their medical records [UK] . What you THINK is on there , may well not be . Mine will show Drs TWICE have f—– up my life getting things seriously wrong . ultimately also therefore costing precious NHS far more than if they had put down what they should have been . Panic not they’ll be sent down the wrong paths probably . Putting NOTHING down when should , also gets Drs off the hook when they should be taken to task , that’s why they are pushing so much of their work onto nurses who can not afford themselves that protection

  14. Jo Shaw September 26, 2013 at 12:15 pm - Reply

    From what I’ve learnt from my Hospital records. Most hospital doctors are lying bastards! They don’t keep proper records, they lie through their teeth to you and cover up on paper. I paid £50 to find that out. Now I want to find out what the GP’s have to say. Have to save another £50 for that pleasure. My GP told me that they would have to go through them first to check that
    “there’s nothing embarrassing in them”
    q
    uothe me,

    • Jo Shaw September 26, 2013 at 12:18 pm - Reply

      Why should I be embarrassed?
      Oh.. you might be embarrassed
      me finding out what you’ve said.

  15. Skrybl Enskrall September 26, 2013 at 2:42 pm - Reply

    I understand the need for a national database, in case you happen to have an emergency when you’re out of town, or if your regular doctor is unavailable, or nonexistant, but selling your medical records is offensive and wrong. Corporations have no business knowing what your medical records are, and neither do universities without your consent. this is a direct violation of your rights and confidentiality, and should be treated like a rape on the part of this minister. that’s right, the government is trying to RAPE the files of the people on this! make no mistake, THIS IS A VIOLATION!

  16. Tim Chiswell September 26, 2013 at 5:23 pm - Reply

    They’re tories, what do you expect?

  17. Thomas M September 26, 2013 at 5:42 pm - Reply

    This is the most disability-hating government of recent times.

  18. Karen M September 27, 2013 at 5:56 pm - Reply

    Was this ever scrutinised at committee level or discussed in parliament? I smell a rat wherever Atos appears.

  19. PajamaCEO October 2, 2013 at 10:06 pm - Reply

    Glad I don’t live in England, but it’s coming to the US very soon – Nowhere to hide

  20. Karen M October 5, 2013 at 5:19 pm - Reply

    Problem is all those strange initials doctors put in your file turn up
    GLM – a ‘good looking mum’
    GLL- ‘great looking legs’

    GROLIES- ‘Guardian reader of low intelligence in an ethnic skirt’.
    UBI- ‘unexplained beer injury’ in A&E
    TBP – ‘total bloody pain’
    and worst of all.
    CLL-‘complete low life’ and FLK – ‘funny looking kid’

    Then they would have to be explained (away) by some poor GP or nurse.

  21. […] Vox Political warned last September that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is planning to sell records to “approved” private companies and also universities – that’s sell, mark you, to make money for the government. […]

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