And the standards keep droping

It seems that Connecting for Health (people behind Englands NHS database) have decided to yet again lower the already low standards they have about access.

It has been reported that they are now agreed to allow people without qualifications, such as healthcare assistants, to access the patient Summary Care Record in full, not just the basics such as name and address or info they need to carry out blood presure readings. It was also claimed that admin staff were printing the information off, but it seems that CfH are now saying that this is not the case.

This just goes to show that when it comes to honesty and transparency CfH can be trusted about as much as an MP, and that is not saying very much.

The idea of spending £12-£20 bilion on the computer system was the paper records were meant to be less ’secure’. What we have now is data being shared with the Secondary Use Service, police seraching the database, researchers demanding access (which they will proberbly get with a Section Sixty), NHS staff being allowed direct access to identifiable data held by SUS and to top it off they are printing out paper records they claim are not secure enough! The list list of those with access is increasing all the time, yet patients are told sod all about it.

Some links to check out (dont forget the forum there is on the NO2ID website at http://forum.no2id.net/viewforum.php?f=58 where I post under the name ‘medical privacy’)

 http://www.civilservicenetwork.com/news/article.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=31742&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=107&cHash=d0f84cfec8

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/tony_collins/2008/03/no-qualifications-needed-to-ac.html#more

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7274773.stm

Police to access national NHS medical records

It seems that those of us that were worried about the police etc having access to the national NHS database are proven to be right to worry. It seems that the police have been given permission to access the database.

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/tony_collins/2008/02/police-will-be-allowed-searche.html

How long will it be bfore they and possibly the SS do searches for all possible knife/bullet wounds, all those under 16 on the pill, all those who access A&E twice or more in 3 months, rape victims, parents on drug rehab, parents who drink over a set limit of alcohol a week, those under 18 who admit to consuming alcohol, under 16s above/bellow a set Body Mass Index, parents on anti-depressants, parents in therapy. the list is possibly endless and the amount of people the info can be shared with (including local councils, SS, schools/teachers etc) is vastly more than people are told and vastly more than at any time in history and vastly more than any other ‘free’ country in the world. It seems that doctors and health workers in general realy are set to become ‘agents of the state’ but at the same time continue to lie about privacy and access to our most sensitive of information.

Other links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7250589.stm