01.02.18
Patient data should not be shared for immigration tracing purposes, Wollaston argues
Chair of the health committee, Dr Sarah Wollaston, has called on NHS Digital to stop sharing patient data for immigration tracing purposes.
In a letter to NHS Digital’s chief executive, Sarah Wilkinson, she urges the organisation to withdraw from the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Home Office and Department of Health.
She states that NHS Digital’s non-executive director, Sir Ian Andrews, acknowledged that the arrangements had produced a “haphazard” process, as did the predecessor committee’s work in 2014.
Consequently, NHS Digital established a review, which has resulted in changes to practice and procedure, but Wollaston argues that it did not adequately address whether the arrangements, which she says grew without consideration of their appropriateness in a wider context, should continue.
She reports that the committee does not believe that NHS Digital has fully considered public interest in maintaining a confidential medical service, or the ethical implications of their decision.
Wollaston claims that concerns of the General Medical Council (GMC) and the National Data Guardian (NDG) about the practice were not adequately addressed, with the committee concerned that information sharing is occurring in a manner which is “incompatible” with the GMC’s guidance on confidentiality and the NHS Code of Confidentiality.
It argues that this could lead to “serious unintentional consequences” for individuals as well as wider public health.
Wollaston said that the committee is “seriously concerned” about the way NHS Digital has approached its duty to confidentiality.
“We call for a halt to the present system of information sharing and a full review of the original MoU with the Home Office.
“If this does not happen, we intend to hold further public evidence sessions requiring the chief executive to provide a very much more convincing case for the continued operation of this MoU than has been presented so far.”
She continued: “Whilst we recognise the public interest in assisting on a case by case basis where a serious crime is being investigated, we do not agree with NHS Digital’s assertion that their current arrangements for the purpose of immigration tracing requests constitute case by case data sharing.
“There has been a failure to appreciate the wider implications of their actions for the individuals concerned, for clinicians, and for wider public health.
“Their actions not only undermine public confidence in confidentiality but put at risk the efforts to build support for data sharing in other vital areas such as medical research.”
NHE has approached NHS Digital for comment.
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