29.11.16
BMA warns over ‘unprecedented’ sharing of medical records in new Bill
The Digital Economy Bill could pose an “unprecedented” risk to the confidentiality of patients’ medical records, the BMA has warned.
In a briefing ahead of a Parliamentary discussion of the Bill yesterday, the doctors’ union warned that Part 5, Clause 29 “would appear to permit an unprecedented and inappropriate sharing of confidential information”.
The clause states that “a specified person” may disclose information held in connection with their functions for the purpose of “the improvement or targeting of a public service”.
The BMA described the potential risk of compromising patient information as “disproportionate” to the Bill’s goals.
In particular, it warned that there was a risk of the clause undermining the principle of patient confidentiality and being “highly detrimental to the doctor-patient relationship”, discouraging patients from visiting their doctor or telling the doctor confidential information.
The Bill is intended to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, but medical information is afforded special common-law protection beyond the scope of the Act, affirmed in the Human Rights Act 1998.
The BMA warned that the public trust in NHS records that could be lost as a result of the Bill, especially following the collapse of the care.data programme, “would be extremely difficult to regain and should be avoided at all costs”.
It urged MPs to introduce an amendment stating that the clause “does not authorise the disclosure of identifiable health information”.
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