How safe is our info?

[Accyexplorer]

I'm sure some of you are aware of the NHS selling our info,you may of had the “Better information means better care” leaflet
http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content...flet-01-14.pdf
It informs us that our Medical Records will be shared (sold) with third parties.

The NHS has been privatised, and this is the reason our medical records are being accessed by "third parties"/private corporations .
Our records/information is worth a lot of money to these companies
http://www.hscic.gov.uk/media/12443/...V10_050913.pdf

They who just want to make money, at our cost
Good luck to the company who gets my medical records,they'll need extra staff to work out what goes on in my head

There is a "opt-out" option but its just a big scam IMHO,they'll still be able to request information, whether we like it or not
A bit of info care.data

When we tell our doctor something, it is between him and us. Yes, he has to take notes and keep them, and yes these notes may be seen by a small number of 'selected individuals' at his surgery, but far as I am concerned, it is private (sometimes intimate).
If you thought your doctor would be sharing your medical data outside of that arrangement, would you think twice before seeking medical advice?
I would, The bond of absolute trust i thought we had would of been irreparably broken.

I'm aware institutions such as banks, energy companies, insurance companies who hold our data have made mistakes in the past and lost/misplaced info.
But as a urban explorer I've been in abandoned hospitals an seen patients personal info scattered around the floor.this info includes:
names,addresses,medical diagnoses (including cancer and mental health) and any complications,referrals to specialists,prescription info,family history,vaccinations and screening tests,blood test etc.

This leads me to the question how safe is our info?......did I just answer my own question?

[Margaret Pilkington]

Apparently you did.

I have read that this information will not now be sold to third parties.
There has been little information(to the public) about who (and why) the information will go to.

I recently went into my practice to ask about opting out from this database.
I was told to put my request in writing.
I downloaded a form from the internet and took this into the practice.
When I handed it in I asked how I would know that my information was opted out of the database......the receptionist went through the form on the computer and I watched while she took mine and my husbands records off the database.

She then went on to tell me that all the records were anonymised, and that conditions were coded for security/confidentiality reasons.
She said that she was on the database. I told her that that was her prerogative. I told her that I didn't trust any large organisation with confidential information.
She then said that the information about the system had been badly handled...I agreed with her and told her that this was precisely the reason the I did not want to be on this database.
If they are so inept at letting us know what is happening and why...and who the information will be accessed by, then it is a sure bet that they are not fit to have access to the information

The Big Opt Out » Opt out letter

For those who want to opt out(I'm not suggesting that you should - just that I don't want to be on it)...the above is a link to a form that your practice will accept.

[Neil]

I don't care.

[Accyexplorer]

Originally Posted by Neil

I don't care.

Thanks for the detailed reply,it must of taken you a while

I assume theres nothing very shocking or personal on your record even if it did leak out without being anonymised

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Accyexplorer

Thanks for the detailed reply,it must of taken you a while

I assume theres nothing very shocking or personal on your record even if it did leak out without being anonymised

What shocks some people is normal to others.

[Accyexplorer]

Originally Posted by Neil

What shocks some people is normal to others.

I'm already on the national data base,due to being a reprobate as a child.
So me opting out is probably irrelevant

[Neil]

I am a bit laid back about these things, there is nothing you can do about it unless you plan a revolution (if making money is involved I'am in) so there is no point worrying about it.

[Accyexplorer]

Also notice how there's no option to sell your medical records to the NHS.
Who actually owns my data? if I own my private data i want the monies or choice to sell it.
Does selling off our personal data not contravene the Data Protection Act?

I want to look at my records from when I was a child, but at £10 for computerised records and £50 for written records (that I've seen scattered across abandoned buildings)I think i'll give it a miss.

[Margaret Pilkington]

If you got a look at your records there is a good chance you wouldn't be able to read them.
I worked for a consultant who could transcribe mutter onto paper.
After his rounds each week we would all take guesses at what he had written.
I must admit - the longer I worked with him the better I got at translating it.
He was a fearsome man, but an excellent consultant.

[Accyexplorer]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

If you got a look at your records there is a good chance you wouldn't be able to read them.
I worked for a consultant who could transcribe mutter onto paper.
After his rounds each week we would all take guesses at what he had written.
I must admit - the longer I worked with him the better I got at translating it.
He was a fearsome man, but an excellent consultant.

I heard the NHS spends millions on translators,I didn't realise it was for the Dr notes.
A Dr's relationship with his patients depends fundamentally on confidentiality.
Will a lack of said confidentiality not lead to unnecessary deaths?

Who's going to stop these corps passing this info onto the likes of insurance companies?
This happened in America and because either the persons or their med records showed for example a certain strain of cancer etc ran in the family,these folk were refused medical insurance.

Under no circumstance should anyone outside of the NHS be using my health information.
In today's world the only safe data is data they don't have. The rest is for sale.
Perhaps I should learn to be more relaxed,Maybe some of Eric's afghan black might do the trick

[Margaret Pilkington]

I think that you have a valid point. Many people may lose confidence in their Practice...and a delay in treatment could prove fatal.
There are a number of GP's who have pointed this out...some of them are unhappy with the situation and the scheme should have been due to be rolled out, but these concerns have meant that once again the roll out has been deferred...and the government are now saying that third parties will not have access to the information.

You only have to look at the DVLA as an example of what could happen

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

If you got a look at your records there is a good chance you wouldn't be able to read them.
I worked for a consultant who could transcribe mutter onto paper.
After his rounds each week we would all take guesses at what he had written.
I must admit - the longer I worked with him the better I got at translating it.
He was a fearsome man, but an excellent consultant.

How dangerous is that though, you could have been writing completely the wrong thing on someone's records. That consultant should have been pulled up for his dangerous record keeping

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Accyexplorer

Under no circumstance should anyone outside of the NHS be using my health information.
In today's world the only safe data is data they don't have. The rest is for sale.
Perhaps I should learn to be more relaxed,Maybe some of Eric's afghan black might do the trick

I know a lot of people who are/have being treated under the NHS in private hospitals. Those private hospitals need your notes before they operate on you.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Neil

How dangerous is that though, you could have been writing completely the wrong thing on someone's records. That consultant should have been pulled up for his dangerous record keeping

He could read it and so could his secretary.......and there were very few mistakes. So his record keeping wasn't dangerous.
It just made you listen to his mumble twice as carefully.
I have been retired for 12 years now Neil and the era I am talking about was something in the region of twenty plonk years ago.
Many doctors had illegible handwriting. I used to wonder how they passed their exams....how can you judge if someone has written the right answer if it cannot be deciphered?
He was a very good surgeon and an excellent consultant - even though he scared the bejesus out of most of the staff.(I wasn't one of those that he scared. I just used to imagine him having his botty wiped by his mummy-that puts most things into perspective)

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by Neil

I don't care.

I don't believe this for one moment.
If you thought that an individual(a nurse/doctor/health care asistant) within the NHS had breached your confidentiality then you would be as mad as hell...but yet you think that if the whole organisation does it, it is OK.

It isn't Ok, this information is sensitive and should not be available to anyone willy nilly.
Only certain people should have access to the information and those indiviuals should be traceable(as to what information was accessed, for what reason, date and time of the access, and the person who accessed the information).

Some large organisations have a very cavalier attitude to electronic data - its storage and its security.
I have read of memory sticks with data being lost, laptops with information being left on trains.