Medical data base

[shillelagh]

Originally Posted by Neil

You could just as easily carry the info with you if it is so limited or it could be written into your ID card.

I do .. i wear a SOS talisman ..and have done since i was about 15 .. and not once has a paramedic or ambulanceman or nurse or doctor opened it up and looked inside it. I also if going up to spugs carry with me part of my prescription .. which has my doctors name and address and telephone number on it .. besides all the medication im on.

[Ken Moss]

I am all in favour of this. I got the leaflet through my door last week and if it saves running about between my doctor, Blackburn Royal and Wythenshawe Hospital simply to give them information then it gets a thumbs up from me.

Anyone out there who is thoroughly interested in what medicines I happen to be taking at any one time can just ask me if they really want to know but I'd suggest they get out more. Anyone else who thinks that using my contact details off a leaked NHS database will persuade me to buy their pharmaceuticals is also severely deluded.

With all systems, be they computerised or not, there is the possibility of human error and records falling into the wrong hands but I'm quite happy to take the risk if it saves me taking half a day off simply to run around telling the various medical establishments what the click of a mouse could do just as well.

[Margaret Pilkington]

It isn't just what pills you are on.....or what operation you have had.
The record will carry your name, address, date of birth, National health number etc.......these are details that could quite easily be 'lost' or hacked and then you could find yourself paying for stuff that you have never bought because someone has set up accounts in your name, and obtained goods fraudulently.(with accurate and up to date information off the NHS database)

I do not trust security of huge organisations......and as Lettie says the NHS will purchase the cheapest, nastiest product on the market because that is what they do.

[MargaretR]

I delivered an 'opt out' form to my doc sometime last year.
I have not crossed his threshold since July 2008 and take all possible steps to avoid the need to - barring broken legs I think I can cope better without him.

I suppose people who rely on pharmacuticals for survival, feel vulnerable, and so will welcome the database to ease that sense of vulnerability.

I think that it will provide a false sense of security, especially after reading comments here from health workers.

[katex]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

The record will carry your name, address, date of birth, National health number etc.......these are details that could quite easily be 'lost' or hacked and then you could find yourself paying for stuff that you have never bought because someone has set up accounts in your name, and obtained goods fraudulently.(with accurate and up to date information off the NHS database)

I do not trust security of huge organisations......and as Lettie says the NHS will purchase the cheapest, nastiest product on the market because that is what they do.

Will the information on these computers though not be obtained from your doctor's computers ? Would think these are more vulnerable to loss or hacking ? So we are already vulnerable, are we not ?

Not sure, but think their receptionists have access to these at your surgery ... know if I have lost my repeat prescription for my HRT and can never remember the name, they have looked in their computer on the counter to let me know what it is. Might not be fully correct .. just a queston.

[Margaret Pilkington]

As far as I am aware the computers at the GP's practice are not 'live'......they aren't connected up to external systems...other than the intranet(not the internet)......this means that the practice can access information about blood tests from the hospital data base.....or organise appointments through their own intranet, but I don't think they are at present at the same kind of risk they would be at if the whole thing went live(meaning that any hospital in England could access the data).
This data must be going on the internet as you will be able to access and look at your own records.
I am ready to be corrected if anyone knows any different.

It just worries me that information does get lost on the systems of huge organisations.......and I don't mean lost in the sense that it cannot be found.....I mean lost in the sense that it is not secure. Heck, I'm not even sure that I am making sense.......but I know what i mean.

[Benipete]

In the last few weeks I have attended hospitals in Blackburn-Burnley-Accrington and Clitheroe.:
On each occasion my rather large folder containing my medical records has had to be transported to each site.Must be a very expensive operation.

Ah well,just a thought.

[katex]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

As far as I am aware the computers at the GP's practice are not 'live'......they aren't connected up to external systems...other than the intranet(not the internet)......this means that the practice can access information about blood tests from the hospital data base.....or organise appointments through their own intranet, but I don't think they are at present at the same kind of risk they would be at if the whole thing went live(meaning that any hospital in England could access the data).

Have just rung my daughter Margaret (who you know is a practice nurse) , and you are quite correct .. the ones in doctors' surgeries are intranet .. no one else can access ..'cept receptionists of course. Thanks for leading me to the answer.

[Margaret Pilkington]

You are most welcome Kate.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

As far as I am aware the computers at the GP's practice are not 'live'......they aren't connected up to external systems...other than the intranet(not the internet)......this means that the practice can access information about blood tests from the hospital data base.....or organise appointments through their own intranet, but I don't think they are at present at the same kind of risk they would be at if the whole thing went live(meaning that any hospital in England could access the data).
This data must be going on the internet as you will be able to access and look at your own records.
I am ready to be corrected if anyone knows any different.

It just worries me that information does get lost on the systems of huge organisations.......and I don't mean lost in the sense that it cannot be found.....I mean lost in the sense that it is not secure. Heck, I'm not even sure that I am making sense.......but I know what i mean.

The community matrons can access my full medical records and often do, when I came under their mantle I signed a consent form, which is invaluable with their case management

[entwisi]

The problem with Wide Area Intranets is that they often don't consider security as important as if something was 'Internet'. i.e. they think its 'internal' non public so security isn't as great a consideration. problem is anyone with a network tap can listen to every package bouncing around the network. I've even sat in the doctors and spotted their wifi networks and have the tools on my phone to potentially crack the encryption if I wanted to.....

As soon as you shove something Internet wide then you immediately start thinking about security at a paranoid level, Intranets are thought of as in house so IT bods can be a little lax in considering security.

I'd love to see a full penetration attack report on my local docs...

[Neil]

Originally Posted by entwisi

I'd love to see a full penetration attack...

Tooo much info there mate

And most people don't realise that these 'internal' networks connect to each other over the internet anyway.

My Doctors have 3 surgeries, 1 in Ossy, 1 up Shad and another in Blackburn. I go to Ossy but have been to Shad when they could not fit me in. My notes were on his PC at both so they are networked together. There is no way they have a dedicated fibre between all 3 sites so that means they connect in the big bad world on 'secure' links.

[Benipete]

Originally Posted by Benipete

In the last few weeks I have attended hospitals in Blackburn-Burnley-Accrington and Clitheroe.:
On each occasion my rather large folder containing my medical records has had to be transported to each site.Must be a very expensive operation.

Ah well,just a thought.

All of the above locations had a certain amount of my medical details on their computer data base.I can't see a problem with that.

[Margaret Pilkington]

As I said in a previous post, your medical records held by the surgery will have all of your personal contact details on it, plus of course your NHS number......and if these fall into the wrong hands, then some nefarious activity could occur which could leave you trying to pay off a debt that you didn't incur.

And as Ian points out people think that the intranet is a safer form of networking, when it has as many pitfalls as the internet....and one of the most serious is because people do not recognise its security failings.

[mattylad]

It's not as if this information is not already out there, in other government databases, on laptops or memory sticks in the back of cars etc.