"Patients must be allowed to choose whether to have medical records on a national database" says Cllr Stephanie Eaton

5.31.01pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 28th Dec 2006

Are you happy for 1.3 million people to access your medical records?

The government is currently considering setting up an NHS Care Records System. If implemented, this will form a huge national database of patient medical records and personal information. It is not clear what rights patients will have to see and correct an inaccurate record nor how the system will prevent the unlawful access of personal information. Tower Hamlets Liberal Democrats believe that it should be the choice of each patient to say whether he or she wishes to include private medical information on this database.

Anything you disclose to any doctor, nurse, midwife, health visitor, health professional, NHS employee, pharmacist, at any hospital, surgery or clinic could be stored on this massive central government database. This could include sensitive issues such as sexuality, ethnicity, family genetic history, mental health issues, smoking and alcohol use, contraception, impotence, paternity, infertility, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, emotional problems, test results, domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse, and your family history of cancer or Alzheimer's disease .There is no opt out for your demographic details. It is proposed that patients will only have them hidden in special circumstances if the police or social services request it - if, for example, you are victim of domestic violence.

This new database gives potentially millions of NHS employees and civil servants access to not only your medical records but also your name, address, NHS Number, GP details and phone numbers. Pharmacists may also be able to access this information. The purported benefits of this system are that a patient's medical records can be accessed in the event of an emergency. Of course, there may be people who would be happy to have their records on the database. However, for many people their medical history will be irrelevant in the event of an accident or sudden illness and who would prefer that their medical records are kept private between them and their medical practitioner. We are not suggesting that people should be prevented from having their records on a database, just that no-one should have this done without their explicit consent (the opt-in).

Cllr Stephanie Eaton today commented "Along with a number of medical experts and the British Medical Association, I believe that forcing people to have their most private medical information stored on a database which could be access by 1.3 million NHS staff is unacceptable and dangerous. For many people it will undermine the relationship between patient and doctor and will stop people consulting their doctor about sensitive issues such as depression or alcoholism." Cllr Eaton is supporting The Big Opt Out Campaign which has raised the profile of the debate over the database. The campaign website can be found at: http://www.nhsconfidentiality.org/ and contains a number of sample letters which patients can send to their doctor to request that their details are not entered on the database.