Fergie's Tech Blog

UK: Private Companies Could Get Access to Millions of NHS Medical Records

Laura Donnelly writes in the Telegraph.co.uk:

The Government is considering giving firms access to a massive computer database which will contain the records of almost every man, woman and child in England.

The information is a goldmine for private companies, who could use it for medical research or for helping them to sell products to the NHS.

But privacy campaigners say they are "horrified" by the proposals which could see patients' postcodes, medical conditions and treatments - and in some circumstances, their names - passed on to third parties without their consent.

The database, part of a long-delayed scheme to give NHS staff access to computerised medical records, will hold details of almost all visits by patients to hospitals and GPs.

posted by Fergie @ 9/20/2008 06:01:00 PM