On Wed, 31 Jan 2001, JIM SLATTERY wrote:
> >> I've spoken to the press office at the DoH who tell me that the article is
> >> rubbish. No restriction on independent research is intended but some
> >> datasets might be put beyond public use. The example given is GP
> >prescribing
> >> info which could be used to target GPs by pharmaceutical co.s (recently
> >> tested in Sourceinformatics case). Anyone using such data will be fined.
>
> This seems very odd as a DoH line. The Medicines Control Agency - for
> whom I work and part of the DoH - have recently taken over maintenance
> of the GPRD, the largest GP prescribing database in this country. They
> are busy trying to market it to a wide customer base. Is this consistent
> with putting it beyond public use?
It was available beforehand when ONS was looking after it. What prevented
wider public use was themassive prics charged for access to data. Has the
pricing policy changed now?
Alison Macfarlane
>
> It might be informative to try using GPRD as a specific example when
> asking the DoH about this.
> --
> JIM SLATTERY
>
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Please think before you press the 'Reply' button! Note that if you press
the 'Reply' button your message will go the individual who posted this message
not to the list. With many mailers you will have a 'Reply-to-All' button that
will send automatically to the list address of <[log in to unmask]>. The
Radstats list is set up for public discussion so please be generous with your
thoughts and share them us all.
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