Hi Lucy,
Saw the bit about medical records. I have been involved in medical
informatics for nearly a decade and I teach on the MSc at Sheffield
University. I am also a part time GP.
Like many of your correspondents I am concerned about the way that
medical records are being moved out of control of GPs. Most practices
have only a rudimentary understanding of IT security and the piecemeal
development of GP computer systems over the last decade has led to large
numbers of people having access who do not fully understand security
issues. The government's proposals are that within a year or two the
vast majority of information currently available in both the paper and
computerised records in general practice will be directly accessible,
through the NHS spine record system, throughout the NHS. The driver for
this is improvement in healthcare by reducing duplication of
investigations and reduction in messaging to find out, for example, what
drugs people are taking. While these are laudable aims there are many
potential downsides. Patients are meant to be able to tell us which
bits of their record they do or do not want available widely, and have
the opportunity to put parts of their record in a secure envelope which
can only be accessed by senior personnel all and a certain specific
circumstances such as an emergency admission where the patient is
unconscious.
Aiden Hallogan recently spoke to have a national conference of GPs in
London. He tried to reassure them that the National programme for IT
would make sure that the general public understood what was happening.
He said that there would be a public information campaign larger than
any that had previously taken place. My colleagues and I are most
concerned that all this will do is create a tide of people seeking
information from their general practitioners about the proposed changes.
This extra workload will not abate for many years because people will
continually come forward having only just realised what the implications
are and will be seeking reassurance about their record or seeking to
define what they do and do not want available throughout the NHS.
Please continue to raise the profile of this issue through your
excellent web site. The earlier that people who understand the issues
realise what is happening the more likely it will be that my colleagues
and I within the medical informatics industry will be able to exert
meaningful pressure to slow the process down and to make sure that it is
implemented in a way that will not lead to problems in the future.
I am happy to be quoted on your site and would welcome further
discussion. I write regularly about IT matters and would be happy to
contribute further.
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