2009/1/23 Ewan Davis <[log in to unmask]>:
> Hi All
>
> Part 8 (clauses 151 - 154) of the Coroners and Justice Bill due its Second
> Reading in the Commons on 26th January 2009. Makes amendments to the Data
> Protection Act 1998 which will allow Minister to make "Information Sharing
> Orders" that can alter any Act of Parliament and cancel all rules of
> confidentiality in order to allow information obtained for one purpose to be
> used for another.
>
> The attempt to sneak this wide ranging powers through in the back of this
> Bill is an attempt to avoid proper parliamentary scrutiny and represent a
> severe threat to civil liberties.
>
> I urge you all to contact you MP without delay to ensure that these clause
> get proper public and parliamentary scrutiny.
>
> For more information see www.no2id.net and from the wording of the changes
> http://tinyurl.com/cc4zy9
>
> Ewan
>
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have contacted my MP
through www.writetothem.com. What I have written is below.
Dear Mr Clegg,
I am writing to you about concerns I have related to the Coroners and
Justice Bill 2008-09, In particular the provisions in clauses 151 -
154 which relate to changes to the data protection act. These seem to
give substantial powers to secretaries of state to authorise the use
of identifiable personal information with very limited scrutiny.
I am particularly concerned with respect to medical records as I am a GP.
In recent years we have seen the government push for a single
centrally held clinical record. The reasons for their pushing for this
have seemed obscure to me. If the stated aim of ensuring relevant
medical information is available to treating physicians when patients
fall ill away from home this could be achieved much more easily and
cheaply by issuing "medic-alert" bracelets.
We then saw the development of the SUS (Secondary Uses Service)to mine
information from these central records.
Now we see an attempt to bring in significant powers for the secretary
of state to authorise use of identifiable information to achieve
policy objectives.
I fear this is potentially a serious infringement of the ability of
the medical profession to maintain confidential records, something on
which we absolutely depend for providing excellent care, especially to
vulnerable groups.
I hope I can rely on you and your party to do everything you can to
prevent these changes passing into law.
Yours sincerely,
Geoff Schrecker
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