ID database to NHS records & The woman falsely labelled alcoholic by the NHS - Helen Wilkinson

The Government's intended ID database to NHS records stikes me as sinister with its potential for intrusive health-surveillance. And the potential for error and abuse is great. There is no opt-out mechanism for patients on the grounds of concerns about civil liberties.

Woman falsely labelled alcoholic by the NHS - Helen Wilkinson

Extract from the article:

"...millions of patients will inevitably have mistakes in their computerised records which will in the future be read by more people than in the past. The government has not yet delivered on a promise that patients will be able to check their records on the internet for mistakes."

See also Warning over privacy of 50m patient files

and What can patients do? - Extract from this article:

"Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, believes that patients do have legal rights over their medical records: "Write and insist that you are not put on the NHS data spine," Prof Anderson says. "If enough people boycott having centralised NHS records, with a bit of luck the service will be abandoned.""

And there follows a model letter to send - copy each to the Secretary of state for Health and to your GP - if you wish to register your objection to having your medical details on this intended database.

Our Government has an abysmal record with regard to grand IT schemes...)o: - They tend not to work, they tend not to be secure and they tend to contain many errors. - Apart from which considerations, they are monumentally expensive!