Nhs Medical Records

[emmie]

has anyone heard of this before, as you have till June 23rd to opt out. I will be telephoning my GP first thing, isn't this a total breach of confidentiality, your medical records up for grabs.

https://bylinetimes.com/2021/05/19/the-government-wants-to-sell-your-gp-medical-records-heres-how-to-opt-out/

[-SharonA-]

So the NHS is selling your medical records, to who????
Who would benefit from this? And why???

[emmie]

neither do i trust them with this, too easy to sell on your details i fear.

[emmie]

private medical companies, pharmaceuticals, just about anyone, did you read the link i provided.

[emmie]

its bad enough when you speak with receptionists at the GP surgery, they know your medical history because its on the GP computer system, what meds you take, etc

[-SharonA-]

Read it now and is it such a bad thing???
If in future pharmaceutical companies ship a load of medications to you, just ignore & bin them.

[anneasquith]

It would be a bit difficult if g.p.s receptionists had no access to our medical records .

[youngmafbog]

No the NHS is not selling your records, yet. They will share them - for nothing.

The problem is not the concept but the poor management and in particular the poor IT in the NHS. I simply dont trust them, they are incompetent.

[emmie]

anne, but it gets when you phone and the Receptionist drills you about why you need to speak with the doctor, and if you are lucky you might get a call back from a GP, only to be asked what's the problem, that's happened to me so often. so the info you give to reception doesn't seem to get relayed to the Doctor on call.

[emmie]

its entirely up to the individual whether they sign up or not. i worry that with the incompetents who work in NHS, they hand over privileged info to say potential employers. who may not see it as a good thing to employ you because you may have had a breakdown way back in time. does that not make sense, if not, then no worries.

[Peter Pedant]

//its entirely up to the individual whether they sign up or not. //

er-- no I dont think you have been concentrating - you dont sign up you deem to have consented if you dont say no

so you didnt really think its entirely up to the individual whether they sign up or not. - - - - did you ?

[ladybirder]

Well I don't worry about it at all. I can think of a lot worse things to worry about. They can print my medical records on line and I still won't care.

[-SharonA-]

Agree with ladybird!! So you will see I had acne at 16, you will see I was on the pill & have had a bad second pregnancy!!!

[emmie]

some will care, some won't, i suspect that many don't know about it at all to be given the choice what to do.

[Mamyalynne]

It's good that there's an opt out, I can fully understand that some people are nervous about their data - especially if it could affect future prospects.

[Zacs-Master]

But what if insurance companies etc search the records and find you're not there, and then assume that's because you've something to hide, so they put your premiums up anyway?

[Mamyalynne]

Fair point Zacs.

[Zacs-Master]

Opting out is a double edged sword. It's not a simple as people are assuming.

[Zacs-Master]

Addressing Em's point, you could equally say potential employers may not see it as a good thing to employ you because you you're data isn't accessible so you might have something to hide.

[THECORBYLOON]

As the records are anonymized, employers and insurers won't be able to identify folk from the information anyway.

[jno]

they're not fully anonymised, TCL; "pseudonymised" is the word they use.