I wrote yesterday about the Government’s decision to press ahead with the NHS Care Records System in the teeth of well-founded fears about patient confidentiality and other such matters. One of the comments to that post was from a Dr Paul Thornton, and I thought it deserved wider publicity.
He drew my attention to the NHS Confidentiality Campaign. The aim of the campaign is ‘to protect patient confidentiality and to provide a focus for patient-led opposition the government’s NHS Care Records System’. Their website, titled The Big Opt Out, gives very useful information about what parts of the system you can opt out from, and how to go about the process. One of the things you must do is write to your GP, if you want to prevent your details being uploaded automatically to the NHS ’spine’. The website has a sample opt-out letter you can send to your GP, which you can create on the site by entering your details.
I’m sure some of you may have heard of the NHS Confidentiality Campaign, but I thought it worth highlighting to those who have not. This is a worthy campaign, deserving of support from those who oppose the database.
