NHS England wants to hear from you…

The Department of Health’s consultation on the future of secrecy of your medical record closed 2 weeks ago. Thank you for your help and comments on why the privacy of your medical records matter to you.

After that, NHS England has announced public meetings to hear your views on what should happen next.

There are “discussion events” in London, Southampton, and Leeds. If you’re nearby, you might want to go along. They start on Monday afternoon in London.

The Government will respond in around 6 weeks

The Department of Health has said that they will respond to the Caldicott Consultation in about 6 weeks.

Will you be able to see that your wishes have been honoured? Or will there be more secrets?

Meanwhile in the rest of Government…

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office is passing a new law to share any other data with whoever it wants. The scrutiny of the MPs will be rushed through in 6 days of sessions. The bill has no provisions requiring transparency of data flows – again it can be all secret.

The justifications are few. One is the case of an alcoholic who was given social housing above an off licence. A problem for that person to be sure; but there will be far more problems caused by routinely sharing information with landlords before tenants move in. With the privatisation of most council housing (certainly outside London), the flaws of this should be obvious.

You should decide who can see data about you, rather than decisions being imposed by a guy called Paul sitting in Whitehall.

We’ll have more next time…