The London Times reported over the weekend that a poll it conducted sowed that more than three quarters of National Health Service (NHS) doctors, "are either 'not confident' that [patient] data will be safe or 'very worried' that data will leak once the £20 billion National Programme for IT (NPfIT) is running. Asked how well they thought that local NHS organisations would be able to maintain the privacy of data, only 4 per cent said very well. The majority, 57 per cent, said quite or very poorly."
Interestingly, the more experienced the doctor in IT, the less confident they are that the benefits of the NHS electronic health record system out weigh the risks to patient privacy.
In the London Telegraph, there are also two stories about the NHS changing how it plans to do business. The first is about a plan for millions of people suffering from "arthritis, asthma and even heart failure will be urged to treat themselves," as a means to save money. Some patients will be encouraged to report "medical information to doctors remotely by telephone or computer," which I assume will mean a big change to what will need to be captured in the NPfIT electronic health record.
The second story is also about Prime Minister Gordon Brown's desire to make people responsible for their own health, by denying medical treatment to patients that are deemed not to be taking care of themselves. The story says that, "Patients could be required to stop smoking, take exercise or lose weight before they can be treated."
Hmm, once the NPfIT is all in place, this should be easy to do. The government will be able to set up filters based on a person's medical history, and deny them access to treatments.
Brown says that, "I believe these are steps vital to securing the health of the NHS for the next 60 years."
"They will require a broadening and a deepening of reform to ensure that the NHS as a whole attaches the same priority to a personal and preventative service as many of you already reflect in your own day-to-day decisions."
In other words, the NHS will be there to treat you as long as you are already healthy.
I think UK doctors' might want to worry about patient privacy a bit more.
