New rules on the security of information to be held in the NHS
Care Records Service, which will start rolling out across England
next year, were published by the Government yesterday. It hopes
that the rules will calm fears of privacy abuses.
The Service, a nationwide patient health record system, is
intended to update the existing eclectic system, which relies on a
mixture of paper and computer records, and is not always available
to doctors in an emergency, which is when they need it most.
The new service will be centralised, and available to all those
authorised to access it. This triggered concerns about privacy so,
in response, the Government has published the Care Record
Guarantee. The Guarantee makes 12 commitments to patients about
their records. Guarantor of these new patient rights will be the
Secretary of State for Health, currently Patricia Hewitt.
The Guarantee provides:
- Individuals will be allowed access to their own records;
- Access to records by NHS staff will be strictly limited to
those having a 'need to know' to provide effective treatment to a
patient;
- Information will not be shared outwith the NHS unless
individuals grant permission, the NHS is obliged to do so by law,
or failure to share would put someone else at risk. Any sharing
without permission will be carried out following best practice
guidelines;
- If individuals are unable to make a decision about sharing
health information on their own behalf, a senior health care
professional may make a decision to do so, taking into account the
views of relatives, carers and any recorded views of the
individual;
- Where health care is provided by a care team including people
from other services, the NHS and patient can agree to share health
information with the other services, bearing in mind the effect
failure to share might have on the quality of care received;
- Individuals can choose not to share information in their
electronic care records, although this may have an impact on the
quality of care received;
- A complaints procedure;
- That individuals are entitled to check and correct mistakes in
their record;
- That the NHS must enforce a duty of confidentiality on their
staff and organisations under contract to the NHS;
- That the NHS must keep the records secure and
confidential;
- That the NHS must keep a record of everyone who looks at the
information held in the Service. Individuals will be entitled to
ask for a list of people accessing their records, and details of
when they looked at the records; and
- That the NHS must take enforcement action if someone looks at
records without permission or good reason.
According to Health Minister Lord Warner, the rules will be
backed up with tough security measures, ensuring that everyone can
have confidence in the new Service.
