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NHS

NHS report warns medical database risks undermining confidentiality

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By John Glenday, Reporter

February 17, 2014 | 1 min read

An internal NHS report examining the organisations plan to introduce a new medical records database has found that it risks undermining patient confidentiality.

A leaked copy of the risk analysis, obtained by the Telegraph, reportedly finds that such a database would be vulnerable to hackers and may undermine confidence in the body.

It is feared that collating records electronically would provide an easy route for those with nefarious intent to ‘maliciously’ access patient records to identify illnesses, medication and vital statistics.

The NHS is currently notifying all 26m households in England of its plans to set-up its £50m care.data scheme to share data more effectively to improve healthcare and research.

The report notes: “The extraction of personal confidential data from providers without consent carries the risk that patients may lose trust in the confidential nature of the health service.

“This risk is two-fold; firstly, patients will not receive optimal healthcare if they withhold information from the clinicians that are treating them; and secondly, that this loss of trust degrades the quality of data.”

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