BMA slams NHS patient database

8 Mar 2010

A leading medical organisation has criticised government plans to establish a giant database of NHS medical records.

The British Medical Association warned that a centralised system would erode people's trust in the NHS and leave private information exposed to computer hackers.

Doctors said scaremongering had led to people consenting to have their personal details stored on the system and that consequently patient's rights are being ignored.

The group said that although it backs the concept of a central database it wants its concerns addressing by politicians. It said it would be writing to Health Secretary Andy Burnham to explain its criticism of the system.

The Government wants 50 million people to agree to have a "summary care record" stored on the system. It wants to allow out-of-hours doctors and hospital staff to be able to retrieve data usually only held by a person's GP.

The records will initially only provide details of the drugs a patient is on and peripheral information such as what allergies they have. However the database will eventually hold the majority of everyone's medical history.

Dr Grant Ingrams, who chairs the BMA information technology committee, said: "I think the rights of patients are not being respected."

A Department of Health spokeswoman said that the model of implied consent being used was adopted in accordance with national information governance good practice and was supported by the information commissioner's office.