I don't believe that the NHS should be for sale.
Nor do I think my medical data should be for sale.
The trouble is that in the next stage of NHS privatisation your data is going to be for sale unless you act to stop it. This tweet provides details:
The Government has instructed your GP to hand over your lifelong medical history – your GP doesn’t have a choice, but YOU DO... until 23rd June.
If you don’t want your family’s #GPdata used & sold to Hancock’s cronies, send/give this letter to your GP: https://t.co/qQrQoJMY8j pic.twitter.com/QBCykuuAS6
— Phil Booth (@EinsteinsAttic) May 27, 2021
Copies of that letter and other information are available here.
I refuse to let the government sell my data.
I hope you might too.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
The Tories…………………transactional right until the end.
A big thank you for this.
Ditto PSR.
It is important to not forget that plenty of personal contact information & GP details have been vacuumed up in the last 12 months under cover of Covid testing and the ‘NHS App’ (which was developed well ahead of the epidemic by foreign security and tech companies , who directly control the DoH and why Hancock is Teflon.
The current ONS/Oxford – what you might consider to be wholly U.K. based – next stage vaccine effectiveness study requires yet another new consent form – I’ve lost track of how many changes have taken place since the original swab consents. Rights compromised at each stage. The latest iteration allows your blood sample to be shipped abroad for research by commercial organisations and you giving up any right to any developments that may ensue from it!
The personal data had been collected and stored in foreign servers from day 1 – via the SalesForce platform.
GDPR went crashing through the BrexShit saloon windows last January.
From the latest release register by far the most common users of the data are the NHS followed by local authorities. The only private organisations using the data appear to be companies supplying data to the above users also.
While it doesn’t preclude the misuse of data in the future it does appear that there is a degree of useful purpose behind the collection of data.
I completely disagree
The sale is barred now
The whole point is to change that
Not quite sure what it is you completely disagree with. Do you think that there is no useful purpose behind data collection?
I am happy for data collection
But not for data sale to US companies who then create drugs and then sell them and the dogmatic tool back to the NHS from which they got the data
Had a long think about the sharing of my medical data. My first reaction is to opt out, simply because I expect the govt to sell the data to private companies (particularly finance and private health companies) and I strongly object to this govts sneaky underhand behaviour. Furthermore, I have little confidence in the ethics of private entities in health as evidenced by one of the health sectors holding the world to ransom over vaccines. But if I do opt out then public research (e.g. universities and NHS) would also be undermined. I think the pandemic has made it pretty obvious how important big data is for public health.
In addition, the protection of privacy is a political issue, which can only be addressed by political pressure. It is clear that this govt, supported by the press, will not be moved by a boycott (the last time Tories didn’t have a clear majority). So to me, if I opt out, I undermine the research done by our excellent health scientists for zero political gain.
This is a personal opinion, and I respect that others will feel differently.
There is ample data for public health purposes now
I’m not sure I understand what you mean. Surely up to date data is important for any research programme? My concern is not just about today’s pandemic but future health issues. My big problem at the moment is that it is not clear from NHS digital what opting out means to research in the NHS and in universities. I want to contribute to that research. Opting out seems like a sticking plaster approach to political resistance to the misuse of public data for private profit.
But really glad that you got the conversation going, as it increases the opportunity to gather more information before making a decision.
Have tried to use the government Digital online service but cannot get it to send me a security code to complete the procedure
I succeeded this morning….
So have I.
That procedure, I have read (can’t remember where) is ineffective. You have to fill in the form and get it to your surgery for the opt-out to be effective, I gather. I’ve done both procedures.
I have done one and will be dropping the letter in tomorrow
Can anyone tell me if this sale of medical history information applies to the Scottish NHS? The documents I have read refer only to GP’s in England.
I genuinely do not know
‘Can anyone tell me if this sale of medical history information applies to the Scottish NHS? ‘
As I understand it, it applies only to England at the moment. There is some info in the Twitter thread that RM referenced above.
I contacted my MSP Christina McKelvie today about this and she assures me that this data sale is an England-only move.
It’s not a data sale. It might be that in the future but this is not what it is right now. You have misinformed your MSP
In England non-anonymised data will be for sale
That may be the case right now, but the Tories are hell bent on undermining devolution in general and the SNP Government in Scotland in particular, so I think all Scots need to be vigilant on this one (and so many others). The UK Gov is very relaxed about breaking the law and perverting existing political procedures and conventions, then lying to cover its tracks. I hope they get a bloody nose from the English on this matter of confidential personal information, but I fear mass apathy/ignorance in the population will play into their hands. Does this proposed sell-off apply to Wales and NI too?
The scariest part of this whole affair is here:
“I am aware of the implications of this request, understand it will not affect the care that I / we receive….”
When a GP practice’s income becomes partly based on selling your data to private interests, do you reckon practices will keep you on their list–or take you ON to their list as new patients–if you refuse to allow your data to be sold?
You can opt out–but so can they.
When offered a glimpse of the future, it’s smart to take it seriously.
I have already taken the necessary action to prevent my NHS data being sold. Well done on publicizing this, and I hope more will prevent their data from being sold.
Have completed the opt out.It went into junk mail never done that before in any dealings with any Government web site
It should be noted that GP records are being treated separately to clinical and hospital data. Opt out from GP data handover has to be dealt with by your GP surgery but you can opt out of the other data being handed over online by completing a downloadable form.
Is it impossible that a highly infected population = more data = a more profitable database? I sincerely hope that this is an irrational fear, but I’ve not managed to allay it yet.
This article (from 2019) is worth reading in full, given what we now know of the covid response.
https://www.theregister.com/2019/12/12/nhs_england_database/
Even GP’s are against it! https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/03/gp-nhs-digital-data-patients-records-england
Yes!