Big Brother Watch has released new research today which shows that that there are at least 101,272 non-medical personnel with access to confidential medical records in 140 NHS Acute Trusts in Britain and Northern Ireland.
Fifty-four Trusts (predominantly the larger ones) failed to provide an answer to our Freedom of Information request, suggesting that the final figure could be as high as 140,000 NHS workers who are able to access records but are not directly involved in patient care.
I accept that some of these people will sometimes need access to some of our records, and that some loss of privacy is innate to the medical process. But those responsible for our health also have a responsibility for the protection of the private information accrued during that provision. The Department of Health (rightly) states that only those directly providing patient care should have access to that information - the Trusts are interpreting that widely enough to give access (without reference to the patient or doctor) to admin staff, porters, IT staff, receptionists and secretaries.
Everyone knows that the NHS wants to introduce the "Summary Care Record" which would make access to our files easier to people with an NHS pass across the nation. Figures like those we've revealed today will hardly fill people with confidence about that.
Their administrative convenience must not be allowed to trump our privacy.
