Medics sceptical about government data security

Nine out of ten doctors have no confidence in the government’s ability to safeguard patient data online, a poll by BMA News magazine has revealed.

Over 90% of respondents said they were not confident patient data on the proposed NHS centralised database would be secure.

The magazine says the profession’s scepticism appears to flow from scandals such as security breaches in MTAS, the junior doctor’s online job application service, and the HM Revenue and Customs loss of computer discs containing the details of 25m child benefit claimants.

One respondent said: “With the MTAS debacle, the government has proven itself to be pretty incompetent in handling and protecting sensitive data. Forget ID cards; the national NHS database poses an even greater risk of our personal data being released into the public domain and being misused.”

Another said: “With the government’s recent underhand dealing with regard to general medical services contracts and the contracts of staff and associate specialist doctors, we might wonder whether it would have other uses for the information that might not be in patients’ best interests. Previous government guarantees of security have not been worth the paper they were written on.”

Only 4% of the 219 respondents said they felt they were in a position to assure patients that their data will be safe on the Care Records database.

One respondent said: “This will help with continuity of care and communication between primary and secondary care … There may be a risk, but paper records are also going astray. We need to join the 21st century and fast.”

Nine out of ten respondents to the Doctors Decide poll said they did not feel they were in a position to assure patients that their data would be safe, with one suggesting that the BMA should advertise its objections to the system.

“The BMA should immediately take out full-page advertisements in the national press informing patients that their health records are about to be placed on an unsafe system. The adverts should provide a cut-out form that patients can give to their GPs to opt out of this dangerous and inadequately secured system.”

Another respondent called for the use of memory sticks or bracelets instead of the database.

“A better and cheaper solution would be for patients to carry and be responsible for their own medical information, using a portable database in card or stick format…It could be easily transported as a necklace pendant or bracelet similar to the medic-alert style of personal jewellery.’

The poll also found that 81% of respondents would not want their surgery data stored on the national NHS Spine, with further calls for BMA support on the issue.

“I hope that the BMA will now provide leadership on this issue to prevent the government putting the confidentiality of patient medical records at such risk. It should call for the care record service to be abandoned.”

However, 9% were in favour of uploading data to the Spine, with one respondent saying: “With patients being treated in multiple sites by numerous professionals, there is no way we can go on as we are — struggling to collect all relevant data and constantly repeating data collection and rewriting data. We must have IT and share data, even if there are risks.”

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