As lead for care.data, Dr Beth McCarron has had a relatively quiet year, although the data-sharing scheme is now gearing up again, with pilots already starting in some areas.
But the Cornwall GP hasn’t shied away from speaking her mind. In May, she called the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s failure to implement 700,000 patient opt-outs a ‘mess’.
She also raised concerns about other local data-sharing arrangements – such as those revealed by Pulse in Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire – which she said ‘blew concerns about care.data out of the water’.
‘They leave GPs open and I am very concerned about the data-sharing agreements I read. It’s not acceptable just to go ahead and many of them are CCG driven,’ she said.
Dr McCarron has also been vocal about workforce concerns, warning plans to recruit new GPs to the profession, particularly the target to fill 3,250 training places by 2016, are unlikely to work without investment in the profession to make it an attractive career.
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