NHS England could become a co-data controller of patient records in order to help relieve individual GP liability.
NHS England’s transformation director, Dr Tim Ferris told a House of Lords select committee yesterday that that current legislation in which individual physicians are liable for ownership of patient data ‘may no longer be fit for purpose’.
Dr Ferris, who has a history of working as a GP in Boston, USA, said: ‘If I were a GP in this country… if I had legal liability for the exchange of data, I would be worried about that.’
Speaking to the House of Lords Integration of Primary and Community Care Committee in a session exploring what NHS England leadership are doing to better facilitate integration within the wider health service, he also highlighted how Scotland has resolved this issue by making NHS Scotland co-data controller, giving the organisation co-joint ownership of the data and therefore also co-ownership of the liabilities.
‘That removes the liability associated with the use of the data from the individual physician. There are other ways of approaching this problem but that is one of the ways of approaching it,’ Dr Ferris said.
And he endorsed the committee looking at ways to relieve GPs of this sole responsibility for data protection and data controller status, describing it as a ‘significant challenge that needs to be overcome’.
‘Let’s look at all of the options, legislative being one of them,’ he said.
He added: ‘I don’t think it’s necessary to move data all to one place. It is unnecessary now with processing speeds and memory capabilities. Leave the data in its secure and local location and use only the parts of it that are important for the intended use…
‘It’s a red herring to say the only way to do this is to move all the data centrally. I think we can accomplish everything we need leaving the data more or less locally… the important thing is that the people who access that data fulfil all the [privacy] rules.’
The GP contract imposition for 2023/24 stipulated that GP practices need to offer automatic access to prospective patient records via the NHS App by 31 October 2023 however the BMA’s GP Committee for England is considering a legal challenge given their ‘current and ongoing concerns’.
If you’re going to try to tame subjugate and make everyone salaried,you cant expect us to be GDPR fall-guys as well can you.Who will carry the can in NHSE I wonder a faceless quango..
There’s a surprise.
Of course the government has plans for NHS data, all of the valuable stuff being held in GP notes. Because GPs have had digital records for many years, it’s all read coded and it contains everything; GP and hospital information because we code it from hospital letters too when we get them; GP records are the common point of collection.
There will be digital tech companies and AI companies dying to get their hands on GP data.
The governments been trying this since last November.
They called it ‘citizen’s access to records’. Patients already have access if they want it. They fill in a form, give it to their GP and they get access on the NHS App.
(Before that it was the GPDPR that failed attempt from 2021 to access GP records freely).
This is not about PATIENT access; it is about THEIR ACCESS ie THE GOVENRMENT’S ACCESS; AND ITS CONTROL AND ITS EXPLOITATION.
GPs did their best to block the data grab.
Down to the public now.
‘NHS England could become a co-data controller of patient records in order to help relieve individual GP liability. ‘That removes the liability associated with the use of the data from the individual physician. There are other ways of approaching this problem but that is one of the ways of approaching it,’ Dr Ferris said.’
Yes; the other way of approaching it is leaving GPs as controller and stopping the government trying to illegally access patient data.
We only ever blocked it because we try and follow the law and some ethical principles.
The answer is not to remove our legal liability.
The answer is to stop the illegal and unethical exploitation of patient GP data by this government.
Unfortunately Wes Streeting appears to have similar ambitions and plans.
As GPs, being both legally liable personally and ethically intact, we have concerns about following UK data law and patients concerns about information they have divulged within the strictest confidence and trust of the doctor patient relationship..
Not so the government. Or politicians.
Why would they? They make the law and they can break the law and no one ever is personally liable.
Go figure.
FYI; this Ferris chap is US health based.
The US developed this crappy ‘population health’ model.
It argues for healthcare to drive primary prevention to reduce healthcare costs.
Of course we know from our training at medical school all useful health prevention is primary prevention through public health measures ie government driven.
Our big health issues are obesity and its related health issues type 2 diabetes, etc.
The Dimblebey report, the governments own commissioned has advised how we tackle this; government measures on tax and advertising for processed food, fast food, sugar etc.
They won’t do it.
This ‘population health’ model makes a little more sense in the US where healthcare is private and insurance funded so
1. the private healthcare companies cannot drive public health measures as they are government controlled.
2. they sepnd 20% of gdp on healthcare and rising.
But our healthcare is public. So to save money for healthcare all the government has to do is implement the recommended public health measures ie Dimblebey recommendations.
But they won’t do it.
Instead they insist on following this inappropriate ‘population health’ model where the healthcare system tries to implement disease prevention.
it’s ineffective.
For obesity, the main issue (it literally causes most of the rest of our preventable healthcare problems) this is gastric bands, the obesity injections and those extra staff we have that now try and get everyone to eat better (health coaches, etc).
For diabetes it is new drugs, new devices, etc.
This all drives the health industry, Big Pharma, digital tech.
It doesn’t make better health.
But these ideas from the US health model have been dragged over by simon stevens who also worked for years for private US healthcare companies, and been rogered into the NHS long term plans.
I’m sure all the US health companies, Big Pharma, health tech wants these “treatments” sold to us too.
Does anyone think giving people a very costly injection every month, that only works by making them feel so sick they can’t eat, and doesn’t work as soon as you stop it, is a decent alternative to the public health measures the government’s own report advised on advertising and tax of fast food, processed food and sugar.
FFS.
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/audio-video/dr-tim-ferris-population-health-management
FON
but the elephant in the room is funding this will either mean mean co payment or a lot less of something else ?
wonder where the axe will fall then
Hunt already asking Whitehall to eye up savings in Gov Depts.
Is this Tim Ferris , the author of the 4 hour week ?
NHS England could become a co-data controller of patient records in order to … overcome GPs’ and public’s resistance to commercialising patients’ personal and confidential data.
Deceit is called progress now, is it?
See where this is going don’t we…