- NHS England is preparing to scrape 55m patients’ medical records to create a database that will be shared with private third parties
- EY estimated that the data held by the NHS could be worth almost £10bn a year through operational savings and improved patient outcomes
If you live in England, you have until 23rd June to tell the NHS that you do not want your medical records – including information on mental and sexual health – to be copied into a huge database that will be shared with third parties.
The NHS has quietly started plans to roll out the Covid-19 data store only a couple of months after it first appeared on a blog post – hardly enough of a public notice to inform the 55m patients that it will affect. Since the Financial Times brought the issue to light last week, there has been some backlash against the plan.
Activists are working against the project, too. Foxglove, a campaign group for digital rights, has submitted a letter to the Department of Health and Social Care, questioning whether the plans are legal.
But there still has not…
