18 May (Part 1) - NHS opt outs. Them from patient care, you from data collection
It is not often that I am pipped to the post by Hugh Neal’s Maggot Sandwich, in part
because his weekly format puts him at a disadvantage but the main reason is that he covers different ground. However
he definitely got ahead of me last Sunday.
On my To Do list was coverage of the NHS’s massive data grab which I
spotted on The Register last week. You have until the 23rd June to opt out
of their central database which will be made available to a variety of
organisations at home and abroad if it doesn’t simply leak.
The PDF opt out form is here. You will not be able to retrospectively
apply for an opt out. The 24th June will be too late.
I am tempted not to opt out. It seems to me that if my medical records are
stored centrally there is more chance of my scan results becoming public than me
getting them from Bexley Group Practice.
The excellent Doctor Singh thought I should be urgently checked out. QEH were absolutely on the ball but BGP’s admin. is still
as bad as it was in 2015 when the Clinical Commissioning Group rated them as “Needs Improvement”.
The Bexley CCG needs improvement too. Their published email address is a dud and both their telephone numbers go to answering machines. What a useless shower they all are.