Patients who want to opt-out from having a Summary Care Record will have to apply for exemption under section 10 of the Data Protection Act, on the grounds that it will cause them ‘substantial damage or distress’, according to new GP guidance.
Dr Paul Cundy, chairman of the General Practitioners Committee Information Technology subcommittee, told E-Health Insider that the guidance has brought back section 10 approval, despite the former health minister, Lord Warner, indicating that it was not necessary.
Following the launch of the Summary Care Record pilots two weeks ago , Connecting for Health has issued guidance to every GP in England, advising them of how the system will work and how patients can opt-out by signing a form under the section, which GPs can veto if necessary.
“I am surprised to see that section 10 has crept back into the opt out documents. In my opinion it should be removed and the documents are quite possibly illegal in using this as the threshold for opting out. It certainly is not in the spirit of what Lord Warner stated.”
Dr Cundy explained that by using the section 10 threshold, patients were effectively asking for data to be removed only because it would cause them “severe distress” if it were retained. He feels, however, that there should be no need for any section to be applied.
“It represents an active barrier and obstacle to data removal. It is a basic right to not have an SCR under the DPA and I do not believe patients should be subjected to this obstacle and neither do I believe GPs should act as government agents in this interrogation.”
A CfH spokesperson told EHIPC that the guidance was issued following legal advice, which recommended the use of section 10, which the Department of Health had already considered before.
However Dr Cundy said: “The issue of whether or not to have a SCR should not be subject to such onerous requirements and this is completely at odds with Lord Warner’s confirmation that people "who did not want an SCR would not have to have one.”
Patients have three options under the guidance. They can have their SCR uploaded to the spine for all authorised health professionals to access, or have it uploaded without consent for all health professionals to access it. Alternatively, they can opt out completely under section 10.
The guidance also states that patients who move GPs and have opted out, must again opt-out of the SCR at their new practice.
Dr Cundy said this was wrong: “If a patient elects to not have an SCR there is no question that they should have to re-enact this decision when they move GP. Their decision is as valid when they live in Barnet as it was when they lived in Lancashire. Therefore the document is incorrect in suggesting that the patients need to re-establish their opt out when they move GP.”
CfH stressed that the information sent out is only guidance based on the early adopters of the SCR in Bolton and is subject to change before a national rollout.
Links
Request for all clinical data to be withheld from the Summary Care Record form