GPs and their families urged to boycott NHS ‘spine’
GP representatives are advising GPs and their families to consider withdrawing themselves from the NHS spine “as an example to the nation” because of concerns about the confidentiality of demographic data. Last week’s local medical committees’ conference voted in favour of a proposal to advise GPs to consider withdrawing from the spine after hearing about […]
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Senior GPs say CfH response on security ‘encouraging’
The two senior GP representatives in the UK are writing to GP practices to outline “the encouraging response” they have received from Connecting for Health (CfH) over concerns about security issues with the personal demographic service (PDS). The letter from Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP committee and Dr Mayur Lakhani, […]
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Technical problems with Choose and Book dog GPs
Frustrations with Choose and Book including problems reconciling GP records with the personal demographics service have prompted some GPs to stop using the service and led a local medical committee to recommend its practices do not use the system. Sheffield LMC has advised its members not to take part in the choice and booking directed […]
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GPs reassured clinical data secure on Choose and Book
The GPs who raised concerns about the security of the personal demographic service(PDS) say they have been satisfied that clinical information is secure although they remain concerned about the potential to view basic demographic data. Senior members of the national Choose and Book team met with a Nottinghamshire GP and two representatives from the local […]
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Not so secure
Fiona Barr explains the background to the recent controversy over confidentiality in the personal demographics service.
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Demographic service poses security risk, say senior GPs
The two most senior GP representatives in England have written to Connecting for Health to demand reassurances on patient confidentiality after it emerged that non-clinical staff can access and change patient details held on the personal demographics service. Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association’s General Practitioner Committee and Dr Mayur Lakhani, chairman […]
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NHS CfH says spine now fixed
NHS Connecting for Health, the DH agency responsible for delivery of the NHS National Programme for IT, has issued a briefing note stating that service levels have been restored to normal following service reliability and availability problems with the NHS spine over recent weeks. According to CfH briefing note a normal service has been operating […]
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CfH keeps fingers crossed on spine
Despite assurances from NHS Connecting for Health last week that the problems with the Spine over the past two weeks have been resolved, guidance issued yesterday indicates the situation remains somewhat less certain. A 4 January briefing issued by the CfH Choose and Book team on the problems with Choose and Book, stemming from technical problems […]
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NHS suffering from broken spine
NHS sites experienced acute spine problems in the week before Christmas, resulting in key systems being unavailable to NHS staff, and other sites having their access suspended. E-Health Insider has learned that a number of systems connected to NHS Connecting for Health’s (CfH) data spine were last week left unable to look up patients’ demographic details on […]
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Local trust data overwritten by Choose and Book
E-Health Insider has learned that some hospitals linked to the national Choose and Book appointment booking system are having some local patient record details unexpectedly over-written each time they receive an electronic referral from the NHS spine. As a result, the affected hospitals have to manually re-enter deleted patient details — such as the patient’s […]
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