Campaign group says least 100,000 non-medical staff in NHS trusts have access to confidential patient records

See BBC News report.

Medical students posting messages on Twitter and Facebook may be breaching patient confidentiality in some instances

There is concern that medical students posting messages on Twitter and Facebook may be breaching patient confidentiality in some instances, BBC News reports.

The privacy of millions of NHS patients will be critically undermined by a government plan to let medical researchers have access to personal files

NHS medical research plan threatens patient privacy
article in the Guardian

Extract:

"The privacy of millions of NHS patients will be critically undermined by a government plan to let medical researchers have access to personal files, the health information watchdog told the Guardian last night.

The prime minister and Department of Health want to give Britain's research institutes an advantage against overseas competitors by opening up more than 50m records, to identify patients who might be willing to take part in trials of new drugs and treatments."

It can be no part of the remit of the NHS or the Department of Health to give commercial advantage to Britain's drug companies. (Let's call a spade a spade: these are commercially-oriented drug companies surely, not research institutes.) This idea is disgraceful and should be scrapped.

Medical privacy/patient confidentiality and ethics

I came across this blog today - about medical privacy/patient confidentiality and ethics:

medical privacy blog

Young women fleeing forced marriages are being betrayed by GPs and benefits staff who "collude" with families to return them against their will

Forced marriage victims being betrayed by doctors
Article in the Sunday Telegraph

Extract:

"Doctors and Job Centre workers are breaching confidentiality rules and passing on vital information to families, allowing them to trace and punish Asian women who are attempting to escape coerced marriages and "honour"-based domestic violence.

Commander Steve Allen, who is the spokesman on forced marriages for Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), revealed that some doctors have informed girls' families that they have asked for the contraceptive pill, placing them at risk from fathers or brothers who believe this means the family's honour has been besmirched.

Cmdr Allen also told The Sunday Telegraph that Job Centre workers have accessed the National Insurance details of women who flee violent husbands, tracing where they collect benefits and passing the details on to their families so they can be found and forced back to their marital home."

Far too many people find that doctors can't be trusted.