Daily Archives: November 15, 2011


Rebecca Todd writes in eHealth Insider: GP IT expert Dr Paul Cundy has resurrected concerns about threats to patient confidentiality in the draft Health and Social Care Bill. Dr Cundy, who is joint chairman of the BMA and RCGP’s joint IT committee, has written an open letter outlining his concerns about the impact of the new legislation. The letter says the notion of patient confidentiality underpins the doctor patient relationship and this trust is threatened by the draft bill currently before the House of Lords. The Bill establishes the Information Centre as a corporate body and requires doctors to release “any information” that the centre requests of them. “Doctors will find themselves in an impossible position, on the one hand expected by all to protect patient’s information and on the other, subject to a legal requirement to breach that trust,” Dr Cundy’s letter says.

Cundy revives confidentiality concerns