Did you know that your medical records could be read by people in the IW Council?
Shocking isn’t it?
It’s emerged that health records marked “private and confidential” are placed on a database can be accessed by staff at the council without your knowledge.
It was brought to VentnorBlog‘s attention last month in an article detailing how this happened on the Isle of Wight. Written by Tony Collins, which points out that data sharing is done in the name of “offering best care”.
It covers the case of an Islander given the name Elizbeth Dove, who only found out about her data being shared after submitting a request to the IW Council under the Data Protection Act.
She was distressed to learn that the council social care system, Swift, holds information viewable by both medical and council staff.
She told Collins, Computer Weekly’s Executive Editor, that she thought that “the joint system gives some of the council’s staff the potential to ‘snoop, scrutinise, monitor and track patients’.”
Adding, “It has discriminatory undertones [if] a local authority and the NHS perceive anyone and everyone with a mental health problem to be either a schizophrenic or a paedophile. This regrettably stigmatizes people with any mental health issue.”
Since 2001
It was only until the end of the article did we learn the shocking truth – that this has been going on since 2001.
The Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust told Computer Weekly, “the NHS and local authority on the Isle of Wight formally integrated mental health services in 2001.”
The Isle of Wight Primary Care Trust told Computer Weekly that it has now produced a leaflet for patients on the sharing of their information — this occurred only after Dove’s enquiry.
Further questions
Duke had a series of further questions that arose after the event …
“Why weren’t patients, members of the general public informed of this information joint sharing back in 2001 when this computer system was first set up?
Why has it taken seven years for the general public to be informed?
Why has the NHS PCT been working in this `covert way’, not being open and transparent?
I am not suicidal. I have not committed a criminal offence. There are no child protection issues. So why have I been placed on `Swift’ when I did not request an out-of-hours, crisis service?”
Views of a doctor
There were interesting comments from Dr Gordon Caldwell. After outlining where the passing of information can be helpful within the NHS, he went on to discuss other organisations outside the NHS, “for intimate private personal health details to be passed to Social Services without express permission in circumstances other than child protection, adult protection, and patients who carry a high risk of damaging members of the public, seems unacceptable to me.
“The process should be open and by signed consent – I expect few people would object, a few would want a ‘sealed envelope’ and an important few would refuse.”
Statement from the Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust: Sharing Information
We asked the Isle of Wight NHS Primary Care Trust for their side and they gave us this statement.
An electronic information system is used jointly by the Isle of Wight NHS PCT and Isle of Wight Council as we have fully integrated mental health services. This has been in place since 2001 when services were developed in line with national best practice and guidance. Both organisations enter data on to the system. Security is maintained to a high standard and measures are in place to monitor access.
The information held on the joint system enables a co-ordinated approach, the development of care packages which meet all the needs of an individual and provides key information to support the provision of crisis, out of hours and emergency services.
Leaflets which explain information sharing policy are available to service users. More detailed leaflets for mental health patients regarding data and information systems are being developed.
We would try and get the council’s side to this, but as we’ve said many times before, they’ve cut off VentnorBlog from all things council.
They’ve refused to meet with VB and have the meeting recorded. What do Claire Robertson and her ‘communications’ team have to hide?
We can’t work it out, but the democratic process is all the weaker for it.
