'We Have Your Medical Record on File': Researching Unpopular Government Policy

Abstract

The English Department of Health recently introduced the Internet-accessible Summary Care Record (SCR), a summary of personal medical data intended for emergency use and drawn from the GP-held record of NHS patients. The SCR is the most controversial component of the £12 billion NHS IT project. If it goes to plan, around 40 million medical records will be uploaded, and up to a million staff in ten thousand organisations will have access to them. Countless megabytes of sensitive personal data will be available to staff who can claim a ‘legitimaterelationship’ to the patient (and, say critics, to nosey receptionists and hackers).

Keywords

healthcare policy

How to Cite

Greenhalgh, T., (2008) “'We Have Your Medical Record on File': Researching Unpopular Government Policy”, Opticon1826 5.

114

Views

44

Downloads

Share

Authors

Trisha Greenhalgh (UCL)

Download

Issue

Dates

Licence

All rights reserved

Peer Review

This article has been peer reviewed.

File Checksums (MD5)

  • PDF: 852703471191b63110552740172c74d9