From: Adam 

Oh BTW wrt LRS:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/25/nhs_records_guarantee/


"New rules on the security of information to be held in the NHS Care
Records Service, which will start rolling out across England next year,
were published by the Government yesterday. It hopes that the rules will
calm fears of privacy abuses.

The Service, a nationwide patient health record system, is intended to
update the existing eclectic system, which relies on a mixture of paper and
computer records, and is not always available to doctors in an emergency,
which is when they need it most.

The new service will be centralised, and available to all those authorised
to access it. This triggered concerns about privacy so, in response, the
Government has published the Care Record Guarantee. The Guarantee makes 12
commitments to patients about their records. Guarantor of these new patient
rights will be the Secretary of State for Health, currently Patricia
Hewitt.

The Guarantee provides:

     * Individuals will be allowed access to their own records;
     * Access to records by NHS staff will be strictly limited to those
having a 'need to know' to provide effective treatment to a patient;
     * Information will not be shared outwith the NHS unless individuals
grant permission, the NHS is obliged to do so by law, or failure to share
would put someone else at risk. Any sharing without permission will be
carried out following best practice guidelines;
     * If individuals are unable to make a decision about sharing health
information on their own behalf, a senior health care professional may make
a decision to do so, taking into account the views of relatives, carers and
any recorded views of the individual;
     * Where health care is provided by a care team including people
from other services, the NHS and patient can agree to share health
information with the other services, bearing in mind the effect failure to
share might have on the quality of care received;
     * Individuals can choose not to share information in their
electronic care records, although this may have an impact on the quality of
care received;
     * A complaints procedure;
     * That individuals are entitled to check and correct mistakes in
their record;
     * That the NHS must enforce a duty of confidentiality on their
staff and organisations under contract to the NHS;
     * That the NHS must keep the records secure and confidential;
     * That the NHS must keep a record of everyone who looks at the
information held in the Service. Individuals will be entitled to ask for a
list of people accessing their records, and details of when they looked at
the records; and
     * That the NHS must take enforcement action if someone looks at
records without permission or good reason.

According to Health Minister Lord Warner, the rules will be backed up with
tough security measures, ensuring that everyone can have confidence in the
new Service."



Ah my lovely LRS.......have a gander over someone's should & get jailed.

Adam

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