From: Ellen K. 

The US equivalent is HIPAA.

On Wed, 25 May 2005 15:28:48 +0100, Adam
 wrote in message
:

>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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