Health ministers vow NHS tech revolution
pharmafile | September 3, 2015 | News story | Medical Communications | Jeremy Hunt, NHS, data protection, digital technology, george freeman
UK health ministers have challenged the NHS to fully utilise technology, to empower patients to manage their own healthcare needs.
Their vision includes giving them full online access to their medical records and the ability to interact with their GP online by 2016.
At the NHS Innovation Expo in Manchester, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt unveiled plans to bring the health sector up to date and in line with the level of technological interaction already available with other industries and services.
At the same event, Life Sciences Minister George Freeman spoke of the need to “harness the power of integrated data and technology to improve the delivery of effective health and care services,” empowering people to become ‘active healthcare citizens’.
Freeman praised the progress made in harnessing data and technology, including the registration of 6.5 million patients for online appointment booking and ordering of repeat prescriptions, and the enabling of over 2.5 million patients to access limited medical records online.
Yet both ministers believe there is more work to be done. While 84% of the UK population use the internet and 59% use a smartphone, statistics show just 2% have had any digital interaction with the NHS.
Access to medical records has been limited to a summary of allergies and medications, but to improve the service, blood test results, appointment records and medical histories will also become available in the next year. By 2018, this record will include information from all patients’ health and care interactions.
Privacy concerns
With smartphones and the internet now firmly a part of most people’s lives, Hunt believes they should be harnessed for patients to read and even add to their medical records. He detailed, for example, how users would be able to upload data from exercise apps and wearable monitors like Fitbit for their GP’s observation.
However, these suggestions raised concerns from privacy groups about the potential vulnerability of sensitive information to hackers and abuse by companies who would highly value such data for marketing purposes.
Hunt admitted that while the security of patients’ data would be a priority, the public did not yet trust the NHS to keep their information confidential.
He says: “Exciting though this all is, we will throw away these opportunities if the public do not believe they can trust us to look after their personal medical data securely. The NHS has not yet won the public’s trust in an area that is vital for the future of patient care.
“Nothing matters more to us than our health, and people rightly say we must be able to assure the security of confidential medical information.”
To tackle this contentious issue, the Health Secretary announced measures to assure the security of confidential medical information, including a review of standards of data security for patients’ confidential data across the NHS, to be carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Freeman also revealed that a process for endorsing health and care applications is being developed under the National Information Board, that will help patients identify effective and safe healthcare tools.
George Freeman’s statement can be read in full here.
Joel Levy
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