Compliance Toolkit

Story: Government concedes opt out of NHS database

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I can see the concerns about the right to privacy and confidentiality being infringed if staff do not follow NHS Information Governance procedures but I for one will take the small risk in pursuit of better healthcare for myself and my family.
I base my conclusions on a horrendous experience with current systems which may not (hopefully) be typical but which I went through:
I was diagnosed with cancer and opted to be referred to a hospital in London for the recommended operation (the choice was based on consultant recommendation and performance statistics from NWCS/HES). After a few weeks with no appointment I found (by contacting the consultants secretary in London myself) that they had not received the referral letter – a second one was sent a couple of days later after I contacted the local consultants secretary and she had had a chance to check my notes. A further delay occurred as it turned out (more phone calls by me) that the London hospital was waiting for my local test results etc to decide on the treatment but the local hospital was not aware of this. More chasing locally and faxing of the paper records (I had to supply the fax number).
The outpatient appointment came within a week and I was booked in two weeks later.
During all this time my GP could not help as he was not aware of what was going on once he ‘handed over’ to the hospital and had confirmation that I was due to be referred to London.
Six months after the operation I received an outpatient appointment from my local hospital which I assumed was a follow-up on the treatment – it turned out that they were not aware I had already had the operation and were proposing to admit me as an urgent case!
The medical treatment was excellent but what an administrative fiasco! Roll-on the electronic record.
I work in the NHS and for years have been striving to improve information systems for more effective service management. Following this experience I am more convinced than ever that sorting out the way patients are managed is just as important. We cannot do that without sharing data under the right safeguards.

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