PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
CONFIDENTIALITY OF PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION AND THE NHS WIDE NETWORK (20 February 1996)

That this House believes that the principle of confidentiality of personal health information is essential to the ethics of medical practice and forms the cornerstone of the doctor-patient relationship; recognises that there are increasing risks of unauthorised or inappropriate access to patients' confidential records due to widespread computerisation; welcomes improved communications within the NHS while upholding the confidentiality of personal health records; believes that the introduction of the NHS wide network raises serious questions about securing the confidentiality of personal medical records stored on it; notes that the main threat to the confidentiality and security of records on the network lies with those authorised to use the system; calls on the Government to reconsider their security policy to ensure that rigid access controls exist for each user connected to the NHS wide network; agrees with the British Medical Association that it would be unethical for health professionals to use the NHS wide network for identifiable patient data until adequate security policies are in place; and calls on the Government to support legislation, vital to safeguard confidentiality and protect patients' privacy, to make it a criminal offence to disclose personal health information without the patient's informed consent or in exceptional circumstances.

Sponsored by:
Mrs Anne Campbell (Labour)