BMJ - PKI and signinng slight confusion

[Brewis, Mark]

-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian Midgley [mailto:akm@92tr.freeserve.co.uk]
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 7:18 PM
To: ukcrypto@maillist.ox.ac.uk
Subject: Re: RE: BMJ - PKI and signinng slight confusion
...
>>Every page of GP notes says on it
"This is the property of the secretary of state for health"  or
latterly, the health authority.<<

Yes, that was raised - there was some debate over who was actually buying
the paper, at one level, and whether the GP/Health Authority/NHS Trust held
the property on behalf of the SoS for Health.
 
>>That may just be an assertion, but I think it woul be hard to shake.<<

Agreed - that was one thread of the discussion we had, and it wasn't too
popular. The developments in Iceland (?) illustrate that assertion taken to
an extreme.

>>Trusts tend not to release their notes to other trusts even when the
patient moves, whereas GPs are required to surrender the notes...<<

Does that, therefore, make GP notes patient owned?  For example, what occurs
if a patient moves abroad, are their records released to a foreign doctor?
If not, then the concept of 'Patient' records is a nonsense.  Better to call
them government statistical data records (Health) ;-)

>>I feel that I own what I have written, but have no right of
exclusivity, and I feel happiest if I =keep a copy of th notes i have
made since I do not trust others to look after them.<<

I have no doubt that many doctors feel the same, and it is the
responsibility of govt. to ensure that the medical profession is in a
position to protect medical records, whether in storage, in transit or on
paper.

Mark.

Mark Brewis 
PGP Key ID: 
BA44 0B30 74DB EB02 D545 90FE 1BBC E1F6 0F58 F12A