Health Service Record Confidentiality

[Brian Morrison]

On Mon, 24 Feb 2014 13:42:36 +0000
Ian Batten wrote:

> 
> On 24 Feb 2014, at 11:46, Brian Morrison <bdm at fenrir.org.uk> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 24 Feb 2014 09:17:32 +0000
> > Peter Mitchell wrote:
> > 
> >> ... a report by a major UK insurance society discloses that it was
> >> able to obtain 13 years of hospital data – covering 47 million
> >> patients – in order to help companies “refine” their premiums.
> > 
> > I can see why they would want this,
> 
> I can see why they would want it; that doesn't mean they should be
> given.

I entirely agree that in the event that identifiable information can be
reverse engineered from what is provided it should not be provided.
Bulk information without that capability is rather different. Where did
the insurance industry's original actuarial tables originate? I would
say that it would have been from previous bulk data sources.

> 
> HSCIS's rather unconvincing excuse is that the data was provided by a
> previous organisation and they wouldn't do it now.  Hardly reassuring.

No, that certainly isn't reassuring. It indicates that some lax
thinking must have gone on before.

-- 

Brian Morrison