Health Service Record Confidentiality

[Roland Perry]

In article <68001DB8-43BE-4BD9-A344-C96CA28BBAAD at hayter.org>, Roger 
Hayter <roger at hayter.org> writes
>f you opt out your data will not be sold or given to anyone outside the
>NHS in identifiable form. *But* it will still be centrally collected,
>stored and collated with new information

What sort of "data" is this?

I find it difficult to believe that anyone is going to start digitising 
and storing a two-inch thick folder of notes relating to a period where 
I was under the care of a particular hospital in Nottingham. Not even 
the consultant (for a different complaint) in the "NHS Treatment Centre" 
next door seemed able to get hold of them - even had he known they 
existed.

Now that I've moved a hundred miles, we don't even have a 'one stop 
shop' local hospital any more; depending on the issue we might visit any 
one of four of them. Will any (all?) of these be sent my pile of papers 
(digitised or not) if I turn up there instead in future?

As far as I can tell, all the GP gets sent is a discharge letter from 
the consultant at the end of which might have been a protracted set of 
investigations, examinations and procedures.
-- 
Roland Perry