Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the (a) ownership and (b) control by patients of data relating to them.

Nicola Blackwood

Patients have the legal right to access their records. It is unacceptable in anything other than the most exceptional circumstances for health and care organisations to deny patients access to their health records.

The Government is committed to providing patients with online access to their records, without charge. By 2019 individuals will be able to write comments, preferences and upload information into their electronic records. By 2020, all care records will be digital, real-time and interoperable. The Department is currently consulting on the National Data Guardian’s recommendations for a new consent and opt-out model for information sharing in the health and care system, and following that consultation will implement new arrangements that will give patients greater control over who can access their records for purposes other than direct care.