Amending, suspending, unending

Sharing patient data and the journey of the MoU   Ella Johnson is Doctors of the World’s UK Policy and Advocacy Officer. In early 2017 a journalist submitted a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) asking for clarity on data-sharing practices between the Home Office and the NHS. The FOI revealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that described a channel of communication between the Department of Health – responsible for the health of individuals and the wider public – and the Home Office – responsible for identifying and deporting people living in the UK who find themselves undocumented. Without the knowledge or consent of doctors and nurses, the NHS was sharing private patient information with Home Office immigration enforcement teams. The third party in the deal was NHS Digital, the body which ‘guards’ NHS patient records. Healthcare professionals are only allowed to break patient confidentiality and share information with the police in the case of serious criminal offences (murder, manslaughter or rape, as per the GMC guidelines). Yet NHS Digital began sharing undocumented migrant’s information solely to support its immigration enforcement work. In 2017 the Home Office requested patient address data over 3,000 times. At our clinics, patients told us that the agreement made them too afraid to access care.   In May 2018, MP Sarah Wollaston called for indefinite protection for the NHS and an end to its obligatory involvement in passing in...
Source: Doctors of the World News - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Uncategorised Source Type: news