BMJ  2004;329:573 (4 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7465.573-b

Letter

Shouldn't patients decide who should access their records?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Much misunderstanding exists in the NHS and other organisations about the Data Protection Act, but to deal with these concerns by granting clinical researchers freer access to confidential patient information, as suggested by Peto et al, would be excessive.1 2 The Department of Health last year published a code of practice on patient confidentiality that should ensure that custodians of medical records are aware of their responsibilities and when they can share patient data with researchers.

The Patient Information Advisory Group was also concerned by the authors' apparent view that obtaining informed consent from patients is a bad thing. Clearly, how common law around confidentiality and consent has evolved in recent years has caused some confusion and inconvenience in the research community, but surely there should be no objection to researchers being required to obtain consent from patients to use their confidential information if it is practicable to do . . . [Full text of this article]

Joan Higgins, chair, Patient Information Advisory Group

PIAG Secretariat, Department of Health, Leeds LS2 7UE piag@doh.gsi.gov.uk


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