Shouldn't patients decide who should access their records?

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7465.573-b

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Joan Higgins, chair, Patient Information Advisory Group (piag@doh.gsi.gov.uk)

PIAG Secretariat, Department of Health, Leeds LS2 7UE

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 …