back to article Gov denies special celeb NHS record treatment

The Department of Health has said that politicians and celebrities will not get an automatic exemption from inclusion on the NHS personal demographics service (PDS), despite reports suggesting this will be the case. Exclusion from the PDS, which contains name, contact details, place and date of birth and NHS number, stops …

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  1. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Down

    "politicians and celebrities will not get an automatic exemption from inclusion"

    However all they have to do is say "I'm famous, don't put my records on the system with all the little people" and job's a good-un...

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: "politicians and celebrities will not get an automatic exemption from inclusion"

      Er, I suspect if you had a public profile which makes you vulnerable you'd want the option. Fortunately, I doubt you'll ever have to worry about it.

      1. Graham Marsden
        Thumb Down

        @Sarah Bee

        No, I'd want the default option to be "Don't include me on your database" unless I *agree*, whether I have a public profile which makes em "vulnerable" or not.

        Even if that wasn't the default, I'd prefer the opt-out to be clear and unambiguous rather than my having to opt out of the NHS Spine *and* the Summary Care Record and any other way they can try to find to sneak my data onto their systems without my knowledge or consent.

        Still, as you say, I'm not famous, so why should I worry about my data being put on a USB stick or a laptop which is then left on a train or in a taxi or sent through the post or...?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Graham marsden

      Actually all they need to do is to opt out - in exactly the same way you may chose to do so if you so wish.

      Now, it may be that any sleb who asks for a S rating may be pretty much guaranteed one but I think that is fairly reasonable - Jill Dando ring any bells?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What Is It?

    Having opted out of Summary Care Records (but knowing there's a lot more to the Spine, etc, than just SCRs), I'm now wondering if this "personal demographics service" confirms that I've been conned into a pointless opt-out that doesn't really achieve anything much at all. (I already knew there's no opt-out from Detailed Records, for example.)

    I don't remember ever hearing of this PDS before, but from this article I wonder if it's sort of like an NHS version of Contact Point?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Replying To Myself

      A quick Google gave me this: http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/systemsandservices/demographics/pds

  3. Cucumber C Face
    Headmaster

    PDS

    PDS is the personal demographics 'service' - name, address, DOB, GP registration etc.

    PDS more or less works and contains the data of every patient registered with the NHS (GP or hospital). The main problem from an accuracy viewpoint is that many people will be multiply registered.

    There is no PDS "opt out."

    The personal demographics service is totally separate from the Summary Care Record. (Fewer than 10% of patients have the latter).

  4. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    Or just have the same name as a celeb

    My GP used to regularly send me details of somebody else with the same name.

    My wife was a little surprised that I was having IFV treatment with another women (whose name was helpfully on all the letters). On the other hand since they had all been sent to my address they could claim they hadn't leaked any location data.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      too common

      My sister reports that when she went in to the GP to confirm she was pregnant they asked her about her previous abortion, which was news to her! apparently again someone with the same name, except instead of merely looking at the wrong records, they'd put the records on the wrong patients file.

      I've also been told to go in for some important vaccinations I had apparently missed as a child, then when i turned up for the appointment I was told i'd already had all the required ones after all.

      That's within a single doctors surgery, make it nation-wide and medical records seem like nothing more than a helpful hint of what to ask the patient about!

  5. NeilB

    No reason required

    Anyone can have their records S-flagged, no reason required.

    Just fill in the form and give it to your GP, who'll send it off.

    It is up to your GP to agree to do that or not. Once CfH receives the request, S-flagging will take place, no further questions asked.

    See my site for details.

    Neil

    www.summarycarerecord.info

  6. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    WTF?

    So in order to to stop *your* details being *included* in the SCR system

    They have to *have* a copy of your details held on file.

    Just what you'd expect from a NuLabor we-must-know-*everything*-about-you-forever system.

  7. a_c_g_t

    Miss information

    Easy option go Private!!

    Hoo I forgot the NHS is being Privatised I mean when the GP's get hold of the budgets where are they going to start send the Invoices too in a couple of years time?

    Just because I am a paranoid sceptic it does not automatically mean I am wrong.

    1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      Indeed

      Ingenious Tory government scheme - if you're even slightly a public figure and you want reliable privacy in your portable medical and personal records, such as not having relative strangers show up at your home to express overwhelming love/hatred, or the News of the World getting your details from an underpaid computer clerk, then you have to pay for private care instead of using the NHS. And every time one of those celebrity-oids appears on television and mentions a health problem, they'll be talking about private care. Although occasionally they will be talking about a major cock-up such as the case of Denise Hendry. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-12790553

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