Data for sale?
How long will it be before these guys allow sale of this patient data to the drug companies?
Patient permission not required.
Three NHS foundation trusts have published proposals (PDF) to merge into a single organisation, with intentions including making better use of IT and creating shared platforms, such as a shared electronic patient record. In their strategic outline case, the three trusts - Guy's and St Thomas', King's College hospital, and …
I have no objection to patient data being made available to pharmaceuticals, universities etc. providing it is properly anonymized and there is some opt-out / opt-in mechanism depending on the nature and specificity of the data being requested. i.e. some requests may be so specific that they need opt-in whereas others may not.
That's a big proviso but I believe it could be done.
At the end of the day, making the data available is going to improve the standard of healthcare for everyone. It seems silly to blanket refuse to provide the data if safeguards means it has minimal to no impact on individual privacy.