Tech and health data

As an NHS professional working to develop improved data handling, I read your feature, “Can technology save the NHS?” ( see issue 270, p30), with great interest. I know from experience that there’s a great desire to improve data sharing among NHS organisations and beyond, but I feel your article didn’t touch on the biggest hurdle, data protection.

For many of us, our medical data is considered among the most private of all information. This presents some significant challenges when it comes to sharing data, as even the slightest risk of identifiability is (rightly, in my opinion) deemed unacceptable, yet completely anonymising such data is a non-trivial endeavour.

Furthermore, patients don’t always have an appetite for their information to be shared even within an NHS organisation. While most have no qualms about information being shared for their own care, they aren’t always willing for it to be passed to decision-makers, such as commissioners. Name supplied but withheld on request