Ministers demand urgent answers over release of cancer patients’ data

MINISTERS are demanding urgent explanations over the release of medical data to an American firm working for one of the world’s largest tobacco companies.

MPS are today expected to question Public Health England (PHE) on how the decision was taken to hand over the anonymised information, extracted from the records of 180,000 patients diagnosed with lung cancer.

Lord O’shaughnessy, the health minister, last night told The Daily Telegraph: “I know many patients will be concerned about why this data was released, so I have sought an urgent explanation from Public Health England. If this information was gained inappropriately, I will raise this with the Information Commissioner as a matter of urgency.” He added that he had been assured that the data could not identify patients.

Public health experts said PHE’S actions amounted to an “extraordinary oversight”, and accused officials of a failure to carry out even

“basic” checks before allowing the data to be “plundered”.

Yesterday, The Daily Telegraph revealed that the anonymised data covering every patient diagnosed with lung cancer between 2009 and 2013 was handed to the US firm William E Wecker in 2016. The firm has acted for Philip Morris for almost three decades, and the data was handed over when the tobacco giant was fighting plans to introduce plain packaging in the UK.

PHE said it was not aware of the company’s links with Philip Morris until alerted by The Telegraph, and that it had been told the study aimed to “identify strategies to achieve a healthier global population”.

Lord Darzi, a surgeon and former health minister, called for firm action to better protect medical data.

“That such a uniquely valuable resource should be plundered on behalf of a tobacco manufacturer seeking to defend their cancer-causing products is simply shameful,” he said.

Sarah Wollaston, the chairman of the Commons health select committee, said officials would need to justify claims that they had ensured the data would be used for medical reasons.

“PHE are quoted as saying that they had performed ‘due diligence’ … in ensuring it was used for healthcare purposes,” she said. “We now need to see evidence of how that due diligence was carried out.”

Dr Jem Rashbass, the national director for Disease Registration and Cancer Analysis at PHE, said: “We have very strict processes for managing patient data and fully comply with NHS requirements for handling it.

“No identifiable patient information has been released and prior to the disclosure we thoroughly checked the study protocols, which stated clearly that it is a piece of medical research.

“We have a duty to provide data for health purposes when its disclosure is not subject to any exemption.”

William E Wecker has been contacted for comment.