[Gllug] NHS opt out

[Mike Brodbelt]

Martin A. Brooks wrote:
> co at byintelligentdesign.co.uk wrote:
>> May be of interest... 
> 
> http://www.lakeland.co.uk/product.aspx/kitchenideas/foil!2531_2532_2530
> 
> "Lakeland Foil is extra thick. In fact it is 30% thicker than most other 
> brands"
> 
> Do I want a million or so NHS employees to be able to see my medical 
> details?  Yes. Hell yes. _Fuck_ yes, in fact.

Even if they put you down on the database as an alcoholic, and then tell
lots of people about it without notifying you, including distributing it
to private companies. Oh, and you can't get the entry corrected without
withdrawing entirely from the NHS. Good that...

http://society.guardian.co.uk/e-public/story/0,,1937302,00.html

> Then perhaps I won't get 
> into the ridiculous situation where I can't sign up at my local GP 
> because I, quite honestly, can't tell them where my medical records can 
> be found because everyone I know who was concerned, except myself,  is 
> now dead.

Why on earth do you believe a large government IT project to create a
global database of health records will reduce administrative problems
you have with the service? I wish I could believe that, but the track
record of these things suggests that they're far more likely to kill me
with incorrect data entered in India by an outsourced contractor that I
don't get to see, and can't have fixed.

Not that I'm a cynic or anything you understand, and I'm not in the
tinfoil hat group either, but institutionalise incompetence is alive and
well. Any medical records system should place the data subject in
control first and foremost. MedicAlert* bracelets are a great idea -
this is not.

Mike

* And a digital version of those, free to all citizens, would be worth
supporting.
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