This morning I debated health privacy on Radio 4’s Today programme with health minister Lord Warner. You can listen to the debate here, and there is an earlier comment by Michael Summers of the Patients’ Association here.

I support a campaign by TheBigOptOut.org which has so far persuaded thousands of people to write to their GPs forbidding the upload of their patient records to central systems. Once they are uploaded, you’ll have to prove ‘substantial mental distress’ to the government (as Lord Warner says) to get them removed or restricted. It is much simpler to tell your GP not to upload them in the first place (and you can always change your mind later if the Government delivers on its claims about safety and privacy).

For more, see TheBigOptOut.org, nhs-it.info and my previous blog posts here, here and here, and our work on children’s databases (children’s safety and privacy might be particularly at risk from the proposals, as I explain in the debate).