The confidentiality of patient records could be under threat from government plans to reform the health service, the British Medical Association has warned.

Ministers were told that the "flawed" Health and Social Care Bill did not provide safeguards for patient confidentiality, as more organisations were given control access to patient data. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the BMA, said this risked patients withholding important information.

"The government has decided to place its desire for access to information over the need to respect patient confidentiality," she said.

"The health bill proposes that a number of bodies – including the Secretary of State for Health, the newly formed Commissioning Board and the NHS Information Centre – should be given the right to obtain and disclose confidential patient information for any number of unspecified purposes.

"There is very little reference to rules on patient confidentiality that would ensure patients are asked before their information is shared or guarantee that the patient's identity will not be revealed. Fears that their data may be shared with others may result in patients withholding important information; this may not only affect their own health but has implications for the wider health service."

She said the government was potentially removing patients' and doctors' control over confidential data. "This conflicts with government promises that patients will be given greater control over their medical records," she added

Dr Tony Calland, chair of the BMA's Medical Ethics Committee said: "We are lobbying the government to ensure that the Bill is changed so that it enshrines the need for explicit patient consent for any disclosure of information, unless the information has been properly anonymised, pseudonymised or there is an overriding public interest. All bodies accessing health records should be bound by a strict and clear code of conduct."

A Department of Health spokesman denied that the bill would undermine confidentiality.

The spokesman said: "Our modernisation plans will make it easier for patients to see where unacceptable NHS services are being provided. Shining a light on poor performance will drive up the quality of care overall.

"However, there is no question of the Health and Social Care Bill undermining the confidentiality of patients and their clinicians. The bill does not change any of the existing legal safeguards, which are set out in the Data Protection Act and the common law of confidence.

"We are happy to work with the BMA to understand their concerns."

http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=15594