Criticism of the government’s plan to collect data from patients’ medical records to build a new NHS database—care.data—has been fast and furious. With data collection postponed amid public concern about its confidentiality the government is now fielding advice on how to get its “busted” scheme right next time round.
While the research potential of analysing “big data” has not been questioned, comment has been made on the government’s priorities. “Why has the NHS has moved so quickly to provide patient records to third parties and so slowly to provide data to the patients themselves?” This question, posed last week by Mohammad Al Ubaydli, founder of PatientsKnowBest, is a good one.
Read the complete blog by Tessa Richards on the BMJ website.
