Shadow health minister Stephen O’Brien has said the recently published Gateway Reviews of NHS IT throw doubts on the Office of Government Commerce’s ability to scrutinise

The 31 reviews of the NHS National Programme for IT, published by the OGC after a Freedom of Information request, included nine with red ratings, indicating the relevant projects required immediate action to achieve success.

Source: Kable
Hat tip: Glyn

The information commissioner has ordered the opening of confidential files on a wide range of high-risk IT projects, including the ID cards scheme, joined up police intelligence systems and the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT). It is the most far-reaching decision under the Freedom of Information Act for government IT.

Source: Computer Weekly

A former e-commerce minister has been given responsibility for NHS IT, as one of the Department of Health’s two ministers of state

Mike O’Brien, MP for Warwickshire North, has been appointed as minister of state for health services, where his brief includes Connecting for Health and NHS IT.

Source: Kable

Some NHS managers have threatened to refuse treatment to patients who do not want electronic summary care records, according to doctors. … Connecting for Health said refusing treatment to patients who opted out was strictly against its instructions and ethics.

Source: ConputerworldUK

The Scottish NHS has admitted to the loss of medical histories for 137 patients that were stored on a memory stick, in contravention of data protection rules. The admission comes just days after the Scottish parliament published a report recommending the devolved government should be more proactive ensuring compliance with security standards. Police have been called in to investigate the loss of data concerning copies of letters from June 2006 to June 2008 between family doctors and NHS Lothian, held on a USB device by an NHS worker who could face the sack.

Source: Computing

The Information Tribunal has begun considering a request by anti-abortion group ProLife Alliance for the release of figures concerning terminations carried out for reasons such as the unborn baby having a club foot, cleft palate or webbed toes or fingers.

The appeal panel will listen to Department of Health officials who have argued that the figures must remain confidential because where there are fewer than 10 cases in such a category, there is a risk the women or doctors involved could be identified.

Such data was published up until 2002. The ProLife Alliance has challenged the change in practice and requested release of the figures under the Freedom of Information Act.

Source: guardian.co.uk

NHS patients will be allowed to delete electronic summaries of their treatment records from a new national medical database, the Guardian has learned. The decision represents a significant concession in data protection policy following talks between health service officials and the Information Commissioners’ Office.

Until recently the Department of Health had resisted pressure from sceptical patients and doctors critical of the security risks generated by confidential records being transmitted across the NHS broadband computer network known as the Spine.

Source: The Guardian

NHS patients will be allowed to delete electronic summaries of their treatment records from a new national medical database

Source: guardian.co.uk

The sacred principle of doctor-patient confidentiality is being compromised, Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has warned. Britain’s information watchdog has ordered an urgent overhaul of data security in the health service.

Source: independent.co.uk

Sensitive information for shooting down intercontinental missiles as well as bank details and NHS records was found on old computers, researchers say. Of 300 hard disks bought randomly at computer fairs and an online auction site, 34% still held personal data. Researchers from BT and the University of Glamorgan bought disks from the UK, America, Germany, France and Australia.

Source: BBC News