NHS changes spark patient privacy fear

CHANGES to the way medical records are stored and accessed by NHS staff in Gloucestershire will help save lives, insist health bosses. 
Fears over patient privacy surfaced after health secretary Jeremy Hunt promised a paperless NHS by 2018.
The move will see all medical records stored on PCs and shared between hospitals, care homes, GPs and councils.
It is hoped the plan will give paramedics easier access on a secure computer to crucial patient information such as drug allergies or underlying health conditions.
But with all test results, prescriptions, diagnoses and operations stored on a central computer by the end of 2014, some are concerned a records 'free for all' could lead to some confidential information being accessed inappropriately. 
A spokesman for the NHS 2gether Trust in Gloucestershire said: "There are strict guidelines and information sharing agreements governing any information we share with other organisations, including other NHS Trusts.
"We will only generally share information about a patient with their consent, however this may be overruled if it is in the patient's interests to do so, for example in a genuine emergency."
Giving access to local councils who will sign up to similar systems will allow GPs and home helps to share details of medication for the elderly.