National Programme for IT. Survey results

A survey for the Times of London newspaper by Doctors.net.uk, a medical network website, at the end of 2007 asked 11 questions regarding attitudes towards the National Programme for IT (NPfIT). The findings revealed mixed feelings about it.

The 640 respondents expressed their support for NPfIT, with 70% saying they were confident that centrally available patient data will improve patient care; however, 80% of GP respondents and 77% of consultant respondents said they were not confident or very worried. The low level of confidence should be addressed by clearly demonstrating to both medical staff and patients just how secure electronic healthcare systems really can be.

 

78% of consultants and 53% of GPs agree that care would be improved, but only 29% of respondents thought that the medical profession was prepared for the transition to electronic records while 66% said it wasn't and 5% weren't sure. More than half of the respondents did not believe that local NHS organizations were prepared to protect patient data privacy.

Although the focus of the article was on EMR security, one commenter points out cases of outrageous security breaches by hospital staff. For example

• no IDs were required when they visited a hospital to discuss the software the LSP was testing despite their walking unescorted through patient areas;
• medical records left out and accessible during visiting hours;
• no proof of identity requested when visiting a GP even when the patient was a stranger; and
• doctors discussing test results in public.

In fact, medical privacy and security relies on the discretion and efforts of the people involved - doctors, hospital staff, insurance personnel, etc. Whether it's the current paper system or the coming electronic medical records there will be cause for concern as long as security and privacy are low priority and only receive lip service from these groups.