HOW do you feel about your private health records being shared among doctors and health workers?

It’s a brave new world that could potentially affect about 175,000 patients in Southend, unless they decide to opt out by telling their family doctor.

The Southend Clinical Commissioning Group is to share patients’ medical records with health and social care professionals as part of a trail-blazing move to streamline treatment and care.

The move, the first of its kind in the UK, will allow health chiefs to monitor patients and ensure a “joined up” way of working to ensure people get the most appropriate care.

It has been described by some critics as a “mind-blowing” disrespect for patient safety and confidentiality, even though bosses insist any data shared would be anonymous.

For some patients, it’s also a step too far, but some are more concerned that they haven’t been informed directly by health chiefs responsible.

Renata Harrington, 75, from Southend, said: “I think they have some cheek doing this. I am completely against this.

“That information should definitely be kept confidential. That would be going against my privacy.

I didn’t even know about this.”

Reg Clarke, 61, from Shoebury, added: “Health information should be kept private. It is personal information and should be confidential. I had no idea about this until I saw it in the Echo this morning.

“We haven’t received a letter to let us know this is going ahead.

Such information is personal and shouldn’t be shared.”

Venetia Hitchcock, 43, from Southend, added: “I didn’t know about this. It depends what they are using the information for. I don’t mind if it is just other health professionals using it, then that’s OK. I think data sharing in general is a bit of a dodgy subject. People don’t handle data correctly these days.

“If I was asked whether or not I would agree, I would say no, I would tick the box saying that I didn’t want my data shared.”

Lorraine Stanes, 57, from Southend, was another resident who had no idea about the change.

She said: “I really wouldn’t want my personal information shared. I had no idea about this. I haven’t seen it in the news.

“It is worrying. I don’t like the idea of being a guinea pig in this first trial in Southend, especially without being asked first.

“If I get the opportunity to opt out then I will, actually, I’m going to go and do that now.”

SO WHAT INFO WILL BE SHARED?

The health information that will be shared includes:

• The number of appointments a patient has had with a GP or practice nurse ! Information about medications they have been prescribed

•Information about longterm conditions or any other condition which requires long-termmanagement

•The number of unplanned and avoidable hospital admissions.

The social care information that will be shared includes:

•The number of unplanned care services being delivered

•Age, gender, postcode and NHS Number

•The type of service received and who by (the provider)

DOC: WHY I SUPPORT THE PLAN

DR Peter Long, a GP at the Pall Mall Surgery in Leigh and a member of the governing body of the Southend Clinical Commissioning Group speaks out in support the data sharing plan.

IN Southend, the NHS and the council are working together to improve the delivery of health and social care services. This is a really important piece of work, because I know patients will benefit enormously if all the care services they receive are more joined up.

Some people in Southend receive multiple care services, some of these are provided by the NHS and some by Social Services.

Although these teams are all trying to offer a high standard of care, they aren’t always working together.

I have patients who are in this situation and they often tell me how tired they are of having to repeat their circumstances over and again to different health or care professionals from different organisations.

As a GP, I will be able to make much more informed decisions if I can see the social care my patient is receiving. For instance, if I am prescribing a course of medication for an elderly patient, it will be incredibly useful for me to know if they are visited at home by a care worker and, if so, how many times a day. I cannot currently access this information.

It is a concern of mine that the delivery of care in such a disjointed fashion can result in things being missed. If I ammore aware of all of a patient’s needs ,then I will better placed to spot, much earlier, if their condition is going downhill. I could help prevent a crisis that would otherwise result in a long and uncomfortable stay in hospital.

It would be so much better if my patients had a single care package covering all of their health and social care needs, delivered by a single multi-disciplinary team. This is what we want to deliver in Southend. As you can imagine, data sharing is a very necessary part of this.

The process of gaining permission to share data from the Health Secretary, has been long and detailed. The clinical commissioning group and Southend Council had to respond to a significant array of questions, challenges and criteria in order to satisfy the Government that patient information will be secure. Also, it can only be shared by a very small number of health and social care professionals working within either the CCG or the council. It will not be shared beyond those organisations.

As a GP, I will be able to identify my own patients and see what services they are receiving. At the council and CCG, however, they will only be able to see highlevel, anonymous data which will help them design and commission integrated health and social care services across the borough.

Cost cutting is not an objective of this scheme. It is purely about improving care to some of our most vulnerable patients in the hope we can prevent avoidable hospital admissions and keep them in their own home longer.