§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what safeguards exist to ensure that medical information and history of individuals recorded and retained in National Health Service computer data banks is accurate.
§ Mr. MoyleThe safeguards that are applied to ensure accuracy of such personal medical data are a matter for local decision by those responsible for the computer system but the degree of validation is no less than that afforded to similar data held on manually maintained medical records. The discipline inherent in the design and operation of computer systems ensures that validation safeguards are rigorously and, in practice, often more effectively applied than is possible using manual systems.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will allow any individual whose medical record and history is recorded on a National Health Service computer access to the information.
§ Mr. MoyleThe decision whether a patient may have access to, or know the contents of, his medical record rests with the doctor in charge of the case who will exercise his professional judgment concerning what should be disclosed and it is not a matter in which it would be appropriate for me to intervene.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many computers are in use by National Health Service hospitals; and what are their principal functions.
§ Mr. MoyleThe latest date for which figures are available is 31st March 1975, when there were 100 computers in National Health Service hospitals in England, mostly small machines executing single tasks.
The principal functions are:
- 1. Hospital Out-Patient Organisation Systems.
- 2. Hospital In-Patient Organisation Systems.
- 3. Hospital Patient Servicing Systems.
- 4. Personal Medical Record Systems.
- 5. Pharmaceutical Systems.
- 6. Laboratory Systems.
- 7. Patient Monitoring, Clinical Measurement, Nuclear Medicine and Ultrasonic Systems.
- 8. Radiotherapy Systems.
- 9. Radiology Systems.
460 - 10. Physiological Signal Analysis Systems.
- 11. Clinical Decision Making Systems.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services who is responsible for determining those people who have access to the medical records of individuals stored on computers used in National Health Service hospitals.
§ Mr. MoyleThe right of access to individual medical records, whether stored on a computer or not, is determined by the doctor in charge of a case. In the design of a computer system consultations are held with representatives of the medical and other professions in the hospital on the general questions of the safeguarding of information on the computer and who in the hospital should have access to it.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many computers are in operation in (a) teaching hospitals in London, (b) general medical practices, (c) National Health Service hospitals in England, and (d) National Health Service hospitals in Wales.
§ Mr. MoyleThe latest date for which figures for England are available is 31st March 1975. They are as follows:
- (a) Computers in London teaching hospitals—29.
- (b) Computers in general medical practices—No figures available but likely to be very few.
- (c) NHS hospitals in England (including those at (a))—100.
I am advised by my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales that the number of computers in operation in hospitals in Wales as at May 1976 was eight.
§ Mr. Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what safeguards are taken to prevent unauthorised people from extracting information stored on computers used in National Health Service hospitals.
§ Mr. MoyleCareful precautions are taken by staff handling records whether these are maintained by computer or manually. In addition, computer records may be protected from unauthorised disclosure by automatic computer programme means such as the requirement for authorised users to provide passwords, 461W or to present to the computer badge readers or keys or a combination of more than one technique. Within computer installations physical security includes security personnel, special locks, passes, and badge reading devices. The safeguards vary according to the particular installation commensurate with the sensitivity of the data held.