Mr. William O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if he will make a statement on the disclosure of personal medical records of individuals to outside agencies, with special reference to detective agencies; and if he will list the agencies to which such records have been disclosed in the last five years; [13416]
(2) was assessment he has made of the extent to which (a) general practitioners and (b) hospitals are selling personal medical records to private detective agencies; [13417]
126W(3) what representations he has received urging that measures be brought forward to prevent personal medical records being sold to private detective agencies; and if he will make a statement. [13401]
§ Mr. HoramI refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Peckham (Ms Harman) on 5 December 1995,Official Report, column 196. I have received correspondence from hon. Members and others about the confidentiality of health records and have answered a number of questions on this subject in the House. The information sought about disclosures to agencies outside the national health service is not available, but these are generally to agencies such as social services departments to enable joint care and treatment to be delivered effectively. The sale or disclosure of information to a detective agency, without a patient's consent, would be a breach of confidence and may be actionable under civil and criminal law.