§ Mr. MillerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to link electronic systems holding identifiable health information in his Department to other Government Departments. [22910]
§ Mr. HoramThe Department of Health's network does not handle identifiable health information, being concerned only with anonymised statistical aggregates. Identifiable health information is used by NHS organisations under strict rules set out in recent guidance from the Department of Health. Where the care and treatment of individuals is shared between NHS staff and local authority care staff, identifiable health information has to pass between the responsible clinicians and care workers. Any proposals to use the NHS networking system for this purpose have to follow the very strict controls laid down in the guidance.