I read about how “great” and “awful” it is the idea of the NHS Spine, and all information being online and can understand why people can worry about it all. I’m not sure about it myself.
I think about some of the information stored about us already: every bank transaction is recorded – if you miss payments on anything its recorded, if your on or not on the electoral register, your credit cards limits and how much you have on things.
Think credit reports – many accounts that you’ve had in past or currently be it gas/electric, loans, bank accounts, credit cards, aswell as any other credit costs and wherever you’ve lived and had some sort of money related instance be it mortgage or gas/phone/elec/water etc supplies.
Already there is a lot of information accessable via the internet, and what is a little more… Much is recorded via a National Insurance Number, or NHS number, or id code. Think passports – and how they are now linkable to your drivers licence. How long until one identifier for one person – assuming it doesn’t already exist.
Many people are now getting GPS in their phones, taking pictures (with GPS info hidden inside image) and publishing online – being tracked wherever they go… or is it just helping them find where they want to be. Lets go link the GPS tracker into everything else.
Health care – I can understand that it could be useful if you were taken to hospital and needed something that your allergies & current medication could be considered easier. However, I can’t see how you can give permission to someone while in the point of an emergency and your meant to give permission to people to access your summary record (I think).
Its just another thing to be tracked to your id – Get a routine blood test to check for “lithium levels, B12, folate, HB1AC, U & E,INR,LFT, DNA, STIs, etc” and recorded down to your id.
Its not as though your health records are already recorded online somewhere, like when you change doctors and all records are moved between practices. Everything goes through a central health authority – but its not like they know where your registered, where you live, your NHS number, etc – I mean they never see the records do they? They can’t already be online can they and just coming to public knowledge?
But its just talk – that could never really happen could it?