NHS White Paper: striking the right data sharing balance in healthcare

The Department of Health and Social Care last week published its White Paper on legislative proposals to build on the NHS Long Term Plan. The focus on integration, collaboration and innovation means that new technology and data sharing will become big fixtures of the modernised NHS. 

The National Data Guardian broadly supports health data sharing within the NHS for appropriate purposes; she was involved in the development of the White Paper and introduced an extra, seventh, Caldicott Principle that the duty to share information can be as important as the duty to protect patient confidentiality. However, where personal data (and in particular, special category data) is being shared, both public bodies and private companies working with the NHS will need to be fully aware of their data protection obligations and how these interact with the common law duty of confidentiality requirements. 

More work must also be done to build the trust of the general public, as although many patients support the use of health data and new technology to make the NHS more joined up and responsive, there is still some concern when private companies join the mix. A focus on the GDPR obligations should assist in this endeavour, as an understanding of the strict requirements will build confidence.  

If you want to know more, Hannah Crowther and Zoe Walkinshaw wrote about data transfers in the health sector for our recently published Biotech Review magazine - here.