Stop sharing confidential patient information for immigration enforcement purposes
31 January 2018
The Chair of the Health Committee has written to Sarah Wilkinson, Chief Executive of NHS Digital, requesting that NHS Digital immediately withdraws from a memorandum of understanding with the Home Office that allows for the sharing of patients' addresses for immigration tracing purposes.
- Letter to Sarah Wilkinson, Chief Executive, NHS Digital
- Inquiry: Memorandum of understanding on data-sharing
- Written evidence
- Health Committee
Inadequate consultation
There was inadequate consultation during the formulation of the MOU and a failure to pay due regard to the underlying ethical considerations and potential unintended consequences for public health. This has resulted in a situation where data-sharing is taking place in a manner which is incompatible both with the guidance on confidentiality given by the GMC and the NHS Code of Confidentiality and which could lead to serious unintentional consequences for both individuals and wider public health. The Committee finds this situation unacceptable.
Call for full review of original MoU
Chair of the Committee, Dr Sarah Wollaston, says,
"We are seriously concerned about the way NHS Digital has approached its duty to respect and promote confidentiality. We call for a halt to the present system of information sharing and a full review of the original MOU with the Home Office. If this does not happen, we intend to hold further public evidence sessions requiring the Chief Executive to provide a very much more convincing case for the continued operation of this MoU than has been presented so far.
Whilst we recognise the public interest in assisting on a case by case basis where a serious crime is being investigated, we do not agree with NHS Digital's assertion that their current arrangements for the purpose of immigration tracing requests constitute case by case data sharing. There has been a failure to appreciate the wider implications of their actions for the individuals concerned, for clinicians, and for wider public health. Their actions not only undermine public confidence in confidentiality but put at risk the efforts to build support for data sharing in other vital areas such as medical research."
Further information
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