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davidgillonI've just done my first piece of political writing for months (six months when I look at it, which is scary), which is up at Where's the Benefit, my usual venue: Does Universal Credit herald the end of Medical Privacy?
The basic situation is that the Department of Work and Pensions just gave themselves the right to pass on medical data about anyone claiming Universal Credit (which eventually will be just about everyone of working age, including those in work) to a variety of outside bodies (councils, CAB, social landlords etc). Needless to say those of us with medical data held by DWP are a trifle disturbed. But there are already a couple of good articles about that, so I combined it with what other data we know DWP has tried to get hold of in the past (such as the database of every hospital admission), and a bit of speculation about them wanting access to Care.Data (the very controversial database of GP's medical records) that I initially thought was just me thinking aloud, but I actually turned up the Health Select Committee wondering exactly the same thing, then stirred it all up with what we know about DWP's aggressively punitive nature to paint a fairly disturbing picture of where things could go for medical privacy if we don't put a shot across their bows.
I've already seen one of the prominent Care.Data activists retweeting it, so it's clearly being heard in the right places.
The basic situation is that the Department of Work and Pensions just gave themselves the right to pass on medical data about anyone claiming Universal Credit (which eventually will be just about everyone of working age, including those in work) to a variety of outside bodies (councils, CAB, social landlords etc). Needless to say those of us with medical data held by DWP are a trifle disturbed. But there are already a couple of good articles about that, so I combined it with what other data we know DWP has tried to get hold of in the past (such as the database of every hospital admission), and a bit of speculation about them wanting access to Care.Data (the very controversial database of GP's medical records) that I initially thought was just me thinking aloud, but I actually turned up the Health Select Committee wondering exactly the same thing, then stirred it all up with what we know about DWP's aggressively punitive nature to paint a fairly disturbing picture of where things could go for medical privacy if we don't put a shot across their bows.
I've already seen one of the prominent Care.Data activists retweeting it, so it's clearly being heard in the right places.
