The Joint GP IT Committee — which represents GPs across the UK in discussions related to the use and management of GP data — asked NHS England to refer itself to the data watchdog over the issue following a meeting last Thursday.
But Michael Chapman, director of research and clinical trials at NHS Digital, wrote to seven members of the committee that evening saying the review would instead be carried out in-house by the organization’s data protection officer “to establish the facts ahead of any approach to the [Information Commissioner’s Office],” citing “standard procedure when data protection concerns are raised,” according to an email seen by POLITICO.
That’s done little to placate doctors’ representatives, who are wary of allowing NHS England to mark its own homework given the gravity of the issue.
In addition to demanding that the BMA be called as a witness to the Information Commissioner’s investigations, the Joint GP IT Committee also wants “explicit governance” over uses of AI and an undertaking that future emergency measures permitting the use of GP data contain a sunset clause if doctors haven’t been consulted, the person quoted above said.
It comes as influential figures inside the governing Labour Party push to liberalize the use of NHS data. This week former Prime Minister Tony Blair made a surprise appearance at the SXSW festival in London alongside Tech Secretary Peter Kyle, where he said it was “absurd” that NHS data wasn’t routinely available for innovation.
Kyle also called for the U.K. to make better use of NHS data: “This government, this country, our state has the most extraordinarily powerful and rich data set, [more] than any other country in the world. Now, if we can use that data wisely and safely, then we can have the kinds of leaps and bounds forward for the scientific development for the commercialization of new techniques, new services, new medicines, and the understanding of humankind and social sciences that no other country in the world can do.”
An NHS spokesperson said: “Maintaining patient privacy is central to this project and we are grateful to the Joint GP IT Committee for raising its concerns and meeting with us to discuss the strict governance and controls in place to ensure patients’ data remains secure.”
The Department of Health and Social Care declined to comment. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology did not respond to a request for comment.
