First of all I must say I am a great advocate for the NHS. They have saved my life and the lives of many of my loved ones. I also have close family members employed by the NHS.
I have a chronic disease that affects me on an almost daily basis. The NHS is treating me as much as they can and for that I am grateful.
I now have the option of receiving a particular treatment from a private health company. This treatment is not available on the NHS and it can be very effective for my disease. The issue is that I have to give this company access to my health records. On the one hand this is pretty obvious, how can they treat me if they don’t know my history? On the other hand, it just doesn’t sit right for me to hand over my most personal details.
So, fellow Brits, if you were in my shoes, would you give your medical history to a private company or not?
22 comments
Not willingly.
If it’s for the purpose of treatment, yes. How else can they treat you properly without having your personal information? Not every private company is scheming to do the worst with your data. That said, know your rights and what they should be doing with your personal information.
The regulations and legal protections of your data are presumably the same, surely?
In your situation, obviously yes and I wouldn’t even question it.
Your data is no more safe with the NHS than it is with a private company.
In fact from what I’ve seen from NHS systems is arguably probably less safe so I don’t really see an issue.
Yes because if they don’t know the history of your treatment they won’t be able to help.
I would. Chronic illness is a literal pain to live with, and the NHS is, honestly, much better with acute issues. If this treatment will help, and can’t be got another way, there’s an obvious answer.
Honestly yes without any second though
Yes. Think about the amount of people who have access to your records on the NHS anyway. Mine have probably been seen by thousands of people over the years (I’ve got a bunch of chronic conditions, 4 different consultants). At this point I wouldn’t even think twice about handing over my records to a healthcare company to treat me.
To a private health company that’s going to treat me? Absolutely. It’s vital they have your full medical history before commencing treatment.
To Facebook or to Nescafé? No.
Yes I would. But you don’t explain why you feel “It doesn’t sit right.”
Yes, in order to get medical cannibis you need to share your summary care record
Yes they can treat you best with your history and they ll be bound by the same laws that the NHS is.
I don’t really have anything against giving my health information out if it potentially helps other people in the future.
I ve given blood samples for research purposes before (it’s also something you can consent for as a blood donor if your blood didn’t get used for the original purpose) and one study I ve given consent to my healthcare records now and anytime in the future so they can check if I develop any conditions against information from my DNA.
I work for a private medical company and they are very heavily regulated with regards to data protection. Your data is as safe with them as it is with the NHS.
I did this to get my medical cannabis prescription.
There’s nothing to hide on my medical record, why wouldn’t I share it if its to my benefit?
I work for the government and have done various roles and I’ve also worked for private companies. I’ve never actually worked for the NHS though. I also have a complex medical history, not even my mum knows everything. I’d possibly trust a private company more than the NHS if I’m honest. They probably have more to lose than the NHS if things go wrong, so I would trust them more. I’ve had the NHS fluff up my information before.
Yes I would if the company had great reviews and was well-established.
Its worth the trade-off for your health.
Without any hesitation. But then I’m not a particularly private or paranoid person.
A few years ago I was in a similar position. I found myself needing somewhat urgent mental health help. The NHS waitlist would’ve been far too long so I went for private health care.
Instead of waiting 18-24 months I was seen by a psychiatrist in 2 weeks.
It’s not perfect and it’s expensive as I have to pay for my appointments and medication privately but the impact it’s had on my life has been incredible. I don’t regret handing I’ve my personal information because it means I’m now doing so much better and I’m really glad I did it.
I would say yes. Ask them for a copy of their privacy notice and data protection policy. As they are a private company, following treatment it is possible that you could ask them to delete any details of your medical history, should that be what you want.
It’s a scary world out there but try applying for a job at a company without disclosing your CV, or applying for a mortgage and denying them a credit check. Sometimes you gotta let people in a bit to get by.
I don’t understand how you can question this?
It’s not a ‘private company’ in the same way as it would be if you were handing over your health records to Facebook. It’s a private health care provider. They need those records.
Because it’s about something specific to you, absolutely in a second I would.
I’d be a lot more cautious if it were being used to feed some giant AI machine with anonymous compounded and collated data (despite that probably being safer in some respects), as that’s where you lose control of it.