The report discloses that patient details was sold to 178 personal firms on 588 occasions in between 2005 and 2012, with product sales to pharmaceutical firms and at least 5 major insurance companies, who used it to adjust consumer premiums.
Shockingly, in two situations, auditors had been unable to track down in which the NHS data had been passed.
The overview was led by Sir Nick Partridge, a non-executive director of the Wellness and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), which is now in charge of NHS information.
The transactions were dealt with by the NHS Details Centre, its predecessor entire body.
Sir Nick stated: “The HSCIC have to discover lessons from the loosely recorded processes of its predecessor organisation. The public simply will not tolerate vagueness about healthcare information that could be intensely private to them. We exist to guard their data and we have to earn their trust by demonstrating scrupulous care with which we deal with their personal information.”
Even though information did not identify sufferers, in some instances it would have been attainable to “deduce” which patients the data referred to, although this is unlawful, the evaluation found.
It concluded that “there had been considerable administrative lapses in recording the release of data. In some circumstances the choice making process was unclear and data of choices incomplete when managing health-related data this is unacceptable.”
Phil Booth, from privacy campaigners MedConfidential, stated: “The government says it will quit the sale of patient records to insurers, but what about the hundreds of thousands that have already been sold? All business reuse contracts need to be shut down instantly and all our information that should never have been given away must be deleted.”
The review calls for a series of changes to tighten controls of information and improved transparency about the use of info.
The report says three insurance coverage businesses – Scor Worldwide Life Uk, RGA Uk Solutions and Milliman – which hold recent patient information have been ordered to delete their information.
At least two a lot more insurance coverage firms, Very first Help and Pacific Existence, previously had accessibility to aggregate data, the HSCIC mentioned.
None had entry to named patient data. Information was utilized to set premiums for types of consumers, not distinct people.
The disclosures in February about the dealing with of hospital information emerged amid growing worries about plans for a nationwide database which will carry together information from GP data.
The programme was due to be launched in Could, but has been put on hold until next year as even more controls had been drawn up, and will comply with a number of neighborhood pilot schemes.
The HSCIC board stated it had accepted Sir Nick’s suggestions in total.
Helen White, Head of Safety at the Association of British Insurers, mentioned the sector supported the findings.
She mentioned: “Insurers do not want or use data that enables them to recognize people.
“They are interested only in information that demonstrates population trends in health, such as trends in how frequent specific illnesses are, and trends in recovery from specific illnesses.”
Hundreds of thousands of NHS data sold to insurance coverage firms
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