Sharing patient data must be embraced despite "understandable caution" - Government Computing Network

"Jeremy Hunt says record sharing must be embraced when in patient's 'interest' as NHS England reveals scrutiny plans for care.data launch The open availability of data will be a 'great ally' in improving patient safety in the NHS despite concerns over confidentiality, with transparency serving as the main engine to drive such change, secretary of state for health Jeremy Hunt has said. Hunt told delegates at the Improving Patient Safety Towards Harm Free Care conference in London that healthcare organisations faced a long and difficult journey to enact a culture change within hospital trusts to encourage more sharing of data and patient records. However, he maintained that while health providers needed to be cautious in sharing patient records, open data was the preferred direction towards positive reform of healthcare when deemed to be in the "interest" of patients ..."