Make money doing the work you believe in
SHOUTING BUT NOT BEING HEARD!
Is your NHS data being protected? GPs don’t think so.
Why is protecting patient data the first thing that GPs are doing as part of collective action against the imposed GP contract? Seems a little odd?
Until you realised that the Government is planning to take away the data controller role from GP practices. That again may pass you by until you realise that GPs have in effect been data protectors. Our NHS information shared with GPs over decades, some data points but other bits of personal information. *
The reason they want to do this is simple, to allow easier access and sharing of data with third parties, to see access and potentially invest the money in the NHS. That’s the good bit but at what real cost.
The Government is signing contracts with Palantir, the US technology company behind CIA, ICE and many Government agencies in the US. Already it has reach in many Government contracts in the UK, yet is not entirely benign, recent and past comments from it’s founder and CEOs are extremely troubling.
But back to GPs and the reason that they have picked a seemingly obscure fight with Government over the imposed GP contract. Why data? Well because they care for patients first and foremost, the data was intended just to be shared information between patient and GP as an aid memoir for each encounter, it was never intended as data base to be shared more broadly. It has become a potentially lucrative source of data but that was never the intention and has never been consented for.
GP NHS Data is already being shared in some ICBs and Trusts without explicit consent. Even with the ‘opt out’ some ‘anonymous’ data is being shared. **
This may not concern you but you haven’t been consented or asked, have you?
GPs have been increasingly sidelined by NHS England and Governments, despite their clear intention at putting patients first. Lack of funding, imposition of additional work without resources have meant we have unemployment of GPs, fewer GPs per patients, and despite media propaganda no more GP appointments. The Government has imposed online access without providing more GPs, restricted referrals, ignored GPs in new ideas for community care, and in the middle of this imposed a contract which 99% of GPs have rejected.
GPs can’t strike and don’t want to, so they are looking at ways of getting the message across that GPs are on the side of patients, but are struggling due to lack of funding, imposed restrictions and failure of Government to listen.
If people don’t want to end up in a similar situation to Dental care where there is a divide between the haves and have nots, then they need to stand with and help GPs.
We GPs are patients, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons too, we do understand the issues better than most given the unique position we find ourselves in. GPs are standing in the gap, and at the moment they are shouting but not being heard.
