Public Bodies and Private Medical Records: The Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003

Abstract

This article examines the powers granted to the newly established Healthcare Commission to gain access to, use, and pass on to third parties, confidential patient information and records. It criticises the absence of independent oversight of the exercise of these powers, given the threat they pose to patient privacy and medical confidentiality and examines whether they are likely to conflict with existing norms governing privacy, in particular the law of medical confidentiality, the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998. Finally it places the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 in context as an instance of an overall trend evident in recent public policy initiatives, which favours institutional efficiency over privacy concerns, and which may be seen as an outcome of the Government's communitarian agenda.