E-Health Insider :: Govt to opt patient data into trials

The government wants to change the NHS Constitution so that patient information is automatically included in clinical research.

The move, which will be subject to consultation, is part of a raft of government announcements designed to boost investment in Britain’s life sciences sector and to drive innovation in the NHS.

The headline announcement, that data linking hospital and primary care data could be released to drug and other companies, created a storm of controversy in the national media, with privacy watchdog groups warning that it would herald the “death of privacy”.

However, in a press release conflating a number of different plans, the Department of Health insisted that the move to change the NHS consultation came “in response to calls from research charities and clinicians for government to get patients more involved in supporting the research agenda.”E-Health Insider :: Govt to opt patient data into trials