First, do no harm

In the midst of the recent Labour leadership turbulence, on Wednesday May 13 Wes Streeting, who would resign from his position as the UK’s health minister a day later, published the Health bill. Among its provisions are the latest in a long line of attempts to centralize and exploit the data collected by the National Health Service. medConfidental provides a useful summary. Two main aims have kept reappearing over the years. One is to make the health service more efficient and streamline patient interactions. Probably everyone supports this – until they read the details. Even before the bill was published, media reported the government plans to give each of us a single patient record. In the announcement, Streeting talks about the frustration of having to repeat your medical history to every new physician. True; on the other hand, rehashing the medical history is an opportunity to correct errors and misperceptions. This is where patients need choice and control. The second recurring…