Patient data shouldn’t be shared for immigration purposes

Dr Sarah Wollaston has told NHS Digital that it should immediately withdraw from a memorandum of understanding with the Home Office that allows for the sharing of patients’ addresses for immigration tracing purposes.

Wollaston, who chairs Parliament’s Health Committee, wrote to Sarah Wilkinson, chief executive of NHS Digital, to highlight how data-sharing is taking place in a manner which is ‘incompatible both with the guidance on confidentiality given by the GMC and the NHS Code of Confidentiality’.

Saying that the current situation was unacceptable, the committee also said the current system could lead to ‘serious unintentional consequences’ for both individuals and wider public health.

Wollaston said: "We are seriously concerned about the way NHS Digital has approached its duty to respect and promote confidentiality. We call for a halt to the present system of information sharing and a full review of the original MOU with the Home Office. If this does not happen, we intend to hold further public evidence sessions requiring the Chief Executive to provide a very much more convincing case for the continued operation of this MoU than has been presented so far.

“Whilst we recognise the public interest in assisting on a case by case basis where a serious crime is being investigated, we do not agree with NHS Digital’s assertion that their current arrangements for the purpose of immigration tracing requests constitute case by case data sharing. There has been a failure to appreciate the wider implications of their actions for the individuals concerned, for clinicians, and for wider public health. Their actions not only undermine public confidence in confidentiality but put at risk the efforts to build support for data sharing in other vital areas such as medical research."