TalkScience - Health Data: Better Care or Privacy Nightmare?
Channel: British Library
Date: 2016-04-13

According to many, recent health data initiatives such as care.data and the 100,000 Genomes Project will help to improve patient diagnosis, efficiently utilise healthcare funding and boost academic research to the overall benefit of society. However, concerns have been raised regarding the safe, practical and ethical use of personal health data. Can the NHS data systems efficiently use this data to its potential? Who will have access and can it be hacked or sold to insurance companies and will this lead to discrimination? Can a person truly consent to their data being used in research? What is the best way of informing the public about how their data may be used?

We discussed these issues at our 32nd TalkScience event at the British Library with a public audience and our expert panel including Professor Liam Smeeth from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Peter Knight from the Department of Health and Sam Smith of MedConfidential. The discussion was chaired by Sharmila Nebhrajani OBE.