Data sold to Amazon says The Guardian

‘Sold’ is a misnomer. They gave it away for free!

How dare they? I thought we were supposed to keep our data private! So much for data protection

I remember receiving a letter from my GP, or it might have been an email? I can’t recall. But I too registered that I was NOT willing for my health information to be passed on in this way!

I remember a letter about data being shared with other NHS facilities, so that, for instance, if I were run over in another city the doctors would be able to look on the computer to see if I had allergies or existing conditions that had to be taken into account.

I was happy with this, but would not be happy for any info to fall into private hands. Is this definitely what is happening? It seems most unlikely to me.

I might still have the letter. I’m sure it said you could opt out of the “medical research’ aspect but could give permission to share with other NHS bodies only.

Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s unlikely. Have you seen the discussions about accessing 111 via Alexa, that’s been around recently? I do not wish to discuss any health issues with Alexa (Amazon) or any other of these things. Basically, I have no trust in what is or isn’t shared, despite reassurances. How often have reassurances turned out to be false?

Apparently the whole thing came to light after a freedom of information request.

I’m very sceptical about any reassurances given by private global companies

Now, I wonder why American big pharma would want to pay millions for this data?

amp.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/08/nhs-gives-amazon-free-use-of-health-data-under-alexa-advice-deal

I'm confused as to what use my Nhs data would be to anyone .
I don't have Alexa so can't see how she'll give me any advice either.

This is alarming and I don't recall opting for my data not to be shared. I will write to the practice and ask whether I registered against sharing.

I don't have Alexa and won't be getting it either, so any advice will be of little use to me. Is this a stage in the feared NHS sell-off?

Most of our anonymised health data is in the public realm anyway, and rightly so!

If you go to a surgeon there will be stats on all of his or her operations, the equipment and implants used, the demographics they are used on, failure rates etc..

Uptake of vaccines amongst different groups

Rate of medication use amongst different demographics

Lengths of stays, adverse affects and incidents.

Its all public anyway and so it should be!

said the issue with the partnership was not about “data sharing” but about “transparency” (from above link)

You can already access data about every operation and hospital admission and about GP services if you know where to look. Its all public already. Because if your local hospital is operating on fewer over 65s than national averages, questions can be asked etc. Its not a bad thing.