Privacy and Healthcare Data

In order for the information society to realise its full potential, personal data has to be disclosed, used and often shared. This book explores the disclosure and sharing of data within the area of healthcare. Including an overview of how health information is currently managed, the authors argue that with changes in modern society, the idea of personal relationships with a local GP who solely holds and controls your health records is becoming rapidly outdated. The authors aim to encourage and empower patients to make informed choices about sharing their health data. They do this by developing a three-stage theoretical model for change to the roles of the NHS and the individual. The study generates debate to stimulate and inspire new models and policy, and to provoke new visions for the sharing of healthcare data. Such discussion is framed through an exploration of the changing concept of 'privacy' and 'patient control' in healthcare information management. The volume draws on best practices from Europe and the USA and combines these to form a suggested vision for the UK as an early adopter of change. The volume will be essential reading for academics in the field of privacy and data protection, as well as healthcare and informatics professionals across different jurisdictions.

Christina Munns is an informatics professional, specialising in the strategic application of information governance and security. She has worked within the national health and care informatics arena for the last decade, holding senior positions across strategy, policy and operations. Recent positions have included Theme Lead and Steering Group member on Dame Fiona Caldicott’s 2013 Information Governance Review and Programme Head for Dame Fiona Caldicott’s Independent Information Governance Oversight Panel. She was Lead Author of the Confidentiality Guide and managed the development of the 2014 statutory Code of Practice on Confidential Information for health and social care. National appointments include membership of the Care Quality Commission’s National Information Governance Committee (CQC’s NIGC), acting in an advisory capacity to the CQC Board. Subhajit Basu is Associate Professor in Cyber Law at the School of Law, University of Leeds and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA) and Research Fellow of African Centre for Cyberlaw and Cybercrime Prevention (ACCP). His principal research and writing is on ’emerging technologies’, especially in the context of the ’regulation of cyberspace’. His scholarship focuses on the regulatory challenges and gaps brought about by the development, use and ubiquitousness of such technologies, in what for many is the unique legal environment of the Internet. As a ’realist’ he cares about the opportunities created by these technologies, in particular ensuring an effective adaptive regulatory framework. He is author of the critically acclaimed monograph titled `Global Perspectives on E-Commerce Taxation Law’. In addition, he is author of a large number of articles and chapters in scholarly journals and books covering a variety of topics including data protection, privacy, freedom of expression, cybercrime, digital divide, patent e-commerce consumer protec