CARE.DATA AND PATHFINDER AREA LAUNCH

That this House views with great concern plans by NHS England to relaunch the care.data initiative in trial regions in the run-up to the general election; recalls that the previous attempt to launch care.data was an unmitigated disaster that had to be abandoned due to widespread public opposition; believes that Parliament has been misled, as it received incorrect assurances that care.data pathfinder communications would not take place before the Confidentiality Advisory Group Regulations (CAG) under the Care Act 2014 had been laid before Parliament and approved, thereby introducing strong legal safeguards for data handling before extraction began; further believes that current proposals lack clarity and transparency, as the current opt-out is now for GP data only, excluding hospital data which requires a further, separate opt-out procedure; notes that those who have already opted-out from having both sets of data extracted will receive the same communication in the pathfinder regions telling them to opt-out again and seek any further clarification from their over-stretched GP, who is unlikely to have time to discuss data protection with large numbers of patients; further notes that previous consent definition errors which impact on the ability of patients to receive direct care have yet to be remedied; and calls on the Government, as a matter of urgency, to delay the pathfinder launch at the very least until after the general election, so that outstanding issues can be resolved in a considered and transparent manner.