Mental health charity MACA urged the House of Lords to reject proposed new regulations that would allow the exchange of confidential patient information without patients’ consent.
The Lords was due to consider the Draft Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 this week. These regulations are being brought in under the Health and Social Care Act 2001 and introduce powers for bodies to obtain confidential patient information, without patient consent, to assist the work of cancer registries, communicable disease surveillance and medical research.
But MACA has concerns that the regulations could include the records of those with a mental illness, and knows of service users who are "seriously appalled" that personal confidential information could be made available to others without their prior consent.
"The regulations are very widely drawn to include not only "communicable disease" but also "other risks to public health"," said chief executive Gil Hitchon.
"As drafted, these regulations could potentially be misused to obtain confidential information about mentally ill people who are considered a risk to the public. If people with mental health problems believe this they may be deterred from contacting services, putting their own health at risk.
"Unless this "other risks" phrase is removed, the regulations should not be passed," he said.
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