I awoke this morning, dangerously early considering my past week’s lack of sprightliness. I had just arrived at the cloudy end of a week long dose of the ‘lazys’, these things sometimes happen to ‘our’ generation.
‘Not to worry’, i convinced myself as I climbed out of bed. First things first, a good breakfast is in order. Sadly, it was still on order as when I opened my cupboard I was greeted with something of a bat cave. I was forced to eat the crumbs of a bag of Bran Flakes. Not the most cheery chow however it would provide some vital ‘rougage’, at least that is what my house mate assured me.
A cup of tea later and the clock was threataning to hit 8. Time to go and buy the morning newspapers and see what the world has been doing with its time.
“NHS medical research plan threatans patient privacy” announced The Guardian. A chance to have a moan at the NHS, things were getting interesting already, I hadn’t even seen the sun yet, the real sun that is.
It turns out that the NHS want to share ‘all of our records’ with ‘everybody’, and this everybody could, and probably does include a Dr Evil or two. Infact, not all of them will be Dr Evil’s, some could just be Mr Evil.
That’s right, because the NHS wants to hand out our information like it were made of hot potato, in the intriguing guise of research.
In short, you, my NHS using reader could find a nicely worded letter inviting you, and your fellow [insert illness name] suffering chums to attend a medical testing session.
A passage from The Guardian reads; “It would result in patients receiving a letter from a stranger who knew their most intimate medical secrets”.
This would be extra jaw dropping for many like me, who are themselves a little sketchy on their own ‘most intimate medical secrets’.
Needless to say, the proposal has been deplored by a ‘chair of data watchdog’. I somewhat agree that this is an invasion of privacy however perhaps it is a better way to leak patients data rather than leaving it on a train seat, something of a fad at the moment.
Due to the story I have decided to improve my lifestyle, I have just returned from what I judge as a successful shopping trip at the local supermarket. The success factor comes from the amount of fruit and veg I forced into my basket.
After all, I would rather be healthy than give them any other intimate medical secrets to write about.
