Confidentiality of personal health information used for research
Confidentiality of personal health information used for research
Medical research has a long history in the United Kingdom and has generally enjoyed good public support. Researchers take confidentiality seriously and few breaches have been recorded. Concerns over research practices at Alder Hey hospital related to consent rather than confidentiality,1 but they tarnished the overall reputation of research. At much the same time, the Data Protection Act 1998 defined stricter criteria for handling personal data,2 supplementing the provisions in the UK common law of confidentiality. There is thus a legal and a moral impetus to ensure that research is conducted with the maximum respect for participants and their privacy, even if the research is not linked to clinical care. Many questions can be answered without the active participation of individuals, but researchers must strike a careful balance between their pursuit of health improvements for all and their obligation to maintain the privacy of individuals participating in research.
biomedical research, computer security, confidentiality, education, ethics, research, health, information semination, informed consent, medical records, organizational policy, review, standards
196-198
Kalra, Dipak
b9b95095-c107-4e0f-9c73-f61043dd1bef
Gertz, Renate
9bcdc9b7-80f4-4df5-9113-8266ce5cf4ba
Singleton, Peter
c4d444b6-308b-4958-bb47-829eaf4f19e6
Inskip, Hazel M.
5fb4470a-9379-49b2-a533-9da8e61058b7
22 July 2006
Kalra, Dipak
b9b95095-c107-4e0f-9c73-f61043dd1bef
Gertz, Renate
9bcdc9b7-80f4-4df5-9113-8266ce5cf4ba
Singleton, Peter
c4d444b6-308b-4958-bb47-829eaf4f19e6
Inskip, Hazel M.
5fb4470a-9379-49b2-a533-9da8e61058b7
Kalra, Dipak, Gertz, Renate, Singleton, Peter and Inskip, Hazel M.
(2006)
Confidentiality of personal health information used for research.
BMJ, 333 (7560), .
(doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7560.196).
Abstract
Medical research has a long history in the United Kingdom and has generally enjoyed good public support. Researchers take confidentiality seriously and few breaches have been recorded. Concerns over research practices at Alder Hey hospital related to consent rather than confidentiality,1 but they tarnished the overall reputation of research. At much the same time, the Data Protection Act 1998 defined stricter criteria for handling personal data,2 supplementing the provisions in the UK common law of confidentiality. There is thus a legal and a moral impetus to ensure that research is conducted with the maximum respect for participants and their privacy, even if the research is not linked to clinical care. Many questions can be answered without the active participation of individuals, but researchers must strike a careful balance between their pursuit of health improvements for all and their obligation to maintain the privacy of individuals participating in research.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 22 July 2006
Keywords:
biomedical research, computer security, confidentiality, education, ethics, research, health, information semination, informed consent, medical records, organizational policy, review, standards
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 44206
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/44206
ISSN: 0959-8138
PURE UUID: 0dfbd24f-b1d4-4d12-8f82-9703eb3c1c52
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 20 Feb 2007
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:55
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Dipak Kalra
Author:
Renate Gertz
Author:
Peter Singleton
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
