New law sidesteps consent for acess to medical records

By FRANCESCA MOLD political reporter

Researchers will be able to get women's medical records without their consent from hospitals and GPs under a law being promoted by the Government.

An inquiry into the misreporting of thousands of cervical smear tests in Gisborne last year found an urgent need to amend health laws so researchers could evaluate the national screening programme.

Proper evaluation of the programme was stymied by section 74a of the Health Act, which created a watertight legal barrier preventing the release of information identifying women held by the national screening register.

Under changes detailed in a new discussion document, rules would be relaxed to allow the release of personal information without women's consent.

Researchers would be able to see clinical records held by doctors, nurses, specialists or hospitals as well as smear slides and information from the national cervical screening register.

Health Minister Annette King said the amendments would go ahead this year as part of an omnibus health bill.

The proposed changes have women's health advocates worried.

Women's Health Action spokeswoman Sandra Coney said the register had been set up to collect information about women's screening histories and to ensure the programme could be evaluated.

"Our main concern is around GP records, which hold a great deal of other information besides that relating to smear-taking and cervical cancer," said Ms Coney.

"We support the audit and access to slides, the screening register and cancer registry but we have a problem with access to GP records without women's consent."

The Ministry of Health document said safeguards would be set up so auditors and researchers would be required to keep the information confidential and secure.

But it does not make any specific suggestions on how these safeguards would work.

Mrs King said the discussion document was designed to seek women's views on the amendments and what safeguards should be established.

Dr Brian Cox, director of the Hugh Adam cancer epidemiology unit at Otago University's Medical School, said there was a definite need to create regulations to allow an audit to be carried out.

"I'm sure there will be issues there for doctors regarding the sanctity of medical records. But researchers and auditors are not interested in things not associated with the focus of the audit, which would be improving the screening programme."

Dr Cox said access to records would be limited to those employed to carry out the research.

Doctors already shared patient information with colleagues to help with a patient's treatment or to improve their own practice.

"This sort of audit could be considered an extension of that," he said.

The audit of the screening programme had been hamstrung by section 74a and the legislative changes would allow the research to go ahead almost immediately.

He believed any audit should still go before a national ethics committee for an independent check.