The Dame is not for turning - Data Sharing part deux

So Dame Caldicott is going to have a second bash at data sharing.

Dame Fiona Caldicott is preparing her second review of data sharing and will report in April 2013.

 Long after her influential report of 1997, the effects of Caldicott are being felt and most recently they have come to the fore in the context of the Government’s ‘Troubled Families’ agenda.  Currently the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are suggesting that local authorities attempt to use health data to help them identify those families most at risk.

Clearly there is often a correlation between health and other  family related issues, but many feel that using health information to ‘target’ families is one step too far. However, Dame Caldicott suggest in a recent interview with Local Government Chronicle, that her second report might suggest a ‘duty of care’ form the healthcare professional to share information that they think will benefit the individual they are dealing with.

This does not suggest a ‘carte blanche’ approach to data sharing but, as Dame Caldicott suggests might create a cultural shift away from the reluctance to share.

Clearly in the context of troubled families and all of the terrible cases that have emerged in the past few years where sharing information between public services may have seem different results, the argument for data sharing seems well made. But will the general public accept that sharing data should be the default option for the future of pubic service delivery?

We can all make the case on the grounds of cost, total place, one point of contact and tell us once, but can we accept that Digital by Default also means that all public servants will have all of our citizens information at their disposal?

Caldicott wil report in the next few weeks, I suspect that the debate on data sharing will rage for a few more months yet.