Vol. 435 No. 9
94 Mrs. Doyle asked the Minister for Health the assurances, if any, he can provide to consumers in the health service that GP unit doctors will not have full access to private patients' medical records where they attend a doctor with a mixed practice.
As the general practitioner is the first point of contact with the health services for the majority of people, it is important to have a sharing of the considerable amount of hitherto untapped epidemiological information on an agreed basis between general practitioners and health boards to enable health services to be planned in an effective manner. It is in this context that the general practice unit will be discussing practice information with individual general practitioners. There is no question of GP unit doctors gaining access to the medical records of private patients. Full regard will be held at all times to patient confidentiality in such discussions.
