Chair Appointed For Patient Data Oversight Committee

GP Dr Joanne Bailey has been appointed as the new Chair of the General Practice Extraction Service Independent Advisory Group (GPES IAG).

The committee is an independent group set up in 2012 to advise on the use of patient data from GP records.

Although the group was set up before the introduction of the controversial care.data information sharing scheme, the programme is expected to feature largely in committee briefings.

According to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), the group plays a vital role in ensuring data extracted from patient records is used securely, confidentially and privately, while also delivering patient benefits.

Bailey Experienced Group Member

Dr Bailey, who has been a member since the beginning, takes over from Neil Serougi who held the role for two years.

She was nominated by Dame Fiona Caldicott, Chair of the Independent Information Governance Oversight Panel.

As well as being an NHS GP, Dr Bailey is a member of the British Medical Association (BMA) GP Committee and Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

She has also co-chaired the BMA/RCGP Joint GP IT Committee, working on GP IT programmes since 2004.

“I intend to ensure that the IAG continues to put at the heart of its decision making the dual aims of protecting patient confidentiality and using data to improve health services and treatments in the future,” Dr Bailey claimed.

The use of data sharing in the healthcare sector is a currently a widely debated topic. The care.data patient information database scheme has currently been delayed, perhaps indefinitely, while a computing lecturer has claimed Big Data will not solve all the sector’s problems.  

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