Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to ensure that the Health and Social Care Information Centre informs transsexual patients whose health data has been wrongly disclosed to third parties.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) takes every precaution to ensure compliance with legislation and that identifiable data is not disclosed without a legal basis to do so. There are strict controls set out within the Data Protection Act that govern the disclosure of sensitive data.

In all scenarios involving patient’s health data being wrongly disclosed, irrespective of the personal circumstances of a patient, HSCIC would seek to ensure appropriate reporting, investigations and corrective actions took place.