NHS Electronic Record Security

The supersecure NHS Smartcard prevents any unauthorised access to the system and provides positive proof that the holder works for the NHS.


Some of us here at ND Central are really sad.

Yes, we admit it, some of us enjoy computers and, yes, some of us read computer magazines to which we have subscriptions but we do also see and treat patients. We have done so for many years and amazingly this was once possible without the aid of the ubiquitous desktop computer. We still can but listen to any Party member and this is heresy as it is clearly inferior care especially when your pockets are lined as a result of NHS IT expenditure.

A small item caught our eye about the fact that the “super secure” and unhackable NHS Smartcard which restricts access of all but a few million to your medical records, if the Party has its way, might have been compromised in that someone has managed to hack the chip. Unfortunately we are unable to give you a link but if you have access to our source GP magazine more details can be found in 7th August 2009 edition pg 12.

It would appear that a court in one of the more liberal European countries called the Netherlands has ruled that details of how to do this can be published. If the article is to be believed it might have disastrous consequences for the smooth running of the health service. Imagine a PCT chief executive finding that their barrier controlled car parking space were to be taken by a hacker who has hacked the smartcard controlled barrier.

Of course they have been the official denials that security has not been compromised but it seems that more and more holes are appearing in the security of the ill thought out and expensive failure that is the leaking sieve of NHS computing confidentiality. We hacked it a couple of years ago after reading an article in the GP press and more recently another GP reported how easy it was to get into the demographic database. (The stasi know all about it before you get excited).

We suspect at some point he will be up before the GMC for a breach of patient confidentiality rather than being hailed as someone who drew attention to one of numerous flaws in the NHS computer policy. True Party members know that it is all perfect and that GPs who criticise it for being too slow, unreliable etc are all underworked, overpaid GPs who actually use the crap unlike those singing its praises who do not.

Still in this time of gloom there is a news item that the Conservatives, if elected, would ditch the NHS computing plan but read deeper, dear reader, and it says renegotiate the contracts which might mean an end to wasteful, needless, expenditure on computers but a wasteful, needless, expenditure, on contract bailout penalty clauses instead. Still we can live in hope.

Praise be to the Party who invented security and Burgess, Maclean, Philby and Blunt and have built security further on these leading lights. Must be time to start learning Dutch . . .