WRITTEN ON April 16th, 2008 BY Ruth Kennedy AND STORED IN Uncategorized

ls it just me or are there straws in the wind here? DoH asks about Patient Opinion. Downing Street asks about user centric ID. Tom Watson launches a Power of information task force. Now look what I hear from No10:

We recommend a closer look at the emergence of Google Health and MS Healthvault* because – if they work – these initiatives might be trusted more than our plans for the NHS/government-controlled centralised health record. Such a development would certainly be disruptive.

Indeed. Always good to look out at the real world from the ivory tower.

[Background/reminder: The Ideal Government principles are
– use quick wins (ie pinch other people’s good stuff when it crops up; don’t commission your own mega system from scratch)
– co-create, ie allow the online e-services we need to come about through participation and shared activity, choices and feedback
– dig deeper to build that foundation of trust, ie dont fob everyone off with what a Mori poll says you can get away with but work out in some depth what systems people will feel happy about having trusted once they’re seriously tested in anger.

Using personal, secure, user-controlled health records makes sense on all these fronts (as we established in a memorable EDS/Microsoft two-day workshop six years ago).]

Wibbi – as well as adopting Wibbies as policy – government adopted the IdealGov principles as policy?
And Wibbi No. 10 continues to ask about VRM, Higgins, U-Prove and Cameron’s laws and their implications for the IPS/government controlled ID System. After all, if they don’t adopt them the danger is that the Scots will. And they’ll then have all the credit and the bragging rights for years to come. And won’t they just go on about it…

* Two services which put the citizen in control of their own health information: see this earlier post and this.