h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Would we,as British citizens have access to this centralised data ? I can't even get access to my dental records ! Forget medical records ,they're a complete no no !I'd just like to know what facts they'd be putting onto data about me thats all,so if they're completely wrong,(I'd bet any money now they would be )I could correct them thats all.If their data is going to be anything like BTs,I get at least 3 calls from them per month asking if I'd like to change my t\phone service to friends and family..I haven't been with BT for a minimum of 12yrs ! I rest my case ! I hate data ,any data !

Hmm, if I have to use professional services, like solicitors, I choose out of town companies, because of the risk of someone I know working there - even if it's the cleaner.

Sadly I couldn't do this for my doctor - I've known at least two of their cleaners. The notes are locked up, but the repeat prescriptions aren't, and the cleaners are there unsupervised.

I'm not slagging off cleaners here, but trying to make a point that wherever and however information is held, there will be a way for non-authorised people to access it, and possibly abuse it. One of the cleaners was requesting repeat prescriptions in my name because she had the same condition - I didn't have to pay for the prescriptions while she did. She'd collect the repeat and fill it herself with me knowing nothing about it. If she hadn't confessed, I'd never have known.

So while a central database sounds awful, problems already exist, and I suppose that I'd be quite happy not to have to fill in forms for three different benefits every time I take on some work, and then have to fill in the same three again when I'm back off work.

I can see us being sent a humungous form initially, just so they know they have all the correct information. Of course, there'll be a financial penalty for late returns. There will probably also need to be a helpline for the confused - which will cost money. The IT system will take ten years to develop, will double in cost and won't work. It will require an entire Govt department to oversee, which will have a multi-million pound annual budget. It will provide a useful place for Govt to dump useless ministers like Prescott, who will cost the taxpayer a six figure sum in expenses and perks.

If they say it's going to cost £20bn now, expect it to actually cost £40bn+ in addition to yearly running costs in the millions. All of which we, the taxpayer, will have to pay for.

£40bn between 30 million taxpayers = £1333 each.

Is that worth it? Just so we don't have to fill out multiple forms?

ANd how much cost can be avoided by running the 42 current systems? My company loves to decomission things - don't everybody?

Why not make secure connections for people, where they view and acknowledge their own data, and ask for changes if needed (why on earth? of course everything will be correct) and also set priviliges for the different authorities?

Oh, this could be fun!



(Safely tucked away in Sweden where this is of course implemented in secret anyway. I think. Except for medical records, where you in theory could get the same prescription over and over from different doctors, and also could get severely interacting drugs prescribed by different doctors. Which might make medication either lethal or useless... but that's peoples private problems, not the doctor's... right?)

To anyone who's in favour of a centralised system of personal records, I recommend saying "Criminal Records Bureau" 1,000 times every night before they go to sleep, until they're cured of the concept hat this could possibly, conceivably be in any way, shape or form a "good idea".

RF

I repeated it nine times and lost count.It made me sleepless,I'm here drinking coffee as I type (I can be clever sometimes,multi-tasking etc)There's too much data to remember.Does it have to be 1,000 times ?

Is it really a practical idea? I know people whom are working on the big medical system, and found that it won't work, and probably never will. How would it be possible to get everything to be one big system, if we can't get a small part of it to work?