The victims of domestic violence could have their lives put at risk if abusive partners have access to their online medical records, experts have warned.
Abused partners who complain to their family doctor may be put at “serious risk” of harm by being coerced into revealing details.
GPs are to have until next year to give about 50 million patients full online access to view and edit their records.
Many are already able to download their entire medical history and see details of prescriptions and appointments.
The scheme which allows patients access by simply logging on via their home computers has been backed by the Department of Health and NHS England.
But critics fear controlling partners, carers or guardians can exploit sensitive information in online records to “exert more power” over their terrified victims.
Dr Geoff Schrecker is co-chairman of a watchdog committee based in Gateshead which holds to account the NHS’s most widely-used EMIS computer system.
He said: “Disclosing records could put such vulnerable patients at serious physical risk, it is not fanciful to anticipate that some may even pay with their lives.”
The Yorkshire GP has welcomed the move to online access to records, which the UK government says allows patients to take more control over their treatment.
It estimates there will be financial benefits, because patients will make fewer visits to GPs for consultations and repeat prescriptions that can be done over the web.
But Dr Schrecker warned that a minority of extremely vulnerable patients could be put at risk.
And he is calling for a full public debate on how to prevent online records being open to abuse.
He said: “We may decide as a society that it is a risk we must take, but it must be in the full knowledge of what could happen.
“I’ve been a GP for more than 20 years and I have seen my fair share of cases, including one patient killed by her abusive husband.
“It is frightening for the victims and we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.”
Statistics released last week showed domestic abuse has soared by 38% since 2008, with 838,026 reported cases last year. That is a verbal or physical attack every 37 seconds.
Dr Schrecker’s fears have been backed up by anti-domestic violence charities, including women’s groups.
Polly Neate, chief executive of Women’s Aid said it was vital the needs of patients in abusive relationships were “fully considered.”
She said: “Dr Schrecker shows admirable concern for his most vulnerable patients, but not all healthcare professionals have the benefit of his experience.
“That’s why we urge the NHS to ensure all frontline staff have specialist training on domestic violence.
“For many women experiencing domestic violence, a healthcare provider is the only safe place they have a chance to speak to a professional.
“It is vital to ensure that the privacy of the consultation room is preserved.”
Online medical records are part of a wider NHS plan for sharing of patients’ data beyond GPs, hospital doctors and nurses.
Last week, NHS England’s care data programme set up to harvest data from medical records to use in planning was put on hold.
Officials announced on Tuesday that the scheme would be postponed until the autumn to make sure the public know what their details will be used for and how they can opt out.
Battered wife Eve Thomas spent two decades in constant fear of her brutal husband.
The 45-year-old mother was kicked, slapped and punched during a shocking 21-year campaign of violence. She attended A&E numerous times with broken bones, each time reporting the abuse to medics. She endured cruel insults about her looks, which turned to more sinister threats of burning her alive or burying her body on the moors.
Eve said: “I went to my GP for safety and told him an awful lot of things that were happening to me. Every time I was scared that what I had been
saying could get back to my abuser. But there is a level of confidentiality which makes you feel safe inside a doctors’ surgery. My worry is that, had my records been available online, I know for a fact that he would have made me access them.
“If I had thought for one moment that could have happened in my home, it would have stopped me disclosing these things to my GP in the first place.
“Abusive partners don’t like you telling. I would have had to suffer in silence.”
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