Lord Trefgarne – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Trefgarne on 2014-06-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the rules relating to the release of patients’ private medical information to insurance companies by general practitioners.

Earl Howe

General practitioners (GPs) must ensure that patients have provided explicit consent before disclosing information to insurance companies. Additionally, under the provisions of the Access to Medical Reports Act 1988, patients have the right to view medical reports prepared for insurance companies and, where a patient has exercised this right, a GP cannot disclose the report to the insurance company until the patient has had the opportunity to review it or if the patient withdraws their consent.