I won't say anything very much - my company's involved in some of this stuff - but as I said to someone yesterday it'd have to be a really crappy set up to not be more secure than the window in your GPs surgery and the lock on their filing cabinet. The audit logs would have to pretty compromised too if they're not at least as helpful as forensics on a break in.
Anything that makes it easier to report on data and to access it remotely is going to make it easier to harvest things if anyone gets illegal access to it. The data isn't just flying round teh interweb - there's been a secured NHS network for a long time, I think using various hardware as well as software measures.
I am well aware that el Reg etc will all be examining this project with the old fine toothcomb and will leap on any glitches with glee, counting the column inches and ad revenue. C'est la vie.
In general I agree with you. I just have an inherent suspicion of these things when people start claiming how un-hackable they are, especially given the government's record with large IT projects...
I'm also generally suspicious of electronic patient records because I've had problems with surgeries who use such systems whereas I'd had no such problem with paper-using surgeries... yeah, I know it's anecdotal :P
Yes, there are electronic patient records already, but they tend to be localised systems. And yes, I agree that it would be immensely helpful to have an integrated system - and I actually can't believe they haven't done it before. But it's still going to have problems...
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Anything that makes it easier to report on data and to access it remotely is going to make it easier to harvest things if anyone gets illegal access to it. The data isn't just flying round teh interweb - there's been a secured NHS network for a long time, I think using various hardware as well as software measures.
I am well aware that el Reg etc will all be examining this project with the old fine toothcomb and will leap on any glitches with glee, counting the column inches and ad revenue. C'est la vie.
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I'm also generally suspicious of electronic patient records because I've had problems with surgeries who use such systems whereas I'd had no such problem with paper-using surgeries... yeah, I know it's anecdotal :P
Yes, there are electronic patient records already, but they tend to be localised systems. And yes, I agree that it would be immensely helpful to have an integrated system - and I actually can't believe they haven't done it before. But it's still going to have problems...
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