What should be the principal behind electronic patient records in the NHS?

This poll is closed.

Please vote by creating an account and then rating the options in order of preference from 1 (favourite) to 5 (least favourite).

We’re reaching the end of our public debate on electronic patient records in the NHS and we’d like you to contribute to an online vote which helps us think about what why the people who took part made the recommendations that they did. We’ve come up with five possible ‘guiding principles’ for Electronic Patient Records in the NHS and we’d like you to rate the options in order of preference from 1 (favourite) to 5 (least favourite). Please use all the numbers from 1 to 5 and use each number only once. The options are:

Privacy and Choice: Protecting patient privacy is the most important thing. Individual patients must be allowed to decide about how their records are stored and protected.

Privacy and control: Protecting patient privacy is the most important thing but the NHS can be trusted to take decisions with that in mind. Patients don’t have the time or the information to make these choices.

Benefits  and choice: The benefits of electronic patient records are so important that it is worth creating some privacy risks, but it should be up to the individual patient to decide.

Benefits and control: Electronic patient records are so important that it is worth creating some privacy risks. The NHS can be trusted to decide what risks are acceptable.

No development: Electronic patient records will always create unacceptable risks to privacy. The NHS should not pursue this technology.

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If you’d rather vote offline, you can download a voting form to print out and send back or send an email with your address to stephen.whitehead@neweconomics.org and we’ll send you a paper voting form.