Junior doctors and data protection
December 2003
Junior doctors who make personal records of patient data, for example for training logbook purposes, should be aware of the provisions of the Data Protection Act.
If patient data are recorded on, for example, personal computers, and that data can identify a patient, then the data must be held subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. This would require the doctor to be registered for this purpose. Furthermore, the transfer of such data between trusts is a breach of the Data Protection Act.
The BMA advises junior doctors not to record the data with the patient's name, though data which can be matched to a patient only through use of a hospital record system or separate second data set is lawful on an unregistered computer. For example, where a hospital number can only identify a patient if cross-referred with the hospital records system.
Please consult your medical royal college if you feel you are placed in breach of the Act.
Manual records have also been included within the scope of the Data Protection Act since March 2000.