Computable, 27 June 2011: 'Privacy First demands halt to go-live SPD'

"The development of a private national Electronic Patient Record (EHR) must stop. So says Privacy First in an open letter to MPs, in response to the 'relaunch' of the SPD. After the Upper House blocked the introduction of the national EHR on 5 April 2011, VVD minister Edith Schippers asked the National ICT Institute for Healthcare Nictiz in April to investigate whether the National Switch Point (LSP) could continue to exist without government support. (...) 'Quite rightly, the Senate recently unanimously rejected the bill to introduce a national Electronic Patient Record (EPD), especially given the enormous privacy risks that this EPD would entail,' Privacy First informs. 'It is therefore with great concern that Privacy First has since learned of developments indicating a possible 'relaunch' of this same SPD along private, extra-parliamentary lines.'
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In an open letter, Privacy First urges MPs 'to put a stop to this development and call the relevant government minister to account'. After all, in a privacy-law sense, in Privacy First's view the Dutch government remains fully responsible for the privacy breaches that will result from a 'private L-EPD', precisely also given the fact that such a system has been explicitly rejected by the Senate on privacy grounds.'

In Privacy First's view, the National Switch Point (LSP) of the L-EPD 'should be transformed into small-scale regional systems, in accordance with the wishes of the Senate. For regional exchange, an LSP is unnecessary: after all, regional switch points (RSPs) suffice for that purpose, possibly supplemented by supra-regional push communication. This enhances security and reduces the risks of abuse inherent in an L-EPD.'"

Read HERE the entire article in Computable.