There is currently an ongoing debate in the USA about whether the US government should expand health coverage to include some groups that have limited access to health care. In the UK, we have had universal health coverage since 1948, when the NHS was introduced. The US health system has some stark disparities between ethnic groups. A recent article from Imperial College published in the Journal of Public Health examined change in the quality of care for people with diabetes over a 10 year period from 1997-2006. We found that although Although ethnic disparities persist in diabetes management, these are starting to be addressed, particularly in the South Asian group. It appears therefore that all ethnic groups have benefited from recent quality improvement initiatives in the UK.
As part of a session on primary care data in the Health Informatics module on the Imperial Master of Public Health Programme, I asked students to work in two groups to present arguments for and against the NHS Care.Data programme. Care.Data is an NHS programme that will extract data from the medical records held by general practitioners (GPs) in England. The Care.Data programme takes advantage of the very high level of use of electronic medical records by GPs in England. After extraction, data will be uploaded to the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). The data will then be used for functions such as health care planning, monitoring disease patterns and research. The programme has been controversial with proponents arguing that the programme will bring many benefits for the NHS and the population of England; and opponents arguing it is a major breach of privacy. You can view the two presentations to help inform you further about these arguments: Arguments fo...
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