First the good news. Richard Branson the bearded one, has decided to abandon his efforts to enter healthcare for the time being, Pulse reports. He says the reason is the current economic downturn and that this is the wrong time to be heading out on a new venture.
Now the bad news. The government is considering giving access to the computer records containing the postcodes, addresses and medical conditions of every man, woman and child in England. They have made the rather quixotic concession that a medic will have to have permission from the patient, but those outside the NHS will have access.
The most prized commodity in commerce is information. And this is the kind of information that companies like Virgin will need, to run private health concerns. This is already done to a certain extent through loyalty cards in supermarkets; these record what you buy and compare it to your 'customer profile'. This information is used by the supermarkets themselves and is also sold on to medical companies, insurance, holiday operaters and all manner of businesses. But at least there is a certain amount of agreement involved. You don't have to enter into the loyalty card scheme if you don't want to. And the supermarket only has access to those who already shop in their store, so it has limits.
This idea, however,is in a completely different league and completely outrageous. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this report, is that it is short and low profile. I sincerely hope that the media give this idea the kind of bad publicity it deserves and doesn't wimp out on challenging the government on this. The information age and big brother is truly upon us..
