ABSTRACT

The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated into UK domestic law, from October 2000, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and certain of the Protocols to the Convention,105 affecting a patient’s rights to privacy in respect of health care records. The most relevant provision is Art 8, the Right to Respect for Private and Family Life, Home and Correspondence, which has significant implications for clinical confidentiality and is likely to affect the development of electronic health records. By s 1(1) of the Act, the Convention rights are now available in a ‘qualified form’ in the UK.106 This has the effect of protecting patients’ rights to the privacy of their clinical records within the NHS, although this is not an absolute right, since para 2 of Art 8 states that public authorities may interfere with this right. The term ‘public authority’ undoubtedly includes NHS trusts and health authorities. Under s 6 of the Act, it is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with Convention rights.