HS Direct is struggling to cope as the number of people using the helpline dramatically increases due to freezing weather and the swine flu outbreak.Amid claims some patients had waited for two days to speak to a nurse, officials urged patients to use a new online health information service.

Senior nurses suggested the helpline was struggling to cope with the overload of calls as figures show the number of people calling the helpline had dramatically increased over the past few days.

An NHS Direct spokeswoman admitted the telephone advice service was “experiencing extremely high demand as a result of the severe weather”. She said the service had received 50 per cent more calls than forecast.

Up to 46,000 people called the service last weekend, the equivalent of almost 960 an hour.

It was also disclosed that there had been 5,700 more calls made to NHS Direct last week compared with the same week last year.

The online “symptom checker” system was used 160,000 times while the colds and flu symptom system was the most used service with almost 59,000 checks.

NHS Direct management apologised to patients who had been forced to wait longer than expected.

It came as doctors were told they could prescribe Tamiflu to otherwise healthy people suffering from flu as the illness prompts a surge in hospital admissions.

The move is an indication of the authorities’ concern about the risks from swine flu, which has become the predominant strain of the virus this winter and is striking younger age groups than usual.

Cases of flu have risen more than six fold in three weeks, the latest figures show.

Normally antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu and Relenza, are only prescribed to people with flu who have other conditions such as heart disease and severe asthma because of the extra risk that influenza poses to them.

But officials are so concerned at the number of otherwise healthy people who have been admitted to hospital that they are taking special measures to lift these restrictions.

Doctors will be able to use their discretion and prescribe the drugs, which shorten the length of the illness by about one day and reduce spread, to anyone they think will benefit.

The drugs are most effective if taken within 48-hours of symptoms first appearing.

Prof Dame Sally Davies, interim Chief Medical Officer, has written to all GPs with the new instructions as figures were released showing there are more than 300 people in intensive care with flu, higher than during any point in last year’s pandemic. Last week there were 180 people in intensive care.

Nine of the 17 deaths, that have so far been linked to flu this winter, were in otherwise healthy people. None of those victims had been vaccinated with this year’s seasonal flu jab or the pandemic vaccine against just swine flu that was administered last year.

Figures released by the Royal College of GPs disclosed that the number of people going to their GP with flu-like symptoms has more than doubled in a week. There were 87 consultations per 100,000 people in the week up until December 19th compared with 34 the week before.

In the week ending December 5th just 13 consultations per 100,000 people were about fly symptoms. Illness was most common in children aged between five and 14, followed by children under four, and those aged between 15 and 44.

It is not known how many of those people have had swine flu but the H1N1 virus is the most common this winter.

The letter to GPs said: “Antiviral treatments for influenza are currently only available from GPs for NHS patients who are in a designated “at clinical risk” category.

“The most recent surveillance data indicate that higher than normal numbers of patients, who are not in one of the “at clinical risk” groups, are becoming seriously ill with flu – requiring hospitalisation.

“Regulations currently say that prescribers should not order oseltamivir and zanamivir [Tamiflu and Relenza] for patients who are not in the target risk groups.”

It added: “However, the Chief Medical Officer has recommended that the current restrictions should be amended to allow general practitioners (and other prescribers) to exercise their clinical discretion so that any patient who their GP feels is at serious risk of developing complications from influenza may receive these treatments on the NHS.

“This is consistent with guidance from NICE which informs the existing statutory restrictions but which envisages that prescribers may exercise their clinical discretion in individual cases.

“Whilst antiviral manufacturers and wholesalers should have sufficient supply to meet demand, prescribers and pharmacists are asked to consider carefully the need to order sensibly and not to stockpile. Stockpiling and over-ordering could cause shortages.”

It comes as doctors in some parts of the country are preparing to open their surgeries on Christmas Day to deal with large localised outbreaks of flu.

Doctors in Leicester have said the outbreak there is the worst for ten years.

Some GP practices will open on Christmas Day and Boxing Day as well as the Monday and Tuesday bank holidays – although doctors will only see patients registered at the practice.

Ivan Brown, a public health consultant with NHS Leicester City, said: “As things stand at the moment, we are confident we are managing well but we must do anything we can to avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital.

“At the moment, we do have enough hospital beds. There aren’t a huge number to play with but there are enough.

“I understand people are going to have a good deal of anxiety but, for the vast majority of individuals, the raft of winter-related illnesses around are self-limiting and patients will recover.”

Dr Brian Gaffney, NHS Direct’s Medical Director, urged people to use the online system.

“Patients can be assured that they will receive the same quality of advice that they have come to expect from the telephone service when they access our services online,” he said.

Meanwhile sales of over-the-counter medicine have increased dramatically as patients try to keep themselves well at home.

Tesco has reported a surge in demand for cold relieving powders and drinks, cough syrup, lozenges for sore throats and other related pain relievers and is selling around half a million of these products a day.

Tesco pharmacy buyer Joy Wickham said: “As if the Arctic temperatures and horrendous travelling conditions aren’t bad enough the UK is suffering a higher than normal incidence of colds and flu illness.

“We are selling nearly half a million cold and flu remedies plus pain relievers a day while our flu jab service uptake has more than trebled.

“Since the recent heavy snowfall we are also seeing far higher than normal demand in our high street Express stores which suggests that shoppers are finding it easier to buy their essentials in urban areas.”

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/NHS-Direct-under-growing-strain-as-doctors-told-to-give-Tamiflu-to-low-risk-patients

An investigation into how well the private healthcare market is working is being planned by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
It will examine the nature of competition in the market, as well as whether it is fully competitive.

The OFT said its preliminary research had raised questions about whether the market was working well for private patients.

It aims to formally launch its investigation in spring next year.

Meantime, it is seeking views on the proposed scope of the study.

The OFT says the private healthcare market is worth £5.5bn and is of growing importance due to an ageing population, improved medical outcomes and higher life expectancy.

It added that it was of growing importance to the NHS because of government initiatives that allow NHS patients to seek treatment from private healthcare providers in certain circumstances.

Sonya Branch, OFT senior director of services and public markets said: “We are keen to focus on whether patients and buyers of private healthcare, including the NHS, are getting the full benefit of choice and competition.”

She added that as the area was a complex one, the OFT would be speaking to providers, patients and government to make sure that it focussed on the correct issues.

The Swine flu H1N1 virus that swept the world last year causing a global health emergency has returned to claim the lives of 10 adults in the UK in the past six weeks.The 10 deaths were in younger adults under 65 and associated with H1N1 swine flu. Most had underlying conditions but “a small proportion” were healthy before being struck down by the virus, according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).

Seasonal flu normally causes severe illness and death in the elderly. The H1N1 swine flu virus targets pregnant women, younger adults, and those with chronic conditions, making it a cause of particular alarm.

No other similar reports of deaths linked with swine flu have been received from elsewhere in Europe.

Official figures show GP consultations for flu-like illness in England were at 13.3 per 100,000 population last week, well below baseline levels.

Flu experts expressed surprise at the relatively high incidence of deaths and severe illness in the context of the low consultation rates. John Watson, head of respiratory diseases at the Health Protection Agency, said: “We seem to be in the vanguard on this. Other European countries are just beginning to see some H1N1 activity.”

Calls to NHS Direct and other indicators show there is “quite a lot” of H1N1 swine flu about, despite the low GP consultation rate.

Around 30 per cent of those who fell ill, went to their GP and got tested for the virus, were coming up positive for H1N1, which was a high rate. Flu was very difficult to predict, Dr Watson added. “I am a little surprised to see as much activity as we seem to be seeing – both in terms of its spread in the community and its severity. I don’t see it as being extraordinary but it is more than I would have expected.”

All parts of the country are affected with deaths reported from each region, according to the HPA. There were nine flu outbreaks last week, eight in schools and one in an army barracks in Yorkshire.

Pressure has been building on intensive care in recent days with the worst affected patients treated on Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) machines which bypass the lungs to artificially oxygenate the blood. “A good many intensive care units are seeing severely ill cases including some using ECMO beds,” Dr Watson said.

Swine flu arrived last year from Mexico creating the first flu pandemic for 40 years. In the UK, the first wave of the pandemic struck in the summer – unusually for flu – followed by a second smaller wave before Christmas.

Dr Watson said: “A lot of people were infected through the two waves of the last pandemic. We estimate something like two-thirds of children and a half of adults are likely to have been infected even though they may have had no symptoms.

“We wouldn’t anticipate a big epidemic wave of flu activity due to H1N1 this year. “But there are still a substantial number of people who remain susceptible.”

Many who caught swine flu last year suffered only minor illness but a small number were severely ill. There were 494 deaths in the year to April 2010.

The fear among flu experts is that the virus could mutate to cause more severe illness or target a different section of the population such as the elderly who are more vulnerable.

But laboratory analysis has shown that the circulating strain of the virus is “very much the same” as last year and has not shown “any significant change”, according to the HPA.

Five of the 10 adults who died for whom information was available had not received the flu vaccine, the HPA said. National figures show vaccination rates are lower than in previous years covering 66 per cent of the over-65s and 40 per cent of younger adults at risk (pregnant women and those with chronic diseases such as asthma).

Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health said: “These figures demonstrate that the effects of flu are not to be underestimated. It is not the same as getting a cold and can seriously affect your health.

“The seasonal flu jab protects against the dominant strains – this year it protects against three types of flu, including the type known as swine flu. If you are in a risk group, then I would urge you to visit your GP surgery and get the vaccination as soon as possible. It is not too late to get vaccinated for your protection and that of your family.”

In addition to H1N1 swine flu, which has become the dominant Influenza A virus in Britain, about 40 per cent of virus strains isolated this winter are Influenza B, which is most common in children, causes mostly mild illness, and has been responsible for several outbreaks in schools in recent weeks.

The last year in which it caused widespread illness was 2005-6. “There is plenty of B about,” Dr Watson said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/doctors-shocked-by-spread-of-swine-flu-ndash-and-its-severity

A service set up to enable millions of patients to email their GPs and access their Summary Care Records online has proved to be unwanted by the vast majority of potential users, according to a major new study.Academics from London found that instead of the 5-10% of the population that Connecting for Health predicted would sign up to the HealthSpace service, developed as part of the National Programme for IT, only 0.13% of those invited to take part got as far as activating the full functionality of their personal health record.

It was also predicted that patients would access use the HealthSpace service to access their Summary Care Records and notify their GP of errors, thereby driving up data quality in NHS medical records.

In fact, only 2,913 of 2.24 million patients invited to open an advanced HealthSpace account actually did so, and the research team did not find a single person who had accessed their Summary Care Record.

Research into trials of the service, published on BMJ.com, comes as the Government promises an ‘information revolution’ which will offer patients much more control over their records.

Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, from Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, who led the research covering uptake of HealthSpace from its release in 2007 until mid-2010, concludes in the report: ‘Unless personal electronic health records align closely with people’s attitudes, self-management practices, identified information needs and the wider care package, the risk that they will be abandoned or not adopted at all is substantial.’

She adds: ‘The findings raise questions about how eHealth programmes in England are developed and approved at policy level.’

Problems with HealthSpace uncovered by the researched included a complex registration process, a ‘clunky’ user interface and low levels of knowledge about, or interest in, the product from GPs and other healthcare staff.

HealthSpace’s future is already under review by the Treasury, with the Government increasingly looking for patients’ IT services to be developed by private providers.

Researchers said the recent emergence of rival products from commercial IT giants including Microsoft and Google raised serious questions about the place of a standard-issue personal health organiser from the NHS.

A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘Healthspace gives patients access to their Summary Care Record online and enables secure communication between clinicians and patients.

‘The UCL research has produced a historical snapshot, rather than insight into patients’ needs and expectations. Healthspace continues to be developed in response to those aspirations and the commitment to give patients, as well as clinicians, access to their Summary Care Record.’

From: http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=23&storycode=4127785

A new study to better understand what prevents people from using information technology to help them manage their health and care has found that few people have even heard of the three major NHS health information websites.
The study commissioned by Connecting for Health, looked at how social groups who may be excluded from electronic health information services used websites including health information website, NHS Choices, online health record, HealthSpace and health advice for those with learning disabilities, Easyhealth.

The report titled ‘Including Everyone in Electronic Health Information Services,’ states: “One of the most important findings of this study was that people had not heard of NHS Choices, HealthSpace and Easyhealth. This was even the case for people who had searched online for health information previously.”

The quantitative study by Raft, which interviewed 50 older people, people on low incomes and those with a learning disability from Bolton, Salford, Bury and Manchester, found that although few people had heard of NHS Choices and Easyhealth, participants were positive about the services when they were demonstrated to them.

However, some felt NHS Choices in particular was aimed at people that were newly diagnosed and could not help those who had had a condition for many years.

Others said that fear of health information, puts them off searching for health information “as a computer can’t reassure you if you’re frightened.”

In relation to HealthSpace, again, few participants had heard of the service including those in Bolton and Bury which are early adopters for the summary care record.

The reaction was mixed and found that it was “clear that most people would only wish to used certain functions of the website” such as the calendar function to help them remember hospitals appointments and the communicator.

Several added that they saw no advantage of seeing a record of medications or allergies when they already knew that they had them.

The report concludes that there is a high degree of trust in the information from the NHS websites which could usefully be used to promote the websites for effectively.

“Most people felt that leaflets and posters in GP surgeries and hospitals clinics would be suitable. Several people suggested the idea of TV advertising.”

The study also aimed to address those who had never accessed the internet, which amounts to 9.2 million people across England. It found that those who would consider learning wanted to do it as possible to home as possible in such as at home, community group they attended, GP surgery or hospital clinic.

Another finding was that although many people did not have access to computers or did not know how to use them, family members were able access the websites and provide the information.

The report recommends that “By promoting NHS websites to all computer uses, we can indirectly improve access to electronic health information for those people who do not use a computer.”

Marlene Winfield OBE, director for patient and public at CfH said: “This report is already helping CfH in the design and delivery of its products and services.

“It will we hope, contribute to the wider digital inclusion discussions taking place as a result of the current health whitepaper and the information strategy consultation that followed it.”

From: http://www.e-health-insider.com/major_nhs_public_websites_unheard_of

The government has confirmed it is planning to scrap the NHS Direct telephone service in England and replace it with an alternative service.
Nick Chapman, chief executive of NHS Direct: “The new helpline will be better and more cost effective than NHS Direct” A new 1-1-1 helpline is already being piloted in north-east England.

It was previously reported that the new service may replace NHS Direct, but now the Department of Health has confirmed it will definitely do so.

The move comes as the government curtails public spending, even though it has promised to protect the NHS.

The change will not affect existing NHS helpline services in Scotland and Wales.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley announced the plan to scrap NHS Direct in England during a hospital visit.

NHS Direct currently employs more than 3,000 staff, 40% of whom are trained nurses. It is understood the ratio on the 1-1-1 helpline is “slightly less” in the pilot, but no figures are yet available for what will happen when the scheme is rolled out nationally.

Critics claim the change would undermine the quality of the service by reducing the number of qualified nurses answering calls, but chief executive of NHS Direct Nick Chapman told the BBC the new helpline would be better and more cost effective than NHS Direct.

In June GPs urged the government to get rid of NHS Direct, claiming it was not cost effective.

Roughly 14,000 people a day call NHS Direct for medical advice, with the service costing £123m a year to run.

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of The Royal College of Nursing , said reducing the number of specialist nurses who worked on the new helpline was “short-sighted.”

He said: “We urge the government to consult fully and look at all the evidence before enacting changes which could leave people without expert advice from trained nurses.”

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nhs-direct-to-be-scrapped

The NHS spends up to £86m a year on thousands of websites that are difficult to find, confusing for patients and which do not meet their needs, according to research commissioned for a Department of Health report.
Research for the NHS Digital Communications Review, conducted by communications agency Precedent and leaked to the Health Service Journal, found 2,873 nhs.uk websites that were in use and more than 1,000 other nhs.uk sites that were no longer active. A total of 287,300 web pages were accessible and Google listed 56 million pages within the nhs.uk domain.

The researchers concluded that the public would appreciate fewer contact points online but the digital communications review said there was not sufficiently strong evidence that there were too many NHS domains.

Instead the review said there was a need for a digital brand strategy with standards for all NHS sites. It said a central information role was “sound in principle but its adoption requires a general acceptance that it is the role of the centre to perform this organising function.”

EHI understands that the researchers suggested that the NHS may be spending too little on too many websites rather than too much.

The Precedent researchers said that two of most recognised health service websites, NHS Choices and NHS Direct, were often competing for attention and although NHS Choices focuses on health information and local service data and NHS Direct offers online diagnostic tools the differences in content between the two was not clear to patients.

They added: “NHS Choices and NHS Direct are both established as national sites with similarities of positioning, brand and audience. This confuses users about the ‘definitive’ access point for NHS information and the roles of each site.”

Research for the review also concluded that GP practices websites were also the weakest of the health service’s online offerings.

It added: “GP surgeries have by far and away the poorest sites, in that they have the largest percentage of problems identified. GP sites failed to provide the means to allow interaction with users.”

The researchers found that overall the NHS was failing to meet patients’ needs for online functionality such as online appointment booking, repeat prescription requesting, test result reporting and contact via email. Only 50.3% of sites included email addresses. “The NHS is not making itself easy to do business with,” the report said.

The research is also critical of the accessibility of websites and said that vulnerable members of the public were not been catered for with 30% of sites exhibiting at least one “notable deficit in standards” which might cover poor quality content, lack of NHS branding, poor navigation or out of date content.

The researchers said it was very difficult to estimate the cost to the NHS of the websites with responses to information on usage and cost received from only 188 out of 4,121 sites. However it estimated that the cost of running the sites “could be as high as £86m per year” and said costs could be higher as those figures did not include set up costs.

The digital review, however, said no broad conclusions could be drawn about value for money “given the relatively low cost of establishing and operating small, focused websites.”

The researchers claimed the public “struggled to locate the NHS online with a Google search” when searching on health-related terms and said the scale and depth of information on offer was daunting to many. It said patients also often ended up going to information offered by Wikipaedia, the charity sector and websites such as NetDoctor and PatientUK rather than the NHS.

The researchers said interviews with users revealed that the public wanted to see “one NHS” online which would tally with their perception that they were receiving care from “one NHS”.

The Department of Health said the white paper had outlined the government’s plan to being about an NHS information revolution to give people access to comprehensive, trustworthy and easy to understand information. Information on how this will be achieved is to be set out in the DH’s information strategy, due to be published in the autumn.

From: http://www.e-health-insider.com/nhs_%C3%82%C2%A386m_website_spend_confusing

The coalition Government ignored scientific advice on the questionable value of homeopathy by continuing to allow the NHS to fund homeopathic treatment despite there being next to no evidence that it works.
Last week, health ministers refused calls from the House of Commons science and technology committee to stop the NHS funding homeopathic treatment on the grounds that such a ban would limit patient choice and contradict the Government’s stated aim of devolving more power to the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) of the NHS.

However, the Government’s own chief scientific adviser, Sir John Beddington, said that he had spoken informally to coalition ministers about his grave concerns about homeopathy and the Department of Health’s policy of allowing it to be prescribed under the NHS.

“I remain of the view that the evidence of efficacy and the scientific evidence base of homeopathy is highly questionable. It is vitally important that the public can make informed choices on their use of homeopathy, so the evidence base must be freely available in an easily-accessible format,” Sir John said.

The Government does not know how many PCTs prescribe homeopathic treatment or how much it costs but the total annual funding is believed to run into millions of pounds.

Earlier this year, the Commons’ science committee recommended that the NHS should stop funding homeopathy on the grounds that it is a waste of money and it gives patients the false impression that such treatment works.

“When the NHS funds homeopathy, it endorses it. Since the NHS Constitution explicitly gives people the right to expect that decision on the funding of drugs and treatments are made ‘following proper consideration of the evidence’, patients may reasonably form the view that homeopathy is an evidence-based treatment,” the select committee’s report said.

In its response to the report, the Government said that it will keep the position on NHS funding under review. “However, we believe that providing appropriate information for patients should ensure that they form their own views regarding homeopathy as an evidence-based treatment,” it said.

Scientists point out, however, that if patients are told clearly that there is no credible evidence to support homeopathic treatments, this may undermine the only benefit that homeopathy is likely to provide, namely the well-established “placebo effect” where someone feels and gets better because they believe a treatment is working.

“Doctors are not allowed to prescribe an honest placebo, even if they think that is the best they can do for the patient. But they are allowed to prescribe a dishonest placebo by referring the patient to a homeopath,” said Professor David Colquhoun, a pharmacologist at University College London.

“Certainly you may feel better after the pill, because you were getting better anyway, or because of the placebo effect. That can’t justify your doctor giving a pill that contains nothing whatsoever,” Professor Colquhoun said.

“If there is no evidence that homeopathy works beyond the placebo effect, why does the Government pay for it? The answer given to that is ‘patient choice’. I dare say the patient would cheer up if the NHS paid for a bottle of Chanel No 5,” he said.

Professor Edzard Ernst, a specialist in complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, said: “If the Government is serious about putting patient choice over evidence, it not only displays a profound misunderstanding of both these issues but should then also give cream cakes to diabetics and cigarettes to someone with a lung disease.”

Evan Harris, a former Liberal Democrat MP who sat on the science select committee when it carried out its inquiry, said that the decision to continue NHS funding homeopathy by the Government is not a good start for the health secretary Andrew Lansley.

“How does the Government justify allowing treatments that do not work to be provided by the NHS in the name of choice, when it allows medicines which do work to be banned from NHS use?” Dr Harris said.

From:  http://www.independent.co.uk/government-ignored-our-advice-on-homeopathic-remedies-say-experts

The chairman of NHS London has resigned after stating his vision of healthcare delivery had “little in common” with that of the new government.In a letter to the health secretary Andrew Lansley, Sir Richard Sykes said he thought his work had made real improvements for Londoners.

Other NHS London board members may also leave, Sir Richard also claimed.

Mr Lansley said he was sorry that Sir Richard did not wish to lead NHS London in developing improvements.

The news follows the government’s announcement last week that it was ordering NHS London to scrap its plans for changing the way hospitals and GPs worked in the future.

However, the new government says it wants the plans re-drawn – with more input from patients and doctors.

In his letter, Sir Richard said: “I have reflected on what you said and concluded that our visions of healthcare delivery bear so little in common that it would make no sense for me to continue in this role.

“I am, therefore, writing to give notice of my resignation from this office, with effect from 7 July.”

Sir Richard, who was appointed to the role in 2008, also said that he had “relished” the task of delivering change as outlined by the Healthcare for London report.

Responding, Mr Lansley said that the Healthcare for London approach should be to set out a range of innovative and challenging solutions for how to improve quality of care.

He said: “Neither the government nor NHS London should dictate decisions made. The decisions that patients make through choice, and which GPs make through commissioning, should not be pre-empted from on high.”

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/10165196.stm

The NHS has been accused of scaring patients into agreeing to have their personal information included on the controversial NPfIT electronic records database.

The agency charged with rolling out the new system is warning of “adverse consequences” if people choose to opt out of the computerised network, which has been criticised as chaotic by doctors.

It is also claiming that the NHS currently has “significant problems” with lost records.

A document posted on the website of NHS Connecting for Health lists several dangers to patients if they continue to have their medical information stored on paper files.

It states: “Health-care staff treating you may not be aware of your current medications in order to treat you safely and effectively.

“Health-care staff treating you may not be made aware of current conditions and/or diagnoses leading to a delay or missed opportunity for correct treatment.

“Health-care staff may not be aware of any allergies/adverse reactions to medications and may prescribe or administer a drug/treatment with adverse consequences.”

While acknowledging confidentiality risks over the digital database, the document continues: “It is … misleading to suggest that not having such a record is risk free.”

The computerised record system, also known as the care summary record, is intended to make it easier for doctors and nurses to get access patients’ medical histories.

But the programme has been beset by technical problems and criticisms. Last month the labour Government halted the national roll-out after it emerged that data could have been logged on the system without patients’ knowledge.

Information about more than 1.25 million patients have already gone on to the database, which eventually could hold up to 50 million records.

The Big Brother Watch lobby group accused Connecting for Health of overstating the risk to patients if they opt out of the system, after a Department of Health spokesman said the problem of lost paper records was not “significant” as the agency claimed.

Dylan Sharpe, the Big Brother Watch campaign director, told the Daily Mail: “If you value your privacy ignore these false and misleading warnings and opt out.”

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/NHS-scaring-patients-into-accepting-electronic-records-database

Health Direct urges you to opt out of labour’s snoopers charter NOW- WHILST YOU STILL CAN!