ENTERPRISING fundraiser, Diana Bond, has told me that her latest afternoon tea party went very well on February 25, in a great turn-out in the Barn Club, the valley’s largest meeting place, which was constituted specially for residents of this community.

Apart from its regular daily function as a licensed club, the Barn Club is well known for its support of all sorts of extra curriculum activities and organisations in the village, and Diana says a big thank you to stewards Shelley and Phil for their help, as well as to everyone who came to enjoy a tea and, in doing so, raised more than £200 for Age UK BECAUSE there is so little understanding of, and reliable information on, government plans for massive storage of health records, I felt it would be useful to devote most of this week’s column to the subject, as it affects us all.

There seems to be considerable confusion, or unawareness of two quite separate information projects that are being implemented by health organisations locally.

I will try to clarify what is happening and how NHS England is modifying its schedules in the light of their not making things widely understood in the first place.

Having spent my working life in the computer industry, and having acquired a reasonable understanding of the massive benefits that could be delivered to the public through various computerised information services, I am regularly disgusted how government departments succeed in bungling information systems, from health to defence.

Sadly, they seem not to be learning from their mistakes. The results include a huge waste of funds, delays in the deployment of valuable community services and, perhaps worst of all, long-term corrosion of public trust in computer systems.

Trust me, computers should serve us well – commercial industry benefits from their use, why not public services equally.

There is no doubt that our Marlow GPs are immeasurably better informed about our status when we visit; this stems largely from the information about us being immediately available on their screen; gone are the days of those stuffed and tatty beige envelopes. But that information remains in the surgery and is available only to the doctors in the practice, but to any of them dealing with us on the day concerned.

As from last year, there is a second source of computer stored information; it is restricted to a prescribed standard set of details about all patients except those who formally asked not to be included. This file makes basic medical information available to other healthcare staff during an emergency, or if you are away from home. So, it could benefit any of us at any time, it could even be life-saving, if we suffer some misfortune that some distant medical officer needs for our safe treatment.

The cause of all the present controversy, however, is a third, more comprehensive, database of our medical records. The public were invited to register their objection to inclusion by the end of February. Each registered NHS patient should have received a leaflet outlining the system, along with an objection form.

Large numbers of people cannot recall receiving this. Many of the leaflets may have been delivered hidden in a bundle of junk mail, and may have suffered the inevitable fate. After obvious public rumblings, the government has delayed the deadline for three months.

The usage of this third set of records was not destined for reference in a personal emergency. Indeed, it was to be anonymised, so it would not be possible to identify information pertaining to an individual person. But there were allegations that the security was inadequate; one claim was that, while other identifying data was stripped, a patient’s record still retained their post code.

GPs are reported, locally and nationally, to have misgivings about the release of this information, which they will be obliged to provide. NHS organisations will be able to share/sell information about care you have received with those who plan health and social care services, as well as approved researchers and organisations outside the NHS, perhaps such as life insurance companies, to whom such information could be commercially invaluable.

What can you do now? Well, seek out the leaflets and objection forms in the Glade surgery, and read about the plans in the NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk/caredata There is a link to an article from the Royal College of GPs. The rather unwieldy web address is http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10634539/Crisis-of-confidence-in-NHS-database-warn-GPs.html My personal view is that computerised medical records, with possible access from any authorised person or site could, and should, be of immense value to our well-being. If I were to be hit by a car at 2am in Aberdeen, I’d be keen for the A&E consultant to have my essential medical details to be able to administer the treatment best suited to my recovery.

The obvious security concerns are all addressable with the appropriate skills and cultural demeanour of those who design and operate the system. By and large, the banks have achieved it, but for decades government organisations have been under-prepared.

Watch out for, and demand, the necessary information, whether you support my rather rosy stance, or not. It matters to you to be alert.

ST PATRICK’S Day will be celebrated locally by MB Fish Bar. Actually, since they are regularly closed on Mondays, their festivities will be on the day after, March 18.

You can expect green balloons, leprechaun hats on the staff and the occasional ginger beard. What all customers will be offered is a free helping of a secret traditional recipe accompaniment to the day – Irish curry sauce. Jig along for some fish and fun.